Laura couldn’t help chuckling. “You’re really bad at not dating, aren’t you? Or is it that you’re easily manipulated?”
“Not until recently. Debra’s sneaky. And then you showed up in my office and before I knew it an innocent invitation came out of my mouth and here we are. Two dates today and one more in the morning. My extended track record as a total stick-in-the-mud has taken a real hit.”
“You don’t sound half as distressed as you should for a man who claims he doesn’t want to date,” she accused lightly.
He shrugged. “Maybe I’m tired of my own company, after all. And we’re here to talk about Misty, so it’s not as if this is a real date.”
“Tell that to everyone in this room currently on their cell phones reporting the news far and wide,” she said.
She could certainly understand why everyone in town would be fascinated with J.C. and consider him a hot prospect. Though he wore his light brown hair in a crew cut, it was evident that it would curl out of control if it grew longer. His compassionate brown eyes were exactly the sort to inspire young patients to confide in him, as Misty almost had. At least she’d sought him out as a trustworthy adult. That had to say a lot about his character.
When Laura glanced across the table, he was studying her, rather than the menu. The intensity of his gaze was disconcerting. She swallowed hard, then gestured toward the list of specials.
“No catfish, so what are you having?”
“The meatloaf’s another favorite of mine,” he said.
She nodded. “Sounds good. I’ll have that,” she said and set the menu aside. “Now tell me what Misty said to you.”
He winced. “I can’t. Doctor-patient confidentiality. I can tell you it was enough to worry me. How about you?”
“She’s been skipping my class and one other.”
He frowned. “But not all of them?”
She shook her head. “No, it seems her math class and mine are the only ones.”
“What’s the connection?”
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out. My gut’s telling me she has a problem with another student, and those are the only two classes they’re both in. I’ll compare notes with Dave Jamison to see if there’s a student who’s a common denominator, but I’d be very surprised if there aren’t several. Small school, and only one AP English class, though there are two of the AP math classes. Not all advanced placement kids excel at both, but many of them do.”
“So that’s not going to narrow it down by much, is it?” he said. “And you haven’t heard rumors about a problem with another student?”
“Cal’s more likely to hear the school gossip than I am,” she admitted. “But he hasn’t heard a word.”
“That’s not good,” J.C. said, his expression filled with unmistakable concern. “For Misty to reach out to me and want a note to get out of school, she’s on edge. I don’t like it.”
“Neither do I,” Laura admitted. “I insisted that she be in class on Monday morning. We’ll see. Something tells me she won’t be. If so, I’ll have no choice but to go to the principal.”
“And then?”
“She’ll be suspended,” Laura said, dismayed. “I was so hoping to avoid that. It’s one thing when a kid breaks the rules for no good reason, but I don’t think that’s true in this instance. I think there’s a real problem.”
“My gut’s telling me the same thing,” J.C. said. “I could speak to the principal with you, even be there if Misty’s called in. Maybe together we could convince the principal to hold off on suspension, try to find some other solution.”
“Have you met Betty Donovan?” Laura inquired. “She doesn’t bend the rules for anyone. I even have to say, I can’t blame her. The next thing you know, every student and parent would be coming up with excuses that they think justify missing classes, that their little darling deserves an exception.”
He smiled. “Definitely a slippery slope,” he agreed. “But right now, I’m only concerned about Misty. She has to be my top priority.”
When she looked into his eyes, she saw real worry there. The depth of his caring surprised—and impressed—her. Maybe a little too much. He was shattering all sorts of first impressions—mostly bad ones. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to start sounding almost human.
4
Going online was a little like being unable to look away from some awful accident you drove past on the highway, Misty thought as she clicked on the social-networking site that Annabelle used to post her latest slurs against Misty. Sure enough, there were more, and they were just as ugly as the ones she’d posted two nights ago and a week before that. Tears stung Misty’s eyes as she read them.
How on earth was she supposed to show her face at school at all? She knew that’s exactly what Annabelle was hoping, that she’d be so humiliated she’d drop out. She also wanted to tarnish Misty’s reputation so badly that it would make Greg look like an idiot if he kept asking her out.
What Annabelle didn’t get was that Greg apparently got turned on by the idea of dating the school’s biggest slut. These posts just made him more determined. He’d left half a dozen messages on her cell phone in the past week. She’d stopped answering and stopped listening to the messages. She just deleted them. She didn’t even tell Katie about Greg’s calls because she was afraid Katie would insist she keep them as some kind of evidence in case things got even nastier.
When she got to Wharton’s Friday night, she could tell from the sympathetic expression on Katie’s face that she’d seen the online posts.
“You looked, didn’t you?” Katie asked.
“So did you,” Misty accused, slipping into the booth.
She glanced around Wharton’s and breathed a sigh of relief. There was no one in here except a couple of older ladies—Frances Wingate, a retired teacher, and Liz Johnson, who was practically a legend in town—eating ice cream. She doubted they paid any attention to the social-networking sites online.
“What did your mom say when you told her you weren’t going to the game?” Misty asked Katie after they’d given their order for burgers and fries to the waitress.
“She was fine with it. I told her I was meeting you here and that I’d be home way before curfew.” She rolled her eyes. “These days that’s nine o’clock, if you can believe it. She probably would have made me leave the stupid game at halftime. She’s still punishing me for skipping school. The grounding ended last week, but I’m pretty sure I’m going to have a curfew till I leave for college.” She gave Misty a warning look. “Let that be a lesson to you.”
“You don’t get it,” Misty responded. “I’d love to be grounded. Suspension would be great, too.”
“You don’t mean that,” Katie protested. “Did you talk to Ms. Reed?”
Misty nodded. “It didn’t help. She just asked a bunch of questions I wouldn’t answer. If I’m not in class Monday morning, it’s all over. She made that pretty clear. She’ll tell Mrs. Donovan.”
“So, you’re coming to class, right?” Katie pressed.
Misty felt tears welling up in her eyes. “How can I?”
Katie looked alarmed. “Misty, you don’t have a choice. You’re probably out of second chances.”
“You saw those new posts online. I don’t want to show my face at school ever again. Maybe I should just drop out, maybe even run away.”
“No!” Katie said, looking shocked. “You can’t do that. You’d be letting Annabelle win.”
“She’s already won. She’s making my life miserable, which is exactly what she wants to do.”
“You could fight back,” Katie suggested. “She’s not the only one who can post online. Turn the tables on her.”
“A part of me would love to do that,” Misty admitted. “Payback sounds great, but you know I’d be the one who’d wind up in trouble. Annabelle would claim I started it.”
“But there’s proof that she did,” Katie insisted. “The posts are dated.”
Misty shook
her head. “I can’t do it,” she repeated. “It would all come out. It would kill my mom and dad. I don’t want them to ever have to read that filth.”
Silence fell as the waitress returned with their food and their diet colas. Thankfully, Grace Wharton, who seemed to be everywhere at once and heard everything, was at the game tonight. This waitress was fairly new to town and barely said two words to the customers.
“Thanks for meeting me here tonight,” Misty said eventually. “I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have at least one friend I could talk to about this.”
“You have plenty of friends,” Katie reminded her. “They’re all just waiting for a signal from you that you want them around.”
“I guess,” Misty said. She couldn’t help wondering, though, if real friends would have been waiting for some sign from her. Katie hadn’t. She’d been in her face, outraged on her behalf, from the moment the first post had gone up online. If anyone else had reached out, maybe she wouldn’t be feeling so isolated and alone. She had a hunch even the people who claimed to be on her side were wondering if what Annabelle was posting was true.
“What are you going to do this weekend?” Katie asked.
“Hang out at home, do my homework, nothing special,” Misty said with a shrug.
“There’s a fall festival close by. We could go to that. We probably wouldn’t see anyone from here.”
“How would we get there? Neither of us has a car.”
“But Kyle’s home and he does. I’ll bet I could talk him into taking us.”
Misty shook her head. She’d always had a secret crush on Kyle. She knew he wasn’t half as hot as Katie’s other brother, the sports superstar, but he was cute and smart and sweet. She was terrified someone in town would blab to him about the posts online, and he’d be totally disgusted with her. “No way,” she told Katie.
“Okay, then you could come to my house for a sleepover tomorrow night,” Katie suggested. “Mom wouldn’t mind.”
“Thanks, but I don’t think so,” Misty said. “Your stepdad knows about me skipping class. You said so yourself. I don’t want him to start asking questions.”
“Well, you can’t spend the whole weekend stuck at home all alone,” Katie protested. “How about I come over to your house? We could make popcorn and watch a bunch of romantic comedies.”
“Absolutely not,” Misty said, then blushed. “I didn’t mean that like it sounded, like I don’t want you there. It’s just my mom and dad. If they’re in the same room, they fight. You don’t want to be in the middle of that. Heck, I don’t want to be in the middle of that.”
“We could take our books and go study by the lake,” Katie suggested, clearly determined to be Misty’s social director. “That could be fun.”
Misty shook her head. “We might run into other kids from school.” She gave Katie a look filled with regret. “I’m sorry I’m such a downer. I know it’s no fun being around me right now.”
“You’re my friend, no matter what kind of mood you’re in,” Katie said loyally. “I learned all about what it means to be a good friend by watching my mom, Dana Sue and Helen. They were way younger than us when they first got to be friends, and they were our age when they started calling themselves the Sweet Magnolias. To this day nobody hurts one of them without answering to the others. I figure you and I are going to be just like that our whole lives.”
Katie held up a hand, and after a few seconds, Misty actually managed a watery smile and gave her the expected high five. Maybe her life didn’t totally suck, after all.
* * *
“Where’s Katie tonight?” Dana Sue Sullivan asked as she and Ronnie joined Maddie, Cal and the kids in bleachers at the high school.
“She met her friend Misty at Wharton’s for a burger,” Maddie replied.
Dana Sue regarded her with surprise. “I thought family football nights were a command performance, especially these days.”
Maddie shrugged. “Cal has me convinced that Misty needs a friend right now, and Katie’s apparently appointed herself to that role.”
“Leave it alone,” Cal murmured from beside Maddie.
Dana Sue studied her two friends, who rarely showed any signs of dissension, at least in public. “What am I missing?” she asked.
Ronnie gave her a warning look. “Did you not just hear Cal indicate we all need to stay out of this?”
Dana Sue cast a dismissive look at both men. “When a teenage girl is in some kind of trouble, I’m sorry if my antennae go up. Since we almost lost Annie to anorexia, you’ll have to pardon me if I’m concerned.”
Cal leaned across his wife and lowered his voice. “Not the place or the time, okay? This doesn’t involve an eating disorder, I can tell you that much.”
Just then the play-by-play announcer introduced Annabelle Litchfield, who was going to sing the national anthem.
“Now, there’s a girl who looks as if she has an eating disorder,” Dana Sue murmured. “I hope Mariah is paying close attention to her.”
Maddie smiled. “I think you can count on that. Mariah is counting on Annabelle taking them to the top of the country charts in Nashville with that voice of hers. She still hasn’t stopped talking about the American Idol judges who didn’t give her a pass for Hollywood. She complains to everyone who’ll listen that they must be tone-deaf. That won’t stop her from pushing Annabelle front and center for the next auditions.”
“I almost feel sorry for Annabelle,” Dana Sue said. “That’s a lot of pressure for a kid. And you know why Mariah’s doing it, don’t you? It’s all because she lost her own big shot at stardom when she got pregnant with Annabelle and had to get married. Now she’s living vicariously through her daughter.”
Cal gave her a wry look. “Maybe Mariah is pushing her for her own selfish reasons, but I don’t think you need to feel bad for Annabelle. She has more than her share of self-confidence. It’s a little unnerving, actually, to watch all the kids at school circle around her like she’s some diva with an entourage. I worry sometimes what will happen to her if that big break never materializes.”
“Oh, it will materialize,” Ronnie said. “Mariah’s the kind of woman for whom failure’s not an option. Not for her little girl. I’m not sure how Don Litchfield puts up with her.”
Dana Sue shuddered. “I still say that’s way too much pressure.”
“I’m with you,” Maddie said. “I saw my share of that kind of early adulation with Ty, when he was pitching right here at Serenity High and the pro scouts were hanging around.”
“Not the same at all,” Cal said. “Not only was Ty the real deal, but you raised him to be a grounded kid. The proof of that is how well he’s done as a pro.”
“Not without his share of mistakes,” Dana Sue commented, thinking of the way he’d nearly lost Annie by cheating on her before they were married. She squeezed Maddie’s hand. “All in the past, though. He couldn’t be a better husband and father now. My daughter’s a lucky young woman.”
“How on earth did we get so far off track, when there’s a game already started on the field?” Maddie said. “Aren’t we here for the football?”
Kyle leaned past Cal. “Since when, Mom? You know you’re going to hear about every play again at breakfast. You could sleep through the actual game.”
Maddie regarded him indignantly. “As if,” she huffed. “I’m a fan.”
Kyle’s grin only spread. “Any idea what an I-formation is? Or where the tailback plays?”
As the others chuckled, Maddie regarded her son with a dismayed expression. “Did I raise you to have such a smart mouth?”
“You did,” Kyle confirmed. “You always told me I was hilarious.”
Maddie sighed. “Well, I was mistaken. You’re just annoying.”
Dana Sue grinned. So did Cal, though he tried really hard to hide it. Maddie caught him and scowled. “You, too?”
Cal held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Time for hot dogs. Who wants one?”
> A chorus greeted the question, and he and Ronnie took off for the relative safety of the refreshment stands.
Dana Sue leaned closer to her friend. “Now you can tell me the real scoop about what’s going on with Misty and Katie.”
Maddie just gave her a weary look. “I wish I knew. I just know Cal’s worried, and that’s never good.”
“Anything we should try to do to help?” Dana Sue asked.
Maddie shook her head. “If I think of anything, I’ll let you know. From what I know, Misty’s the one in real trouble. I just don’t want it rubbing off on Katie. She’s already had enough problems at school this year.”
“Hey, we survived all the mistakes we made at that age,” Dana Sue consoled her. “Katie will, too.”
Maddie still looked unconvinced. “I hope you’re right. I really do.”
Dana Sue grinned. “Since we have no solutions for that, how about some hot gossip to chew on? You’ll never guess who was having dinner at Sullivan’s just now when I left.”
“Who?”
“J. C. Fullerton and Laura Reed, the self-professed bachelor and the introvert teacher. Want to know the best part? They were actually laughing.”
“Holy mackerel,” Maddie said, obviously impressed. “J.C. is cute as can be, but this is the first I’ve heard of him going out with anyone in town. Even Bill’s mentioned what a hermit he’s been since he moved here. And Laura? She’s absolutely lovely, but awfully quiet. Who would have imagined the two of them hitting it off?”
“All I know is what I saw with my own eyes,” Dana Sue said. “They had their heads together and looked to me as if they were deep in conversation. I imagine it’ll be tomorrow’s headline at Wharton’s. Everyone in the place was grabbing for a cell phone to make a call.”
Maddie chuckled. “You gotta love the Serenity grapevine.”
“At least as long as you’re not the hot topic on it,” Dana Sue agreed. “We’ve both been there, done that.”
Catching Fireflies Page 5