She Was the Quiet One

by Michele Campbell

  Sarah gave a sick smile in return. If she’d heard what she thought she’d heard, Heath was involved with another woman—no, not a woman, a girl. Bel Enright—it had to be. And yet, that wasn’t possible. There had to be some other explanation because the Heath she knew wouldn’t do that.

  They went downstairs for dessert. Sarah couldn’t eat any pie, but nobody noticed.

  * * *

  For the rest of the holiday weekend, Sarah went through the motions, playacting the happy wife, mother, daughter. She made pancakes for breakfast, and let Harper help, using the same colored mixing bowls Sarah had loved as a girl. Everybody went for a horse-and-buggy ride at the local orchard. They bundled under blankets and had hot chocolate and cider donuts afterward for treats. Sarah and her parents sat around reading the newspaper, while Heath went for a run, and the kids played on the floor nearby.

  Soon it was time to pack up the car and say their good-byes. On the surface, everything looked serene and happy, but inside, Sarah was in tatters. If Heath was having an affair, her marriage and her family were a charade. And if it was with a young girl, a student—well, that was unthinkable. Not just unthinkable, illegal. She wanted to disbelieve her own ears because to do otherwise, she would have to accept that Heath could stoop that low. And she didn’t accept that. True, he’d lied before, but in an instance of poor judgment by someone with an inordinate need to prove himself. He’d always been faithful. And he’d never shown signs of being a creep or a pedophile. Maybe she’d heard the words right, but they meant something else, something other than an affair. She had to find out.

  Heath kept his phone close by him all weekend. Was that normal? She couldn’t remember. She’d never paid attention to that before, since she’d never had cause to distrust her husband. Well, occasionally she questioned his judgment, but she’d never felt the need to snoop on him, until now.

  The only time Heath left his phone unattended was when they stopped for gas on the way back to Odell. It was late, and the temperature had plummeted. He opened the car door, letting in a blast of cold air, tinged with the sharp smell of gasoline. Sarah watched him through the window as he pumped the gas, stamping his feet against the night air, his breath coming out in clouds. The kids were asleep in their car seats. Max was asleep in his kennel in the far back. Heath paid for the gas with a credit card, then walked off toward the mini-mart. Was he going to buy a coffee? Use the restroom? How much time did she have to search his phone? She couldn’t afford to hesitate. As soon as the glass door swung shut behind him, she grabbed the phone off the console, and typed in his passcode—their Odell graduation year.

  It didn’t work. She stared at it. Tried again, and again. It warned her that it might shut down if she kept entering the wrong passcode.

  He’d changed his passcode. Heath had had that same passcode as long as she could remember, and now, suddenly, he’d changed it? Did that mean her worst fears were true? She saw him heading back, carrying a coffee and a bag of chips, and dropped the phone back onto the console like it was fire.

  “Want some, babe?” he asked, holding the bag out to her, as he slid into the driver’s seat.

  “No, thanks.”

  They drove off into the cold night just as it began to snow. Sarah stared out the window, sneaking glances at Heath when he wasn’t looking. His face in the light from oncoming cars was more familiar to her than her own. She’d always been in awe of its physical perfection, while taking pride in seeing the vulnerability underneath. Nobody else saw that. Other people thought Heath was a rising star, charming, a natural leader. Only Sarah knew the needy guy beneath the perfect exterior, who was plagued with self-doubt. She’d thought so, anyway. Heath had slept beside her every night for more than a decade. Was it possible she didn’t know him as well as she thought?

  24

  As the bus rolled back onto campus Sunday evening, Rose looked out and saw rows of television vans parked just outside the school gates. Odell Security cars were lined up facing them, blocking the entrance to campus, like a standoff. The security cars pulled aside to let the bus pass, then moved back into position. Before Skyler’s lawsuit, nobody outside the school knew about the slipper attack. Then Skyler’s lawyers held a press conference to announce they were suing the most famous boarding school in the country. The tale of rich girls gone wild was now a tabloid and Internet sensation, to the point that the school had to hire extra security to keep the press from storming the campus.

  Rose had sat with Emma Kim on the bus, and now she stuck close by her as they walked back to Moreland Hall through the lightly falling snow. The memory of Brandon Flynn tripping her as she walked down the aisle was still fresh in Rose’s mind. But things were different since news of the lawsuit hit, and it turned out she needn’t have worried. Kids shot her curious looks, but they kept their distance all right—to the point that nobody would speak to her.

  “What am I, radioactive?” Rose asked Emma, after a group of sophomore girls they knew said a perfunctory hello and scurried past.

  “People think you’re part of the lawsuit, so they don’t want to associate with you,” Emma said.

  They were pulling their suitcases down the icy, brick path toward the Quad. The sky was a vivid violet-blue, the lightly falling snow visible in the glow from the lanterns along the path. The beauty of the scene made Rose’s eyes sting. Her love for Odell burned all the brighter now that the school community seemed to have closed ranks against her.

  “Why would I be part of the lawsuit, when it’s my grandmother being sued?” Rose lamented.

  “Your grandma’s getting sued because of what Bel did, which came to light because you and Skyler complained. You’re seen as aligned with Skyler. Not by me. I totally get why you talked. It’s a code-of-conduct violation not to be truthful with the Disciplinary Committee, and you have to look out for yourself first. But other kids aren’t as understanding as I am.”

  “I had nothing to do with her stupid lawsuit. I’m sorry I ever backed up her story. Everyone blames me, even my own grandmother. She says I’m taking sides against the family.”

  “Gosh, that’s awful. And now the threats, too.”

  “Threats? You mean, kids calling me a rat?”

  “No, I’m talking about what Darcy posted on Facebook. What an ass.”

  “Darcy posted something about me?” Rose asked, a shiver going through her. This was getting worse and worse.

  “You didn’t see it?”

  “I’m not Facebook friends with her.”

  “Let’s check in, then I’ll show you.”

  They’d reached Moreland. They reported to the common room to sign the check-in sheet, then trudged up the stairs with their suitcases. At the second-floor landing, where they normally parted ways, Emma stopped, and took out her phone.

  “Hold on, I have to find Darcy’s post,” she said, scrolling. “Hmm, that’s weird.”

  “What?”

  “It was there this morning. She must’ve deleted it.”

  “Deleted what? Emma, tell me what she said.”

  “It wasn’t words. It was a picture. She took your head shots from the student directory—yours and Skyler’s—and photoshopped them onto a picture of dead bodies, like from a war or something.”

  Rose grabbed the banister. “Oh, my God. That’s a threat on my life. I can’t breathe.”

  “Don’t be so dramatic,” Emma said. “You’re panicking for no reason. Darcy’s in Connecticut. Expelled students aren’t allowed on campus. She can’t hurt you.”

  “Who would stop her from coming here and trying?”

  “Did you see all those security cars at the gate?”

  “They won’t do anything!”

  Emma grabbed her by the shoulders. “Rose, chill. You’re getting hysterical. People will see you act this way and think you’re guilty.”

  “‘Guilty’? Of what?”

  Just then, a junior named Becca, who lived down the hall from Rose, burst through the swinging d
oor onto the landing. Rose and Emma stepped apart.

  “Oh, hey, guys,” Becca said, looking at them curiously as she headed down the stairs.

  “Hey,” Emma said.

  “See?” Emma said to Rose, once Becca was out of earshot. “Now she’s going to tell people you’re acting sketchy.”

  “I’m not acting sketchy. I’m an innocent bystander, whose life just got threatened. I need to report it.”

  “Why report the post? Darcy already took it down. She’s a bitch, but if you complain about a deleted post, you look like the crazy one. Don’t make things worse than they already are. You need to behave like everything is normal. Ignore the assholes, keep your head down, do your schoolwork and this will blow over. I promise. Now, go unpack, and let’s meet up in the common room later. I bet there’ll be cookies. Are you with me?”

  “All right.”

  “Good. Remember, the best revenge is straight A’s and a cute outfit.”

  Emma gave Rose a quick half-hug and headed up to the third floor. Rose stood looking after her, feeling shaky and slightly ill. But then she heard girls coming up the stairs behind her, and hurried to her room. Emma was right. She shouldn’t be seen acting scared. If nothing else, she had her pride.

  Inside, the room was dark, and Rose’s heart sank. Skyler was supposed to be back from Florida by now. Her flight must’ve been delayed. Drat, Rose really didn’t want to be alone. In the dim glow from the window, the sense that something was different filtered into Rose’s consciousness. She reached out and flicked the light switch on, and it hit her like a punch in the stomach. Half of the room was bare. Skyler’s bed was stripped. Her bulletin board and posters were gone. Her desktop and dresser top were swept clean. Rose ran to Skyler’s wardrobe and flung the door open. Skyler’s clothes were gone. This wasn’t light packing for vacation. Skyler was gone. She’d taken all her things and left the school, without saying good-bye.

  25

  On Monday, Rose went down the food line in the New, heaping her plate high. Maybe a double portion of mac and cheese and a big piece of chocolate cake would quell the nervous flutter in her stomach. News of Skyler withdrawing from Odell Academy had been circulating since last night. Kids were looking at Rose funny today, keeping their distance, like she had a contagious disease. She lingered after French class to wait for Emma because she dreaded walking to lunch alone. But Emma blew her off with the excuse of violin practice. In the middle of the day? Come on. Emma obviously didn’t want to be seen with Rose, at the moment when Rose most needed a friend. Rose was actually afraid to be alone, that’s how much she worried that Darcy Madden would show up and make good on her threat.

  “Enright? Have you become undead, or are you just ignoring me?” said a voice from behind her.

  Rose turned to see Zach Cuddy in all his glory—bright blue eyes behind nerdy glasses, lanky frame, oddly formal manner. Normally, Zach speaking to her would give her a rush, but today she was so distracted by her problems that Zach barely registered.

  “I just said your name, like, three times,” he said.

  “Oh, sorry. I didn’t hear you.”

  They reached the end of the food line, and stepped over to beverages. Rose filled her glass with chocolate milk from the dispenser. Zach got an ice water. He had a salad and some lentil soup, which made her ashamed of the enormous pile of carbs on her plate.

  “Are you sitting with anyone?” Zach asked.

  “You mean, for lunch?”

  “What else would I mean?”

  She’d been wanting to have lunch with Zach Cuddy, like, forever. Yet, she found it odd that he would suddenly be interested in having lunch with her on the very day that other kids decided to treat her like a pariah.

  “Are you asking to sit with me? I usually sit at the Moreland sophomore table,” Rose said. “But—”

  But, I might not be welcome there today, she thought, and, I’ve been dreaming of sitting with you my entire Odell career, so yeah.

  “If you don’t want to sit there, I’ll sit with you somewhere else,” Rose said.

  “I need to talk to you about something in particular,” Zach said.

  “About bio?”

  “No. It’s rather sensitive, actually, so we can’t discuss it here. How about if we eat separately, then meet outside, in say, fifteen minutes? We’ll find somewhere to talk privately.”

  That didn’t sound like a lunch date. It sounded ominous. On the bus, going home for Thanksgiving break, Zach stood up for her against Brandon Flynn, at some cost to himself. Brandon had actually threatened Zach as a result. But it also seemed likely that Zach had shared the Snapchat of the slipper attack. Was he now in trouble over that? Did he blame Rose? Did he think she was a rat? Maybe she shouldn’t go somewhere alone with him. On the other hand, she’d had a crush on him since September, and here he was asking to spend time together, privately. If she said no, she’d always wonder.

  “All right,” Rose said.

  They nodded, and went their separate ways to eat. Fifteen minutes later, still with no idea why Zach had sought her out, she met him on the plaza in front of the dining hall. They walked to Benchley Hall, because Zach had a key to the lit mag office on the top floor.

  The old building was largely deserted at lunch hour. As they climbed the stairs, Rose was perspiring. She both liked Zach and felt anxious to be alone with him in a deserted building. The office was at the back of the fourth floor. It felt attic-like, high up, with grimy dormered windows that looked across to the library. A light snow had started to fall in the minutes since they’d come inside. Zach closed the heavy wooden door behind them. He moved a pile of papers off the sofa to make space for her to sit down, then perched on the nearby desk, facing her. She looked up into his eyes.

  He really was handsome.

  “This is about your sister,” Zach said.

  Rose’s hopes, which had been tearing along at a frantic pace, crashed. Why did everything have to be about Bel?

  “I wish you told me that before,” she said, getting to her feet. “I wouldn’t’ve come.”

  “Please, sit down. Let me just explain my predicament, okay? I’m throwing myself on your mercy here.”

  “All right.” She sat.

  “To begin at the beginning, Bel and I hooked up back in September, and we used to Snapchat. She’d send me pics. Nothing too porny, just fish lips and bra shots, you know?”

  “Ugh,” Rose said.

  “You didn’t know?” Zach asked.

  “Whatever. It’s just gross.”

  “Well, to be honest, I’m exaggerating. Slightly. She sent me one Snapchat, once. But the point is, Bel was in my phone, and there was a history of her Snapchatting me. So, on the night of the slipper attack, when a Snapchat came in from Bel, I recognized it and opened it, expecting to find a picture of her, like the fool I am. Instead, I saw Skyler getting spanked. Bel’s message said to forward it, so I forwarded it to some other guys. Stupid, I know. I let myself get used, in this twisted game she was playing. And now I’m in deep shit.”

  “You’re in trouble for the Snapchat.”

  “Yes. A lot of trouble. The Disciplinary Committee is meeting about it right before Christmas break, which means I could get a very unpleasant Christmas gift. You have no idea what it would do to my family for me to get expelled from Odell. I’m not a fifth-generation rich kid like you. My dad owns an auto-repair shop. My family sacrificed so much to send me here. They’d be crushed. Not to mention that I’m a total misfit at home. Odell is the only place I fit. I just can’t get expelled.”

  Zach’s speech made Rose like him more. She wished her life at Odell could be normal for once. That there was no slipper attack, no threat of retaliation against her for ratting, that Zach Cuddy liked her, instead of Bel. Was that so much to ask? Rose’s problems were really Bel’s fault, when you thought about it. Her life would be much better if Bel just wasn’t around.

  “Just so you know, I’m no fifth-generation rich kid, eit
her,” Rose said. “I’m a poor relation, here on my grandmother’s charity. And now Grandma’s furious with me over Skyler’s lawsuit, which, when you think about it, is Bel’s fault. So, I hate Bel, too.”

  “Good. We can agree that Bel is responsible for our problems—both of our problems. Now, have you ever wondered why Bel got off with just counseling, yet Darcy and Tessa got expelled?”

  “They decided it that way because Bel was high on pain meds during the attack.”

  “I heard that, too. But does it make any sense? Since when does abusing drugs before you haze someone get you a more lenient sentence?”

  “What’s your point, Zach?”

  “The point is, Donovan is protecting her. I know that for a fact because one of the student reps on the Disciplinary Committee is a friend. He knows I’m in jeopardy, so he’s keeping me apprised.”

  “What do you mean, he’s protecting her?” Rose asked.

  “From what my friend says, Donovan spoon-fed a bullshit drug-reaction story to the Committee. He manipulated the outcome to favor Bel. Now, why would he do that? There has to be a reason. Something’s going on there, don’t you think? Some special relationship?”

  Rose remembered the moment when she confronted her sister outside the disciplinary hearing, and then Donovan came out to get Bel. Had there been a flash of something between them then? She’d been hearing the gossip for weeks now, about Bel and Mr. Donovan making eyes at each other in English class. Back when she was trying to be friends with her sister, she’d made a conscious decision not to ask her about that. It was too over-the-top, too embarrassing. And besides, Rose hadn’t really believed it.

  “You must be basing that on the gossip about them staring at each other in class,” Rose said. “I heard that, too. But even if it’s true, it hardly means they’re having an affair. I don’t believe that.”

  “Why not? I do.”

  “Zach, I basically hate my sister’s guts right now. You could probably convince me she’d do something as depraved as sleep with a teacher. But he wouldn’t do it. He has too much to lose. Mrs. Donovan is my advisor. I go to their apartment for tea. I’ve seen them together. I’ve seen him with his kids. He’s a family man.”