Never Have I Ever

by Sara Shepard

Page 26

 

  Emma looked into Madeline’s bright blue eyes, touched. Sutton’s friends might not be perfect, but they were loyal.

  “And Charlotte told me that when she dated Garrett, he was weirdly obsessed with the Summer Olympics,”

  Madeline went on, snickering. “Especial y women’s gymnastics. Can you imagine? They’re linebacker-ish gnomes!”

  Thanks for tel ing me this when I was alive, guys. But Emma giggled. “Yeah, maybe he wasn’t worth it. ”

  “Definitely. ” Madeline reached up to adjust the crown on her head. Her sleeve slipped down her arm, revealing bare skin. Emma saw four purplish bruises on the inside of her forearm in the shape of fingers.

  Emma gasped. “Mads, what happened?”

  Madeline fol owed Emma’s gaze and paled. “Oh. Nothing. ” She tugged the sleeve back down, her hands trembling. It got caught on her bracelet, and she struggled with it until it fel past her wrist. Then, Emma saw the pinkish burn on her hand. And the bruise on her calf. And another one on the side of her neck.

  Alarms clanged in Emma’s head. She’d met plenty of kids in foster care who didn’t want to talk about their black eyes, the missing clumps of hair on their heads, the burns on their arms.

  “Mads,” Emma whispered. “You can tel me. It’s okay. ”

  Madeline’s mouth formed a straight line. She pushed her pointer finger into a carved groove in the bench. “It doesn’t matter. ”

  “Yes, it does. ”

  Girls’ voices floated past the locker room. Another scream rang out from the haunted house. The second hand on the clock over the gym teacher’s office made a half rotation before Madeline spoke again. “It was because of the cigarette. ”

  “The cigarette?”

  “The cigarette I was smoking out the window last Saturday. I broke a rule. I deserved it. ”

  “Deserved it?” Emma repeated. Mr. Vega’s angry face flashed in her mind. “Oh, Mads. ”

  Al at once, I saw a vision, too: Mr. Vega bursting into Madeline’s bedroom, his face red and shiny, his voice booming. I swear to God, Madeline, if you break your curfew one more time, I’ll break your neck! Madeline ran down the stairs after him, and moments later I heard heated but muffled shouts. Then there was a clang, as though a shelf ful of pots and pans clattered to the floor. I had sat there, doing nothing. Too afraid to act.

  Madeline had returned a few minutes later, her cheeks streaked with tears and her eyes red. But she smiled and shrugged and pretended nothing had happened, and I didn’t ask.

  Emma held tight to Madeline’s hands. “Was this what you wanted to talk to me about a while ago? The night you tried cal ing and I didn’t pick up my phone?”

  Madeline nodded, her lips pursed so tightly they were translucent.

  “I’m so sorry,” Emma said, swal owing a hard lump in her throat. “I should have been there for you. ” She wondered how much Sutton real y knew about al this, or if Madeline had kept it a wel -hidden secret.

  “I’m sorry, too,” I added, even though she couldn’t hear me. I had a feeling Mads and I had never discussed it before, not even that night. The phone cal , the one she’d made to me the night I died, was the very first time she’d reached out. I would have answered it if I could, but I was already gone.

  “It’s okay. ” Madeline said to Emma, her voice wobbly. “I cal ed Charlotte. She was actual y pretty awesome about the whole thing. I wanted to tel you later, but . . . ” Madeline let out a bitter laugh and smoothed down the layers of her ful skirt. “Believe it or not, this is nothing compared to what Dad used to do to Thayer. ” She peeked at Emma. “But I guess Thayer told you that, right?”

  Emma’s skin prickled at the sound of Thayer’s name. Would Thayer have told Sutton something so personal?

  Had they been that close?

  A whoosh came over me again. That same moment I’d seen before, of Thayer taking my hands and tel ing me something, trying to make me understand. Had it been about his dad?

  “You have to tel someone about this, Mads,” Emma insisted. “What he’s doing to you is wrong. And dangerous. ”

  “Are you kidding me?” The crown slipped down

  Madeline’s forehead. “He’d find a way to twist this around and make it my fault. My mom would side with him, too. And it is my fault. If I didn’t keep screwing up, things would be fine. ”

  “Madeline, this isn’t normal,” Emma said forceful y.

  “Promise me you’l think about saying something. Please?”

  Madeline stared at her hands. “Maybe. ”

  “There are a lot of people around to support you if you do. Char, me, Freddy Krueger . . . ”

  Madeline raised her head and cracked a smile. “Oh God, that costume is awful. ”

  “It freaks me out,” Emma agreed. “I’m going to have nightmares. ”

  “Everyone is. He thinks he looks real y cool. ”

  “Just don’t let him slow-dance with you,” Emma warned.

  “Could you imagine those slasher hands on your butt?”

  The girls col apsed into giggles, nearly tumbling off the bench. A group of sophomores in matching Arizona Cardinals cheerleading costumes marched in, stopped short when they saw Emma and Madeline, and then filed back out again. That just made the two of them laugh even harder.

  When they final y stopped, Emma cleared her throat and felt her smile fade. “Mads, I am here for you. I’m sorry if . . . if it seemed like I wasn’t before. ”

  Madeline stood and reached a hand out to grab Emma’s. “I’m glad I told you. ”

  “I’m glad you did, too,” Emma said, giving Sutton’s friend

  —and her friend—a hug. “We’re going to figure out a way to make this better,” she said. “I promise. ”

  Lights swirled around them as they emerged into the bal room once more. Madeline headed for the dance floor; Emma said she’d catch up with her in a minute after she got some punch. She scanned the room for the Twitter Twins, her heart jumping when she didn’t immediately see them. As she walked toward the drinks table, a hand gripped her shoulder and spun her around. Dark eyes stared down on her. In the dim, orangey light, Emma could make out two faint Viking horns on the figure’s head.

  “We need to talk,” Garrett growled. And then he pul ed Emma into a supply closet before anyone could see that she was gone.

  Chapter 24

  The Viking’s Revenge

  Garrett slammed the closet door. It took a moment for Emma’s eyes to adjust to the dim light. Above her head was a bin of red rubber dodgebal s. To her left were soccer nets, field hockey pinnies, and extra lacrosse sticks. The tiny room smel ed stale, as though it had been closed up for a while. The brightest things in the room were Garrett’s Viking horns, which gave off an eerie, iridescent glow.

  “What do you want?” Emma asked, trying not to get too freaked. This was just Garrett, after al . He was harmless . . . wasn’t he?

  Al of a sudden, crammed into a dark closet and focusing on the white of Garrett’s bared teeth, even I wasn’t so sure.

  “I just need to ask you something, okay?” Garrett’s voice was wound tight. He took another step toward Emma, nearly pinning her against the shelving unit behind her.

  “What’s this I hear about you hanging out with another guy already?”

  “W-what?” Emma stammered.

  “Don’t lie to me. ” Garrett clamped a hand around Emma’s wrist. “I’ve heard al about it. Who is he?”

  He sounded so certain, so sure of himself. Someone had told him about Ethan. “Who’d you hear that from? Nisha?”

  “So it’s true, then?” Garrett’s breath smel ed yeasty-sweet, like beer. Emma turned away. “It’s none of your business. ”

  Garrett sighed. His grip softened a little, and his fingers began tickling the inside of Emma’s palm. “Sutton, what did I do to deserve this? This summer was amazing—I know you thought so, too. You did nothing al summer but beg and beg and beg
me to sleep with you, and the day I want to, you freak. Did I wait too long? Had you already moved on?

  Is that why you dumped me?”

  “Excuse me?” Emma straightened up. “I believe you were the one who dumped me. You were the one who said we were done, remember?”

  Garrett scoffed. “Not cal ing me for three days after rejecting me when I was naked sends a pretty strong message, Sutton. Dating someone else does, too. ”

  Emma smacked a palm to her side. “What about you and Nisha? Love your twin Viking costumes, by the way. You two make a cute couple. ”

  “Please. I only brought her here to make you jealous. ”

  “Too bad,” Emma snarled. “It’s obvious Nisha’s crazy about you. ”

  “Unlike you?” Garrett placed his rough, cold hands on the sides of Emma’s face.

  Emma swiped them away. “Cut it out, Garrett. ”

  “Don’t you feel anything for me? You have to feel something, Sutton. ” He rested a hand on her shoulder.

  “Don’t you miss what we had?”

  Emma let out a breath. “I’m sorry. I don’t feel anything anymore. ”

  Garrett stepped back and appraised Emma, shaking his head slowly as if seeing her for the first time. “So is this al a game to you? Were you stringing me along the whole time? Was it because of Charlotte? Because you had to have everything she had?”

  “No! Do you real y think I’m that big of a bitch?”

  “Then did you do it just because you could?” Garrett went on, his face close to Emma’s. His breath was making her dizzy. “Just like what you did to Thayer. ”

  Thayer’s name ripped through Emma like a knife. “I

  +wdon’t know what you mean . . . ” she started, choosing her words careful y. “What exactly do you think I did to Thayer?”

  Garrett snickered. “You are so in denial, Sutton!

  Everyone saw that fight between you guys just before he left. He loved you. He would’ve done anything for you. But you stomped on his heart. Just like you stomped on mine. You made him run away. He’s lucky, though, because unlike me, at least he never has to see you again. ”

  Emma’s mouth dropped open. But before she could ask anything more, Garrett opened the door to the supply closet, leaving Emma alone with gymnastics mats and a barrel ful of basebal bats. His words hung heavy in the room, almost palpable. He would’ve done anything for you. But you stomped on his heart. You made him run away. Once again, I saw Thayer shouting at me, his eyes ful of conflict and emotion. Was it my fault that he left? What had I done to him? Was there anyone I’d spared?

  Emma ran a hand through her hair and smoothed the folds of her tweed suit. After a moment, she stepped into the gym, nearly knocking over a tal guy dressed in a Robin Hood costume. A tal , broad-shouldered, familiar Robin Hood, to be exact, holding the hand of a girl dressed in a curly brown wig and an Elizabethan gown.

  Emma stepped back and blinked rapidly. “Ethan?”