More than anything, I wanted to rush over and smother them with hugs. I had so much to tell them — all of it totally unbelievable, which is why I just stood there, disappearing like a ghost of myself as the janitor cap slid low over my forehead.
There was a footstep behind me. A hand touched my shoulder.
I whirled around to find Eli. “Amber?” he whispered. “What is it?”
I pointed, my arm shaking. “They’re here.”
“Your friends,” he guessed in a sympathetic tone that nearly broke down my resolve not to cry.
“We better go,” I managed to say.
But as I spoke, Dustin looked up from the couch. His eyes widened. He set down his cell phone and stood, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
“Hey, I know you,” he said.
Was I imagining the recognition on his face? But how could he possibly recognize me in this body? Unless he had psychic powers or our friendship was even stronger than I thought. This was like a miracle! Would Alyce recognize me, too? I’d known her longer than Dustin, since first grade. Yet she just sat on the couch, staring with a look as blank as the sketchbook on her lap.
But Dustin moved forward a few steps, until we were a touch away.
Then he turned away from me.
Toward Eli.
“Eli Rockingham?” Dustin nodded in greeting. “From Halsey High?”
“Yeah. Hey, Dustin,” Eli said, with a sideways glance at me.
“I thought I recognized you from science class.”
“With Mr. Walberg.”
“Yeah. You sit in the back and never say much.”
“Who needs to with you in the class?” Eli joked. “You say enough for everyone else.”
“True. Mr. Walberg needs someone like me to keep things interesting.” Dustin paused, frowning. “So what brought you here?”
Me! I wanted to answer. But Dustin didn’t glance my way, as if the uniform really did make me invisible. With my blonde hair pulled back and no makeup, Leah’s best friends probably wouldn’t recognize her.
I bent over a garbage can as if I really were a janitor and covertly watched Dustin. He was a mess. His hair was uncombed, his shirt was wrinkled as if he’d slept in it, and his socks were two different colors. Without me around to double-check his colors, he probably didn’t even realize his mistake.
“I’m here to visit someone,” Eli told Dustin.
“Hope it’s not serious. A family member?” Dustin asked.
“Well … uh … not my family … a friend.” Eli hesitated. I guessed he was composing a convincing lie. So I almost fell over when he admitted, “I came to see Amber Borden.”
“Amber?” Dustin tilted his head, startled. “You know her?”
“I was just getting to,” Eli said.
“Amber never mentioned you.” Alyce came to stand supportively beside Dustin. Her narrowed black eyes challenged Eli to “prove it.”
“We’d met years ago, when she welcomed my brother and me to school with a great basket. We got to talking at Jessica’s party and found out we had a lot in common.”
Alyce folded her arms across her chest. “Like what?”
“Chocolate and math.”
“Her favorite things.” Alyce’s face crumpled and she leaned against Dustin. “She used to help me with my math homework. I’m horrible in math. And I don’t care much for chocolate. But Amber and I were still closer than sisters. I–I miss her so much.”
Dustin smoothed Alyce’s black hair. “It’s okay.”
“No it’s not!” Alyce sobbed. “You heard what the doctor said … what he’s going to do to her body. Cut her up like some science experiment — I can’t take it! Amber and I had all these plans, like getting into the same college, sharing a dorm room. Her little sisters will never get to know her now, and she won’t be there for me when things at home make me crazy and I need to talk to her.”
“I’m here for you,” Dustin offered.
“It’s not the same.”
“It’s hard for me, too.” A tear trickled down Dustin’s unshaven cheek. He glanced up at Eli. “I’ll tell Amber’s family you stopped by.”
Eli frowned. “I really hoped to see her.”
“Sorry, man. Only family and close friends are allowed in her room. But she’s beyond knowing, anyway … and it’ll be over—” His voice cracked. “I–It’s hard to talk about. We’re waiting for the doctor to come for us … to let us know …”
“Isn’t she going to make it?”
Dustin gritted his teeth, still holding onto Alyce as he shook his head. “It doesn’t look good.”
Shocked by the finality in his voice, I stumbled and knocked over the garbage can. Trash spilled around my ankles and a soda can rolled toward the door.
Dustin moved quickly, coming over to pick up the can. “Here,” he said.
“Thanks,” I murmured. “This should go into recycling, though, not the trash.”
Dustin started to turn, but then stared into my face. There was a flicker of curiosity — or maybe puzzlement — in his gaze. “Do I know you?” he asked.
I nodded, slipping the aluminum can into a pocket of the uniform.
His eyes widened, then knitted together. “You’re … you’re—”
“Yes, Dust?” I asked hopefully.
“Leah Montgomery!”
Wrong answer, I thought, disheartened.
“You can’t possible work here,” he said incredulously. “As a janitor?”
“I’m here because of Amber. Please, Dustin … Can’t you see who I really am?”
“Everyone at Halsey knows who you are. I’ve seen you at lunch in that center table. It’s cool you’re … um … working here. Not what I’d expect … I mean … any job is great … even when your family is, like, rich.” Put him in front of a crowd at a rally and he was confident, but in front of a pretty girl, he forgot how to talk.
“Relax, Dust,” I told him. “There’s no reason to be nervous with me.”
“Who’s nervous? I’m not.”
“And I’m not Leah.”
“We don’t care if you’re a janitor or queen of the universe.” Alyce pushed between us, her sorrow shifted to anger. “This isn’t about you — it’s about my friend Amber. I don’t believe you even know her.”
“I know more about her than you think.”
Alyce rolled her eyes. “I doubt you even know her favorite color.”
“Jade green.”
“What does she collect?”
“Self-help books. Piled all over the room and you make dumb jokes about how Amber needs a self-help book on how to organize self-help books.”
Dustin looked impressed, but Alyce sneered. “Anyone could know. You’re pathetic. Amber would have told me if you two were friends — she told me everything. Being here won’t impress anyone, so why don’t you leave? If you hadn’t noticed, our best friend is … is—” Her voice cracked.
Eli quickly moved beside me. “Leah cares. She’s wearing that uniform because she’s a hospital volunteer. I ran into her on my way to see Amber and found out she had the same idea.”
Dustin tilted his head toward me. “Did you send flowers?”
“Flowers?” I blinked.
“The card said they were from Leah Montgomery, but I didn’t believe it. The bouquet was so big the crystal vase didn’t even fit on the tray, so it had to go on the floor.”
The flowers I’d bought with Leah’s credit card. “Yeah, I sent them. Her accident was so tragic. I couldn’t feel worse if it had happened to me.”
“I know she’d appreciate it if she could …” Dustin looked away, wiping his eyes.