Red Rain: A Novel (26 page)

Mark shook his head. “No. No arrow. Please. Tell me I’m dreaming this.”

“We’re going to rule the school,” Daniel repeated. He raised his palm, and Ira slapped him a high five.

“Go remove it. All three of you,” Mark insisted.

“Why weren’t you in your room?” Elena asked Ira.

He pointed to the twins. “I’m living with
them
now.”

Mark’s breath caught in his throat. “You’re
what
? You’re giving up your room?”

Lea: “When did you decide this?”

Ira shrugged. He seemed to have no idea of how poorly this was going over with the rest of his family.
Or maybe he doesn’t care?
Mark thought.

But that didn’t make sense. Timid, fearful Ira always needed the acceptance and support of Mark and Lea. He was desperate for their attention, their approval.

“It’s cool,” Ira said. “I moved some of my stuff out last night. The twins and I—we’re going to stick together.”

Mark took a long breath. “Isn’t this something you should probably discuss with your mom and me? You can’t just move out of the house without telling us. I mean, whose idea was this?”

He turned to the twins, who were spreading grape jelly onto their toaster waffles. “Was this
your
idea?”

Before they could answer, the phone rang.

Mark squinted at the ID screen. “I don’t recognize the number.” He picked up the phone from the kitchen counter and clicked it on. “Hello?”

“Hello, Mark? This is Ginny Margulies. Ethan’s mother?”

“Oh, yes. Hi, Ginny. How—”

“Is Ethan there? Did he stay over there last night? I’m really worried. He wasn’t in his room this morning and . . . and . . . is he there with you?”

M
ark felt his throat tighten. He turned to Ira. “Did Ethan spend the night here last night?”

Ira nodded.

“Are you
kidding
me?” Mark exploded.

Ira grabbed a toaster waffle. The twins giggled.

“Ethan is here?” Mark demanded. He heard Ginny Margulies shout something in his ear. “Where is he?”

“Out back,” Ira replied. He loaded the waffle into the toaster.

“Your mom and I were out. Didn’t Roz check on you last night? She said she checks on the guesthouse every night.”

Ira shrugged. “Axl was crying a lot. Roz didn’t come.”

Mark looked to Lea to say something. But she stood frozen, leaning against the refrigerator with her arms crossed.
Just watching. Why isn’t she giving me a little support here?

“You’re not going to school till you explain this,” Mark said to Ira. “And you are all going to remove those stupid arrows from your faces.”

“I don’t think so,” Ira said softly.

“Is my family getting weird?” Elena chimed in.

“Ethan is here,” Mark said into the phone.

“Oh, thank goodness.” He heard a long sigh at the other end.

“But we didn’t know—”

“You don’t know who’s staying in your own house?” Her worst fear over, the woman quickly turned angry. “I don’t understand. Why didn’t he call me and tell me where he was? Why didn’t
you
call me? Somebody?”

“Please. Calm down. Ethan is fine. There was a mix-up, that’s all. My sister was supposed to check on them.”

Mark wanted to end the conversation. But he knew there was just more confrontation facing him after he hung up.

What is Ira’s story? Why is he acting so un-Ira-like?

“Can I at least talk to him?” Mrs. Margulies’s voice was tight and challenging.

“Well, no. I don’t see him yet. He—” Mark realizing how feeble he sounded.

“Well, where
is
he?”

Mark lowered the phone. “Ira? Can you go get Ethan? His mother wants to speak with him.”

Ira took a bite of toaster waffle. He stared back at Mark as if he didn’t understand the question.

The twins giggled again.

Elena rolled her eyes. “What is your
problem
this morning?”

Lea finally uncrossed her arms. “We should have a family discussion later, don’t you think?” She turned to the twins. “If you have guests back there—”

“We’re not exactly guests,” Ira interrupted. “We live there now.”

“The school bus!” Daniel cried, pointing at the window that looked out on the driveway. “Let’s go!”

“Not so fast!” Mark made a grab for Ira. But Ira dodged out of his hands and burst out the kitchen door.

The twins followed, shouting their morning chant, which was beginning to sound more and more unpleasant to Mark. “Rule the school! Rule the school!”

Maybe there’s a meaning here I’m not getting.

Out the back window, he saw Ethan run out of the guesthouse and catch up with Ira and the twins. “Oh no,” Mark groaned. “Is that a blue arrow on Ethan’s face?”

Lea raked her hands through her hair, making it stick out in frazzled clumps. “I don’t really understand. . . .”

Mark heard a chattering sound. He lowered his eyes to the phone. He forgot he was still holding it.

“Ginny? Ginny?” It took awhile to make her stop shouting. “Ethan just got on the school bus,” he told her. “He’s on his way to school.”

“But what about his backpack? What was he wearing? What about his lunch? Did he have any breakfast?”

“I’m sorry. I really can’t answer those questions. This is all a surprise to Lea and me, too. The boys slept in the guesthouse last night and . . . we didn’t know.”

“Excuse me? The guesthouse? You allow twelve-year-old boys to sleep by themselves in your guesthouse? And you don’t even know who’s there?”

“Normally, we check on them all the time. But I guess the boys had a sleepover together and forgot to tell us.”
Lame.

Silence at the other end.

Mark raised his eyes to Lea, who was pacing back and forth, hands in the pockets of her beach cover-up, hair still spiked like lawn divots.

“Ira is a nice boy,” Mrs. Margulies said finally. “But I’m not so sure I want Ethan to come to your house.”

“I’m sorry, Ginny. I feel as badly as you do.”

“I read the papers, Mark. I know what happened at your house. The murder, I mean. You must be under a lot of pressure. I think Ethan should stay away.”

“Well, if it makes you feel any better—” He realized she had clicked off.

He slammed the phone onto the counter. He turned to Lea. “Nice morning, huh? That was a warm family moment.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Are you blaming the twins? You’re going to berate me again for bringing them here?”

Elena backed away, hands raised. “I don’t want to hear this.”

“How are you getting to school?” Mark spun on her. He didn’t intend to sound so angry.

She backed up against the kitchen table. “Ruth-Ann’s dad. He’s picking me up. You don’t have to chew my head off. I didn’t do anything.”

Before Mark could apologize, he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Roz stormed into the kitchen, still in her long blue flannel nightshirt and carrying Axl in her arms. Her hair was unbrushed. Her eyes darted around the kitchen.

“Roz—? Are you okay?” he started.

“Who did this?” she demanded. “Who was it?”

Elena squinted at Axl. She was the first to see it. “Oh my God.”

“Who snuck up to the attic last night?” Roz shouted. “Who would do this to my baby?”

Mark took a staggering step toward her, then stopped short when he saw what Roz was talking about. The fat blue arrow, pointing up, on Axl’s left cheek.

T
he halls at Sag Harbor Middle School smelled of some kind of strong disinfectant. The sharp odor made Samuel’s eyes water and his nose burn. He had always been very sensitive to smells.

When he was younger, the pungent aroma of burning meat from the island’s smoker pits always made him nauseous. But he had outgrown that a while ago.

The four of them walked past the principal’s office and turned the corner into the long hall that led to Miss Montgomery’s classroom. Daniel walked with an arm casually draped over Ira’s shoulder.

Samuel kept close to Ethan, who still seemed reluctant to devote himself wholeheartedly to ruling the school. His assignment from Daniel was to keep close to Ethan and make sure his transition was smooth.

Samuel glimpsed a few kids turning from their lockers and staring at them as they passed. He wasn’t surprised that the face arrows would draw some attention.

Two dark-haired sixth-grade girls, fresh from a morning basketball team practice in their blue-and-white team uniforms, noted the arrows and giggled. But they didn’t stop to comment or ask what the arrows meant.

“You know those girls, boyo?” Daniel asked Ira. “They’re pretty awesome.”

Ira shrugged. “I know them, but they don’t talk to me. I—I’m not really popular, you know.”

Daniel chuckled. “You will be.”

Samuel saw the big bulldog-faced kid, Derek Saltzman, bending over the water fountain on the wall. Derek raised his head as the four boys approached.

He narrowed his beady gaze on Ira. “Hey, Sutter. Did you have a shower this morning?”

“No. Why?” Ira said.

Derek filled his mouth with water, then turned and sprayed Ira’s face and the front of his jacket. “There’s a shower for you, dude.” His laugh sounded more like hiccupping, a series of high whoops.

Ira wiped water off his cheeks with his hand.

Derek noticed the blue arrows for the first time. “What’s up with that?” He took his thumb and smeared it over Ira’s cheek. “Hey, it doesn’t come off.”

“Want one?” Daniel said.

“Yeah, boyo. Join the club,” Samuel said.

Ethan hung back, almost using Samuel as a shield. Samuel knew Ethan was afraid of Derek.

“You look like fucking freaks,” Derek snarled. “Here. Want to wash it off?” He spit another stream of water into Ira’s face.

Daniel stepped in front of Ira to confront Derek. “You’re a tough lad. Want to spit water in
my
face?” Daniel’s features hardened, and he gave Derek an icy stare.

Oh, please, Daniel. It’s early in the morning. Don’t spoil the whole school day.

But Derek wasn’t intimidated. “Fuck yes!” He sucked in a long drink and spit a stream of water in Daniel’s face. Then he laughed his whooping laugh.

Daniel didn’t move a muscle. Just let the cold water run down his cheeks and chin.

Daniel. Please.

“You forgot to add something to those arrows on your faces,” Derek said, returning Daniel’s unblinking stare. “You’ve got to put the words
I’m with Stupid
.”

Some boys across the hall burst out laughing at that. Samuel spun around, surprised to find a small crowd watching the confrontation. He recognized the two girls from the basketball team and five or six other kids from his class.

Daniel and Derek continued their staring contest. Derek leaned his back against the porcelain fountain and crossed his beefy arms in front of him.

Samuel watched his twin clench and unclench his fists. Samuel’s stomach tightened in dread. He knew this meant trouble. A lot of trouble.

But couldn’t it wait till later? Couldn’t they have a quiet school day first?

A hush fell over the hall as the two boys continued to glare at each other. No locker doors slammed. No footsteps on the tile floor. No voices.

And then heavy footsteps. And a ringing shout. And before anyone could move, Mrs. Maloney bulled her way through the crowd.

“What’s going on here? What is the fuss and commotion, may I ask?”

Samuel took a step back. The principal wore a long gray crewneck sweater and a plaid skirt over black tights. Her beaded earrings jangled as she walked.

She pushed past Samuel, Ethan, and Ira, and strode up to Daniel and Derek, her eyes moving from one to the other. “Well, boys, I like shows. I like to be entertained. Can anyone explain to me what this show is about?”

They didn’t answer.

“Well, there must be a show because I see you’ve got an audience.” She motioned to the crowd of onlookers blocking the hall.

Neither boy spoke.

The principal narrowed her eyes at Derek. “Is there a problem
here? I hope you haven’t been giving our new students a bad idea of our school.”

“He spit water on the new kid,” a boy shouted from the back of the crowd.

“He spit on Ira, too,” another boy chimed in.

Mrs. Maloney sighed and shook her head, making her earrings jangle. “Oh, Derek, Derek, Derek. After that nice long talk we had in my office the other day? You do remember that talk, don’t you?”

Derek nodded his head and grunted.

“Well, we don’t spit on people in this school. Lordy no. Do we need to have another long talk? Maybe call your mother in again?”

Derek’s cheeks turned red.

Daniel tapped Mrs. Maloney on the arm, startling her. Samuel watched him turn on his sweetest, most angelic smile. “He didn’t mean us any harm, mum,” Daniel said in a tiny voice. “It was a joke, see.”

Mrs. Maloney reacted with surprise. “A joke? Spitting on other kids is a joke?”

Daniel’s dimples flashed. His blue eyes widened in innocence. “He meant it to be funny. He wasn’t being mean.”

“Yeah. It was a joke,” Derek claimed. “I saw someone do it on TV.”

Suddenly, Mrs. Maloney didn’t seem to be interested in Derek. She was squinting at Daniel. Then her eyes moved to the other boys.

“Oh, good Lord in heaven!” she exclaimed, slapping her cheek with one hand. “I didn’t even notice. My eyes must be going.”

Samuel knew she had just seen the blue arrows on their faces.

This is not going to be a quiet morning.

“Well, goodness. Big blue arrows on your handsome faces. Ira, did you boys start a
gang
?”

Ira swallowed. “N-no.”

“Do we allow gangs at Sag Harbor Middle School?” she asked, running a stubby finger down Ira’s cheek. “I don’t think so.”

“It’s not a gang.” Daniel stepped in. “It’s a club.”

The bell clanged right above their heads. The sound made Samuel
jump. The disinfectant smell had given him a headache. The tension in the hall wasn’t helping. He thought about soft waves, frothy, clean, and cold, splashing on yellow sand.