by Diane Hoh
The rumor on campus was that Gerrie Northrup was having serious vision problems as a result of the rock-throwing incident. Hailey had found the news very disturbing. She wasn’t a member of the Gerrie Northrup fan club, but she wouldn’t wish blindness on even her worst enemy.
“None of them ever liked me, Hailey,” Darlene was saying. “I should have known it was their fault Robert Q asked Gerrie to dance. They talked him into it. I’m sure of it.”
So that was why she wasn’t mad at Robert Q anymore. She’d rewritten the script of the party night. And she’d completely left out the scene where Robert Q bribed Richard into taking Darlene home.
“Darlene,” Hailey said, “maybe you should give up on Robert Q. Maybe you could make up with Bo now. He must care for you a lot or he wouldn’t have been so upset last night.”
“Hailey! I love Robert Q. And I know he loves me. He said so. Anyway,” Darlene deftly switched the subject, “I’m having a pizza party at my house tonight. It’ll take everyone’s mind off what happened to Gerrie.”
Hailey was too shocked to comment. Darlene was planning a party? A party? After every-thing that had happened last night?
“You’ll come, won’t you, Hailey? And bring Nell. The more, the merrier. My parents will be out, and my brother is going to a swim meet, so we’ll have the house all to ourselves. There’ll be plenty of room, no matter how big the crowd gets.”
“I don’t think—” Hailey began, but Darlene interrupted.
“I hope I can get in touch with Robert Q,” she said. “He’ll bring guys for all the girls. Then I have to call the Omega house and invite Puffy and everyone. And I’d better check with Vinnie and make sure he can handle pizza for so many people. See you tonight, Hailey. Around eight, I think. It’s 1006 Fourth Street. ’Bye.”
The phone clicked and fell silent before Hailey could say, “Darlene, no one will come. Especially not Robert Q.”
“Is she crazy?” Nell cried when Hailey told her about the invitation. “After last night? Everyone thinks she did it, Hailey.” She tossed her backpack on the bed. “Even if they didn’t suspect her, does she really think anyone from Omega house is going to show up at a townie’s party?”
“They might,” Hailey said without conviction. “They might like the idea of slumming, just for kicks. I can see Puffy going and then making snide remarks about Darlene’s party afterwards.”
“That sounds like Puffy,” Nell agreed. “But she won’t go now, not with Gerrie in the hospital. And I don’t think anyone else will, either.”
“Well, I’m going,” Hailey said grimly. “I think Darlene’s getting a really raw deal from Robert Q and his airhead friends. Are you coming?”
“Can’t.” Nell saw the expression on Hailey’s face. “Honest, Hailey, I can’t! I’ve got a paper due tomorrow and an early practice session tomorrow morning. Darlene should have waited till Friday night to have her pizza party. Hardly anyone has Saturday classes. Besides, maybe Gerrie will be out of the hospital by then and one or two people who’ve forgiven Darlene would actually show up.”
“Well, she isn’t having it Friday night,” Hailey said tartly. “She’s having it tonight. And I’m going. I don’t care if I’m the only one there.”
Because she had a paper of her own to finish, Hailey didn’t leave the dorm until eight-thirty. But it took only ten minutes to drive to town. The diner’s parking lot, when she passed it, was full, as was Vinnie’s. Hailey couldn’t help wishing she were on her way to either of those places instead of Darlene’s. Either one would probably be more fun.
The lighted white church spire rising above town pointed the way to Twin Falls. A nearly full moon turned to rippling silver the river that snaked through town.
The huge brick houses lining the left side of Pennsylvania Avenue as Hailey entered town had an unobstructed view of the river and the big park along its opposite bank, now that the giant maple trees lining the avenue had lost their leaves.
At the wide stone bridge spanning the water, Hailey stopped at a traffic light. Downtown was deserted but for a few patrons entering or leaving a pair of restaurants flanking the tall, narrow brick bank building. Mannequins stared, unseeing, from lighted store windows. The few short blocks making up the Twin Falls commercial district, thriving during the day, had, Hailey decided, an eerie quality about them at night, as if all the people had just disappeared.
When she reached Darlene’s small, two-story gray house on a street crammed with rows of identical houses, she noticed there were no other cars in the driveway or parked at the curb. And as Hailey rang the doorbell on the porch, she wondered with a sinking heart if she really might be the only party guest.
Darlene opened the door. The first thing Hailey noticed was the look of hope on her face, a look that vanished when she saw Hailey standing alone on the porch. The second thing she noticed was Darlene’s outfit. Instead of just jeans and a sweater, Darlene was wearing a hot-pink off-the-shoulder dress. She ushered Hailey into the living room. It was decorated with hanging balloons and draped streamers like, Hailey thought, a fourth-grader’s birthday party. The smell of pizza hung heavy in the air.
She went to all this trouble for Robert Q, Hailey thought, feeling sick, and he didn’t even bother to come. And if Robert Q and his friends had come, they would have laughed at Darlene’s dress, and her decorations.
Darlene turned to face Hailey. “They’re not coming, are they?” she asked in a low, tight voice. “Not even Robert Q. Am I right?”
In a room that was almost too warm, Hailey felt a chill.
Because although Darlene spoke quietly, her dark brown eyes were full of rage.
Chapter 7
“I CALLED SIGMA CHI,” said Darlene, her voice now as cold as her eyes. “The guy who answered told me Robert Q wasn’t there.” She laughed harshly. “Did he really think I couldn’t tell he was lying? How stupid do they think I am?”
Hailey didn’t have to tell Darlene that everyone at Sigma Chi probably had strict orders from Robert Q himself to tell “the townie” he wasn’t available. The expression on Darlene’s face said she already knew that.
Without another word, Darlene suddenly whirled and raced out of the room. She ran back in a moment later, waving something in the air. “This is Robert Q’s tennis letter jacket,” she said, her brown eyes glittering like marbles. “He loaned it to me one night when we went to a movie. It was cold in the theater. I thought it was such a sweet thing to do. When he didn’t ask for it back, I figured he wanted me to keep it.” She began gently stroking the jacket, her eyes dreamy.
Then her expression changed again. The dreamy look disappeared and her mouth tightened. Still holding the jacket, she grabbed Hailey’s hand and pulled her into the kitchen, where a pile of large, flat white boxes sat on the counter. “Eight, count them, eight large pizzas!” Darlene said bitterly. “I don’t know about you, Hailey, but I’ve never been hungry enough in my life to eat that much pizza!”
Hailey stood awkwardly in the center of the kitchen, feeling confused. She couldn’t tell if Darlene was furious or heartbroken. She had no idea what to say to calm her down.
They noticed the knife at precisely the same moment. It was very long and very wide. It lay beside the pizza boxes.
And before Hailey could stop her, Darlene ran to the counter, grabbed the knife, and began slashing wildly at the jacket, crying aloud, “He said he loved me! Not her, not Gerrie, me!” Tears of rage washed her face as she lifted her arm high in the air to deliver each new slash.
“Darlene, stop it!” Hailey screamed when she found her voice. Thoroughly frightened, she hesitated, afraid of getting in the way of that wickedly slashing knife. But she couldn’t simply stand by and watch. “Stop it!” she screamed again, “calm down or … or I’m leaving! Put that knife down!”
Darlene stopped slashing. She lifted her head and looked at Hailey as if she’d forgotten anyone was there. Then she sagged against the counter and let go of the knife. It
fell to the floor. Darlene looked down at the ragged remnants of Robert Q’s jacket and said in a voice drained of any emotion, “Well, he won’t be wearing this any time soon, will he?”
Shaking, Hailey walked over and picked up the knife. She stuck it in a drawer before returning to Darlene.
“I don’t suppose you feel like eating any pizza now, do you?” Darlene asked. Her cheeks were streaked with mascara, her face very pale.
Taking Darlene’s arm, Hailey led her to a stool in front of the counter, and then took another stool for herself.
Darlene sat placidly, her hands in her lap.
Watching her, Hailey found it hard to believe that only moments earlier, the girl opposite her had been wild with rage.
“Darlene,” Hailey finally said quietly, “are you okay?”
And Darlene turned to her with a face serenely composed. She smiled sweetly. “Of course, Hailey. I don’t know what got into me. I’m sorry if I scared you.” Then, a moment later, Darlene said, “I can’t believe I was mad at Robert Q. It’s so obvious that none of this is his fault. I’m sure that jerk at Sigma Chi never even told him I called.”
Hailey shifted uncomfortably on her stool. Was this the same person who had gone wild with a knife just minutes ago?
“Hailey, don’t look so worried. I’m fine, honest. But,” she said, swivelling on the stool, “you know, I really need to talk to Robert Q. Would you mind if we cut this party short?”
Hailey was only too willing to leave. But she couldn’t go without saying something about Robert Q. “Darlene,” she began hesitantly as she slid off her stool, “maybe Robert Q just isn’t the guy for you. I mean, look what this is doing to you! Don’t you think you’d be happier—”
Darlene interrupted. “Forget Robert Q? Why would I want to do that? We love each other, Hailey.”
Hailey gave up. It was hopeless. One minute, Darlene was shredding Robert Q’s jacket, and the next minute she loved him. Hopeless.
Darlene’s voice hardened again. “I don’t intend to be a waitress for the rest of my life, Hailey. Just because I didn’t get a college scholarship to Salem like my brother, people shouldn’t think I’m stupid.” She smiled coldly. “Thinking I’m stupid would be a mistake. A big mistake.”
Then she began complaining again about Gerrie Northrup and Robert Q’s other friends. Hailey tuned out, and began edging her way toward the front door. Darlene’s invective became more and more heated, and Hailey was enormously relieved when the tirade was interrupted by the arrival of Darlene’s parents.
Darlene’s mother looked exactly like an older Darlene. Her father was a small, quiet, tired-looking man. Hailey admired the couple for the way they hid their shock at seeing only one guest and enough leftover pizza to feed their family for days.
When Hailey left, Mrs. Riggs said warmly, “Thank you for coming, Hailey. Please come again.”
She knows, Hailey told herself as she drove away. I saw it in her eyes. She knows exactly what’s happening and she doesn’t know how to help Darlene.
Join the club, Mrs. Riggs, she thought grimly. I don’t know how to help your daughter, either.
When she reached campus, Hailey went straight to the library to finish up the bibliography for her English paper. She glanced around the huge first floor, hoping to see Finn. When she didn’t see him, she took a seat near the wide front windows. Seeing Darlene’s strange behavior had bothered her more than she wanted to admit. And she couldn’t shake an unsettling feeling that something terrible was going to happen.
At closing time, an hour or so later, Hailey was preparing to leave when, through the window, she saw people running past the library. It was obvious, even by the faint light from lampposts on either side of the library entrance, that they weren’t out for an evening jog. They were running. Toward something? Hailey wondered, grabbing her books, or … from something? The feeling of dread descended upon her again as she hurried outside.
They were running toward something, she discovered as she and a few other library stragglers reached the wide stone steps. A fat, black plume of smoke snaked its way toward the dark night sky from … behind the Sigma Chi house. Hailey could hear shouting in the distance, and the faint wail of a siren approaching from town.
Fire!
Hailey’s heart began to pound as her feet joined the thudding of other feet racing toward the fraternity house.
The group followed the plume of smoke to its source, the parking lot behind the big brick frat house. A crowd had already gathered in a semicircle a safe distance from the blaze. Which, to Hailey’s relief, was not the house.
A car was on fire. Unrecognizable now, it was a solid mass of red, orange, and yellow flames. The smell of burning leather was sickening. A figure illuminated by the blaze was hopping around the inferno, waving its arms and shouting indiscernable words.
“That’s Robert Q,” a voice behind Hailey said, the words tinged with disbelief. “That’s his Miata!”
Hailey looked at the figure again. Robert Q? This madman in shorts and T-shirt and barefoot, his hair sticking up every which way, features distorted with rage, was the impeccably dressed and groomed, unflappable Mr. Smooth?
“Interesting dance he’s doing,” a deep voice said into Hailey’s left ear.
She turned to find Finn standing beside her. In the flame-brightened darkness, she could see amusement in his eyes.
“What happened?” she asked him. “How did it start?”
“Beats me. I just got here.”
“She did it!” Susan Grossbeck’s voice rang out as she pushed her way to the front of the crowd. “I saw her on campus this morning, hunting for Robert Q. The poor guy was hiding from her all day.”
“Who are you talking about, Susan?” Hailey asked coolly, although she knew the answer.
“Darlene! She must have been really ticked off when she couldn’t find Robert. Then she asked us all to her stupid pizza party. Of course we didn’t go. Why would we? That must have made her even madder. So she came up here and deliberately set Robert Q’s car on fire. She should be arrested!”
“Or sent to one of those places for the criminally insane,” Puffy, standing beside Susan, agreed.
Hailey remembered the rage in Darlene’s eyes. And Darlene had had plenty of time to make the trip to campus while Hailey was in the library.
Her stomach churning, Hailey returned her attention to Robert Q. His crazy hip-hopping dance was comical, she decided, and allowed a small smile to slide across her face. After all, it wasn’t as if anyone had been hurt in the fire.
The fire truck arrived. In minutes, Robert Q’s little red sportscar became a heap of charred, smoldering metal. He stood in a puddle of water, staring bleakly at the remains, looking as if he might burst into tears at any moment.
Then Susan wailed, “Poor Robert Q’s hands are burned! They look awful, all red and scorched, like boiled lobsters.”
In an undertone, Finn said to Hailey, “That’s because the idiot grabbed the door handles when he first got here. I saw him. He was yelling something about a suede jacket inside the car. Everyone warned him not to touch the doors, but you know Robert Q. Doesn’t listen to anyone. Those door handles had to be red-hot. No wonder he screamed. He’ll feel that for a while.”
“He’ll have new wheels within twenty-four hours,” someone said. “Robert Q Parker the second will see to that.”
The excitement over, the crowd began to thin. Pete Torrance came over to ask Finn and Hailey if they’d heard what started the fire.
When they said no, he told them a fire fighter had said the fire looked like arson.
They had begun walking away from the scene. Hailey stopped in her tracks. “You mean, someone deliberately set Robert Q’s car on fire?” She was remembering Susan’s accusation about Darlene.
“Why does that surprise you?” Pete asked. “Don’t you think there are people on this campus who rejoiced tonight to see Robert Q losing his cool?”
“Of cou
rse. Sure there are. Lots of them, I guess. But starting a fire on purpose …” Hailey’s voice faded as a shudder of fear swept through her. “I thought it was probably a defective engine or something.”
Then Pete began talking to someone else. Hailey and Finn began walking again, across a campus well-lit by old-fashioned round globes on tall metal poles. She told him about Darlene’s party, and how she’d been the only guest. She didn’t mention how Darlene had attacked Robert Q’s jacket, though.
At Lester Dorm, Finn told Hailey good night. But as he turned to leave, he hesitated and then whirled around and said, “Listen, I think the way you care about Darlene is really great. She’s lucky to have someone like you on her side.” He smiled. “I wouldn’t mind getting that lucky.”
Startled, Hailey stammered, “Oh, well, thanks. Darlene may not be perfect, but she doesn’t deserve to be stepped on.”
“Right. Well, see you,” he said, and Hailey turned and left.
The acrid smell of smoke hung in the night air as Hailey returned to her dorm, wondering who, besides Darlene, hated Robert Q enough to deliberately destroy the only thing he seemed to care about.
Chapter 8
DARLENE CALLED HAILEY EARLY the next morning. Still in her white terrycloth robe, Hailey sighed when she recognized the voice. It was too early in the morning for any heavy-duty conversation. Communicating required too much brain power from someone who was basically a night person and couldn’t even match a pair of socks until she’d had her coffee.
But Darlene was already expressing her shock over the loss of Robert Q’s car, and his scalded hands. “I tried to call him, the minute Mike told me about it.”
“Mike?”
“My brother. He was on campus last night. He saw the whole thing. He heard that the fire chief thinks someone set fire to the fuel line. Robert Q must be devastated!”
“I guess you could call it that,” Hailey agreed, leaning against the wall. Fellow dorm residents wandered sleepily back and forth in the hall, a towel or cup of coffee in hand. Music drifted from more than one room and the sharp clickety-click of an old typewriter set Hailey’s teeth on edge … too jarring a sound for so early in the morning. “So,” she asked Darlene, “did you talk to Robert Q?”