Fifteen

Drew’s bedroom was straight out of a teen movie. She had a queen-size bed from Restoration Hardware with huge plump pillows and a puffy duvet, like the Princess and the Pea. There was a single trundle mattress that rolled out from underneath her bed when I stayed the night. One wall was covered in cork so she could hang stuff without leaving holes, and the other walls were painted a frosty pale pink and decorated with silver-framed black-and-white photos of Paris lined up like at a gallery. I sat on her bed, stacking the various throw pillows around me like a fortress.

Drew faced me. It felt more intense than being across from the two detectives. I’d put her off on the drive here, but there wasn’t any avoiding it.

“How did you hear?” I asked.

“Paige’s story is big news, like CNN-holy-shit-a-pretty-white-girl-is-missing big.” Drew’s voice sounded like she’d been sucking helium.

I cringed. “It’s on CNN?”

“Not yet, just the local channels, but I bet CNN picks up the story if they haven’t already. They don’t mention you in particular, just that a teen psychic gave the police critical information about the kidnapping.” Drew was flushed with red splotches staining her caramel-colored skin.

I pulled a paisley pillow to my chest. “I hope they keep my name out of it. Can they say my name on the news if I’m still in high school?”

“You have to tell me what’s going on.” Drew leaned forward.

I bit a tiny bit of skin by my thumbnail and peeled it away, liking the sharp pain. “I had a dream about Paige, and I told it to Mr. L. Next thing I knew, the cops were involved, and apparently it helped them find her car.” I paused. “It was probably just some kind of freak luck.”

“Your mom always said your whole family could do that stuff.” Drew had always been slightly in awe of my mom, who couldn’t have been more different than hers if she tried. Her mom was some bigwig health care administrator at our hospital, but she looked like an African princess. She piled her braided hair on top of her head like a crown, making her even taller and, if possible, more imposing. And she had this way of gliding rather than walking that meant she could sneak up on you before you even suspected she was there. She was super strict with Drew and her brother. There was never any confusion that she was their mom and not their best friend. Whenever my mom would flounce into my room and plop down on my bed with us, or come dancing into the living room when we were watching TV wearing something of mine, Drew would stare at her like she was a creature from another planet.

“Yeah.”

“I still can’t believe you knew where her car was. That’s just freaky.” Drew’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh my god, what if the kidnappers come after you? They might want to, you know, shut you up.”

I had no idea how my life had turned into a mobster movie where I had to stress over having people on my tail. “They’re not going to worry about me. I don’t really know anything.” I picked at the raw skin on my thumb. I wished we could talk about something else.

Drew’s hand dropped softly onto my knee. She smelled like the Clinique Happy perfume she was addicted to. “You didn’t—I mean, you did see something, right?”

I stiffened, pulling the thumb away from my mouth. “What are you trying to say?”

“Is it possible you just imagined what you saw?” Drew wouldn’t meet my eyes. “Given, you know, your past.”

Her words fell with a thunk between us. So much for thinking she would never drag this back out. My mouth went dry. “I didn’t make this up.”

“I’m not saying you would do it on purpose.” Drew’s hand waved away my concern. “But maybe your mental health situation clouds how you see things.”

“I don’t have mental health problems,” I bit out. She made it sound like I heard voices or needed a straitjacket. “It’s just anxiety.”

“There’s nothing wrong with having mental health issues. It’s the same as any other health condition.” Clearly she’d been paying attention to the various public service announcements her mom was always making. “Is it possible that the anxiety made you see stuff?” Drew shrugged. “I don’t know much about it, but maybe when the news came out that Paige went missing, your brain sorta wanted to think it knew something.”

“What would be the point?” I asked. “Do you think I’m doing it for attention?” I had the urge to throw one of her J. Crew pillows at her. Or a book. Maybe a brick. She was supposed to be my best friend. Not second-guessing everything I did.

“Maybe your subconscious mind was reaching out.”

“Then how did I know the parking stall number?” I stopped myself from saying anything further by biting down on my lip.

Drew threw her arm around me. “Hey, don’t get mad. I always have your back. I don’t want, you know, things to go bad like they did before. You’ve never hinted that you ever had any real ability in that area. I thought you did readings for fun. If it was just a guess, now would be the time to come clean, before stuff gets worse.”

Drew had no way of knowing this could make what happened in eighth grade look like nothing. Every second I stuck with this story, I got in deeper and deeper, but I couldn’t see any way out other than to keep moving forward.

“I don’t need you lecturing me,” I said. Drew and I had been friends for years, but there were times when she crossed the line from being my friend to acting like my mom. Worse than that—she acted like her mom.

Drew shrugged.

“Seriously, I have this handled,” I lied.

“All I was trying to say is that maybe this wasn’t some big psychic moment. Maybe it was just you noticing something the rest of us missed. You’re good at that. You see things a different way.”

“You mean I’m a freak.” I wanted to blow up at Drew, but she wasn’t making it easy. She kept deflecting everything, staying calm, which somehow annoyed me even further.

“I didn’t say that. I’m worried because I can’t figure out why you didn’t tell me when you had this vision,” Drew said. “This is a huge deal. Like, huge huge. We’re best friends—we’re supposed to share everything.”

I sighed. We were best friends, but Drew didn’t see it. That our lives were spinning off into different directions. It was one thing when we both lived here, when we went to the same school, but things were going to change in a few weeks, and they would never go back. Guess it turns out I can see the future.

“I don’t know why I didn’t talk to you about it.” There was no way to explain I’d hoped to never tell her. The urge to laugh hysterically was a tight ball in my chest. I’d actually thought at one point that this would be easy. That I’d say a few things, Pluto would get the money and pay me, Paige would come home, and I could go on with my life like nothing had happened. I was pissed at myself for being stupid. How had I not realized what a big deal all of this would become? I’d wanted the cash so bad I didn’t think it through. “The situation was weird. I wasn’t sure what to make of it, so I told Lester, he told the cops, and the whole thing sorta snowballed from there.”

Drew nibbled on the corner of her lip. “Was it freaky talking to the police?”

“A bit,” I admitted, my anger melting away. Maybe if I told her what I’d done, she could help. Or her parents could. They weren’t lawyers, but they were the kind of people who were friends with lawyers. Her mom and dad had the responsible adult thing down. If Drew had started talking about psychic skills and missing girls, they wouldn’t have made business cards. In her house, there were chore charts and curfews. I tried to pull more air into my lungs and think of how to even start that conversation.

Drew jumped off the bed, shocking me into silence. “You know what makes me feel better? Ice cream. If my idiot brother didn’t eat it all, there’s some in the freezer.” She pulled me up and hugged me. “Don’t worry, it’ll all work out.”

I followed her downstairs and tried to work up some hunger for Breyers Cookies & Cream. The moment had passed. I floated with the anxiety, riding it instead of fighting, the way Lester had taught me. I just had to stay calm. I had to be smart.