Cynthia caught up to her. “Did she seriously just follow you into the bathroom?”
Alix shook her head. “You don’t want to know.”
“Does she wipe, too?”
Alix snorted laughter and glanced back at Lisa. If Lisa heard or cared, she didn’t show it. “I’m in hell,” Alix said.
“You know, there might be a bright side to this,” Cynthia said.
“Please tell me.”
“Maybe we can use her as a designated driver.”
Alix laughed and shook her head, grateful that Cynthia was trying to make her feel better about the whole thing. It was all so absurd. “I wish.”
They pushed into AP Chem class and found their seats. Lisa slipped in and slouched against the back wall. Alix stared out the window. Red paint still stained the glass, turning the whole chem lab a pale pink as sunlight filtered through. The custodial staff had apparently tried everything, but the paint still remained. Rumor had it that Mulroy was tearing his hair out over it. The paint would have to be sandblasted off. Which actually meant that the windows would all have to be replaced, and now the whole classroom smelled like paint remover, thanks to the failed cleaning efforts.
Alix peered out through the paint residue to the world outside. Cynthia’s comment about designated drivers did raise a question. How am I supposed to go out on a Friday night with my friends if I’ve got adult supervision watching my every move? Talk about a crimp on life.
It wasn’t even like she had some grand plan for what she’d be doing over the weekend. It wasn’t like she was some kind of wild child who was planning on getting it on at one of Brent Wall’s drug-fueled pool parties, but she couldn’t see going to a party on Friday night, or going to the movies with her friends, or catching an afternoon Starbucks with Lisa as her tagalong. She’d never needed minding in her life. Jonah was the one who needed minding. Jonah was the one who got into trouble. Alix was the good girl. Mom and Dad trusted her, and freedom was her reward.
So why didn’t you tell them about stalker boy coming to visit?
Because then they’d know you have really shitty judgment.
Cynthia was right. She should have said something. Even Jonah would have been smart enough to say something. And yet here she was, lying low with the secret.
Alix gazed over at Cynthia longingly. The girl did her work, got her good grades, partied, and didn’t get caught. They were a perfect pair, and it infuriated Alix that she had somehow been targeted by the universe. Cynthia was sure to be free on Friday. And Alix was sure to be trapped at home.
Alix squinted through the smeared windows as a guy in a white Animal Control suit dashed across campus holding a rat high.
2.0 had sure done a number on Seitz.
Jonah had described the details that he’d gleaned with the relish of a fanboy. It was just the kind of thing the poor kid went to bed fantasizing about. A way to get back at Seitz. But this was beyond even Jonah’s fevered imagination: An elaborate network of trip wires that the SWAT people had triggered when they’d come into the school, arrays of synchronized electric pumps and toy water guns all going off in concert, triggered by Wi-Fi repeaters, all of them placed just so, to display 2.0’s tag to the world…. And then, of course, the rats. Thousands and thousands of rats.
But the most amazing thing about the prank was that there was no evidence of how it had been accomplished. None of the security cams had a bit of footage. Not a single witness. It was as if the entire elaborate setup had been teleported into the science building. Alix sighed as she stared out through the red-smeared window, watching students as they hurried across the quad to their own classes.
There was a life out there, but she couldn’t quite reach it. Instead, she was stuck in here with the paint and the industrial solvents and Death Barbie, all thanks to the cleverness of 2.0.
When Alix saw Jonah after school, he looked even more miserable than Alix felt, and it almost cheered her up. He was being trailed by a mountainous guy who was twice his size, a huge steroid-infused creature whom Jonah had nicknamed Hulk but who was actually named Gunter.
“Don’t be fooled by the ’roids. He’s fast,” Jonah groused. “I tried to ditch twice. He caught me both times.”
That, Alix could at least laugh at. Other kids were coming out of school and heading for their cars or getting picked up by parents and nannies. They were all giving them weird looks. Alix with Death Barbie, Jonah with Hulk.
Sophie and Derek came over. “We’re going to go get coffee…” they trailed off, looking at Alix and her brother’s security detail.
Before Alix could answer, Lisa said, “You’ve got an appointment at home, Alix.”
Alix glared at Lisa. “Can I check in at least? Maybe change plans? Would that be okay with you?”
Lisa shrugged and looked away.
The phone at home rang and rang. Alix tried her mom’s cell, but, of course, it went to voice mail. As usual. Alix racked her brain as she smiled at Lisa. She pretended to dial another number and pressed the phone to her ear.
“Hi, Dad? Yeah. I was going to grab a coffee with Sophie before I come home. Is that okay?” she said to the ringing phone on the other end. “Cool! Thanks!” She ended the fake call.
“We’re good,” she said to Sophie. “Let’s go.”
Lisa was just looking at her, a small, knowing smile on her face as she shook her head. “I’m sorry, Alix—unless I can talk to your father, we’re going to have to go home now.” Even as she spoke, a car slid up to the curb, a black Mercedes with a driver who had undoubtedly been vetted by Williams & Crowe.
Lisa went and opened the door. She waited expectantly, her smile chilly, knowing that Alix had faked the call, not bothering to hide that she knew.
Alix sighed, defeated. “I guess I can’t.”
“Wow,” Sophie said.
“Tell me about it.”
Alix let herself be stuffed into the car with Jonah. She waved ironically at Sophie and Derek as the car pulled away from the curb, but Sophie had already turned away to talk to Cynthia, who was coming down the steps. All three headed off toward the student parking lot.
Alix wistfully watched them recede.
“Seat belts,” Lisa said
Alix sighed. It was like having Mom with her all the time.
I’m in hell, she thought. I’m in pure living hell.
10
JONAH STARED OUT THE CAR window, seemingly lost in the streets of Haverport as they slid by outside. Alix found herself feeling sorry for him. When the doctors described Jonah, they started with words like “active” and “impulse control” and ended with words like ADHD and Adderall.
Jonah had been thrilled at the Adderall proposal. He’d been planning on selling it to juniors and seniors who were cramming for SATs and Advanced Placement tests, but then Dad vetoed the idea of drugging him. And it really was hard to tell how much help the kid needed. Between his jokes and hyperactivity, and the compulsive urge to go AWOL from Seitz, something was clearly amiss, but it was hard to tell if it was something wrong with the way Jonah’s brain was wired or if the real problem was that Mom and Dad were trying to jam him into a life where he simply refused to fit. Sometimes Alix suspected that the kid was smarter than all of them and that his reckless persona was just an act designed to get him out of Seitz once and for all.
Jonah caught Alix looking at him. “What?”
Alix smiled. “Nothing.”
He was a pain in the neck, but she liked him. Lately she’d been realizing that not everyone ended up liking their sibs. Sometimes they just weren’t made to get along. Sophie hated her older sister Simone. But Alix liked Jonah. Even if he was always one step away from turning fugitive on her.