As Jesse walks to school the next morning he can’t recall the last Friday he actually attended. Other kids skip to start their weekend early. He just skips. Today he even has a good reason to not go. He couldn’t sleep last night, so he took something because he needed to rest up for the track meet. Then he woke up groggy, which meant two cups of coffee, and now he’s on edge, his stomach roiling.
He could say he’s here because of the track meet, but it’s not like anyone’s going to say “Hey, Mandal, you didn’t show up for class – cool your heels on the bench.” He is the star, after all.
It’s possible a teacher could mention his absence when his parents come to watch. Sure, let’s go with that. He’s here to avoid disappointing his parents and not because, with Skye at school, he feels some weird compulsion to shape up, a fear of her discovering how far he’s fallen.
He barely gets through the doors when he hears “Jesse Mandal to the office, Jesse Mandal to the office.”
Good thing he didn’t skip. As for why he’s being called to the office, he has no idea. Cutting class really is the extent of his rebelling.
No, that’s not exactly true.
But that isn’t rebellion, is it? It’s not like he’s doing it for himself.
Still, it’d get him into a lot worse trouble than skipping class. He’d be expelled for sure, and then his parents would find out, and they’d be crushed.
That’d be irony, wouldn’t it? He starts doing something to make his parents proud, to distract them from his brother’s death, and that same thing could hurt them even worse.
The secretary ushers Jesse into Vaughn’s office, and the VP motions for him to shut the door.
“There was a fire last night,” Vaughn says as Jesse takes a seat.
Jesse lifts his brows, as if he’s surprised by this. He doesn’t dare do more. He sucks at lying. He heard the alarms yesterday. Before that, he’d been outside running laps, working through some stuff, which mostly meant resisting the urge to follow Skye from school. That crap was getting weird, and all his self-talk about watching over her and worrying about her didn’t erase the fact that if anyone caught him, it’d look like stalking.
Um, because it is?
So he ran instead. In books, he’s read about love/hate relationships, and he never knew what that meant until he started running. He loved how it made him feel when the endorphins kicked in, and he loved the freedom of being in an empty field, just running, knowing no one would bother him.
But he hated running for competition, for praise, for awards. Especially when he hadn’t earned it.
Yesterday, no matter how fast he ran, he couldn’t escape the feeling that he should be with Skye. Looking after her.
Talking to her?
Yeah, there’s an idea.
Once he decided Skye would be long gone, he came into school to change his clothes, and he found himself walking behind Tiffany and another kid. He heard them talking about Skye, which made him eavesdrop. It seemed Skye had been at their newspaper meeting, and they’d left her doing some kind of research.
He wandered a bit, but finally he couldn’t resist circling past the newspaper office. Just… you know, checking on her.
The door was closed, with a light shining under it. When Jesse heard footsteps, he took off but didn’t actually leave. He wandered the halls, working up the courage to go talk to Skye.
Then the alarm sounded. The fire alarm. Some idiot pulling it for fun, which meant Jesse got the hell out before anyone started asking why he was hanging around.
Now Vaughn is saying there was a fire. A real fire. And all Jesse can think is —
“Skye?”
Vaughn pulls back. “Interesting word association, Mr. Mandal.”
“I just… I heard… I heard she joined the newspaper club, and I know they meet on Thursdays.”
He waits for Vaughn’s eyebrows to lift. For the VP to wonder why Jesse is taking such an interest in Skye Gilchrist’s schedule.
He’s ready with an excuse, but Vaughn just steeples his fingers and says, “Yes, Skye was here. That’s actually where the fire started. In the newspaper office.”
“What?” Jesse jerks forward.
He should have stayed. Should have made sure there wasn’t a real fire. Made sure she was okay.
“Is Skye all right?” he asks.
Vaughn just sits there, his fingers still steepled. It’s a stupid gesture, and Jesse wants to smack his hands down.
Instead, he repeats, “Is Skye all right?”
“She claims someone locked her in that office and pushed papers and lit matches under the door.”
“What?”
“Someone also claims to have seen you take off after Skye escaped.”
“She got out, then. So she’s okay?”
“Did you hear what I said, Mr. Mandal?”
Sure, but it’s true. He was there.
Then it clicks. He was seen hanging around Skye. After school. Following her.
“I was out running laps. Then I came back to change.”
“Did anyone see you doing that, Mr. Mandal?”
There’s a moment of panic as he scrambles for an alibi.
“You understand this is a very serious charge, don’t you, Mr. Mandal?”
Stop calling me that, you pretentious ass.
“Okay,” he says. “So someone saw me after Skye was…”
After Skye was trapped in a fire.
Vaughn isn’t accusing him of being a little too interested in a fellow student.
“You think… You think I locked her in there? Set the fire? No. I’d never hurt —”
Never hurt anyone? That’s what he used to say, wasn’t it? What everyone said about him. He remembers in fourth grade, some kid shoved him on the steps. When Jesse fell and twisted his ankle, the kid tried to say Jesse kicked him.
Jesse? Seriously? You’re accusing Jesse of hurting you? Try again, loser.
He might forget the name of the kid who pushed him, but he remembers the one who came to his defense, who helped him up and put his arm over her shoulders and got him to the office. The one who, years later, wouldn’t even remember she did it because that was just second nature for her.
Skye.
And how did he help when she needed it? Led the charge by rejecting her in math class, and then told himself that following her around was “protecting” her. Like that earned him a gold medal for bravery.
“Mr. Mandal?”
“I would never hurt Skye. Ever.”
Vaughn purses his lips, as if he’s assessing Jesse’s reaction. No, he’s pretending to assess it. He’s already made up his mind.
“I know you can’t be happy about having Miss Gilchrist here,” Vaughn says finally.
“Sure, it caught me off guard that first day, but I’m fine with it. I was a jerk. I keep meaning to apologize.”
“So you haven’t done or said anything to her since that first day?”
He shakes his head. “I’ve been sitting in front of her in math, to show I’m okay with her being there.”
“Is it possible you’ve done something to make Miss Gilchrist feel you don’t want her here?”
Besides being a jerk on Wednesday when she tried to talk to me?
“I don’t think so.” He pauses. “Is she the one who saw me taking off when the alarm went?”
“What do you think of her story, Mr. Mandal?”
“Story?”
“About the fire. Being locked in. Someone shoving paper and lit matches under the door. Seems a bit farfetched, don’t you think? Her records suggest she does have a penchant for fiction… and for causing trouble.”
“Sure. Skye…” Jesse sees where this is going. “You think she made it up?”
“It’s a very odd story. Very creative.”
“Skye pulled pranks as a kid. That’s all they were. Pranks and sometimes mouthing off. She’s not going to lock herself in a room and start a fire. That’s nuts. And I’m pretty sure you shouldn’t be discussing this with me anyway. Isn’t that a violation of her privacy?”
Vaughn’s lips compress. “That will be all, Mr. Mandal. Thank you for your assistance.”