Truly Devious (Truly Devious #1) - Maureen Johnson Page 0,82
the back of the sofa. “They don’t kick anyone out. I’ve tried.”
“My parents could take me out of here,” she replied.
“Why would they do that?”
“Because they never wanted me to come.”
“Why wouldn’t your parents want you to come?” Vi said.
“Because,” Stevie replied, “they like things that are normal. Ellingham is not normal. It’s full of everything they worry about. Other people. They let me come because it’s fancy and it’s free, but they’d take any excuse to pull me back out. And I think someone dying counts as a pretty big excuse. So I am not long for this fancy, special world. It’s back to the local Edward King headquarters for me so I can sit around and listen to people who believe in aliens but not climate change.”
“Oh my God,” Vi said. “Isn’t there anything you can do?”
“I have no idea. Maybe if I suddenly became a prom-queen type. They like that.”
“Maybe we’ll all have to go,” Nate said. “Maybe the school will close.”
“You guys,” Janelle said. “Come on. Hayes is dead.”
“It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t talk about the school closing,” Nate said.
Stevie heard someone repeat “the school is closing?” in the group next to them in a whisper. Life comes at you fast, and games of telephone, even faster.
The door to the yurt swung open, and Ellie strode inside. She wavered, obviously drunk, and held Roota over her head.
“Hayes is dead!” she said. “Long live Hayes!”
She started squawking away.
This announcement did not go over well in the room. Unlike that first night in the yurt, no one was very receptive to Ellie’s arting. David slipped off the back of the sofa and went over to her and whispered in her ear. She jerked away and played more aggressively. He hooked his arm through hers and tried to lead her out, but she pulled away again.
A few more art people got up from various corners and gathered around her. At first it appeared that they were trying to stop her, but then one of them started jumping up and down in a strange dance. Ellie did it too. Then another joined in. David shrugged and left the group, returning to his perch. Maris, who at first was staring at this in horror, got up and started dancing with all her might, her arms swinging furiously.
“Oh my God,” Janelle said over the noise. “What’s even happening right now?”
“The Bacchae,” Nate said.
This little dancing group in the middle sucked all the rest of the air and energy from the room and continued until another group entered. This was a less festive group, consisting of Larry, Charles, Dr. Quinn, and two uniformed police officers. The room ground into quiet.
“Everyone,” Larry said, holding up his hands.
Ellie bleated once on Roota.
“Element,” Larry said. “If you wouldn’t mind.”
The saxophone was lowered.
“The police are going to need to speak to everyone for just a few minutes,” Larry said. “It’s nothing to worry about. We just have to get a baseline of information about what happened here. So I’m going to have everyone move back to your houses.”
“Dinner will be brought around to your houses,” Charles said. “And again, we have counselors on hand who can come to you. Anyone who needs help, just reply to the text I sent or speak to any faculty member.”
Ellingham shuffled back to their houses, now more nervous.
“Everyone gets to talk to a cop,” David said as the Minerva group walked home. “You get to talk to a cop, and you get to talk to a cop, and you . . .”
“I’m not going to,” Ellie said.
“Good luck with that,” David replied.
“I don’t have to, and I don’t want to,” she replied. “This isn’t a fascist state.”
“I don’t think that’s what this is about,” Nate said. “It sounds like they’re trying to find out what happened.”
“And you’re drunk,” David said. “Coffee before cops.”
She laughed and pushed him in the chest, catching him off guard and knocking him backward to the ground.
“Could a drunk person do that?” she asked.
“Pretty sure that’s a yes,” he said, getting up and brushing himself off.
Ellie staggered ahead a few steps. She was drunker than Stevie first realized. It was so hard to tell with Ellie.
“Come on,” Janelle said to Stevie. “Get her other arm.”
Janelle stepped ahead and expertly scooped Ellie by the crook of one arm and waited for Stevie to get the other.
“Let’s go together,” Janelle said. “Can we go together?”
“We can go together,” Ellie said. “Why not? Together. Together!”