The Prologue (16 page)

My friends exchange a look and then shrug.

“Like we said,” Dominic says. “We heard it from Cameron, who said there were rumors going around from people that were working the wedding last night.”

“You might be in for some trouble at school,” Koby says slowly, and Dominic and I look sharply over at him.

“What do you mean?” I ask, and continue eating.

Koby shrugs. “If Tony really was abusing her, Dr. Parker isn’t going to go down without a fight, considering it’s his only child that was just beaten. There will probably be a lawsuit, and you seem to be forgetting the fact that Tony’s parents are both lawyers. It isn’t going to be a quiet fight, and they’re probably going to do everything they can to make Tony look good, and since you found Evie, you might get dragged in whether you want to or not.”

“What, like he’ll have to be a witness in the trial?” Dominic asks.

I, however, immediately see what Koby is getting at. “You don’t mean that Tony’s parents started spreading rumors that it was me, do you?” I ask, sitting up straight. “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. I have a freaking alibi, or whatever. Believe me, I couldn’t have done that kind of damage to Evie in the two minutes I was out of the dining hall. She was—is—fucked up. Bad.”

Koby shrugs. “What I’m saying is, with people like the Parkers and Stulls, it’s all about appearances. They probably have the resources to get Tony off without serving time or whatever, but what they’re really going to worry about is their reputation. So don’t be surprised if all those people start believing their story, and not yours.”

The instant I set foot on school grounds the next day, I realize that Koby is right. When I walk down the hallways, conversation goes dead and people stare at me. Guys tense up, as if expecting me to fight them, and girls take steps back, their eyes actually wide with fear. I almost want to laugh and can’t help but grin, but by the time lunch arrives, it’s getting old.

Both Evie and Tony are missing, but their crowd is still here, and they focus on sending me alternately disdainful and nervous glances. Whispers surround me wherever I go, and I slam my lunch tray down between Koby and Dominic, suddenly in a bad mood. I’m glad that no one tries to talk to me, that everyone is leaving me alone because it’s what I’ve always wanted, but this distance feels much different and more menacing than the usual space I’m given.

“Told you,” is all Koby says, while Dominic shakes his head and doesn’t look up from his lunch.

“This is ridiculous,” I mutter darkly, staring at my own food with no appetite. “Especially since I didn’t even
do
anything.”

“We have a month and a half of school left,” Koby says prosaically, and I reflect on how much I hate having a friend with even a trace of optimism. “It’ll blow over during summer break for sure. Besides, I’m sure someone will get pregnant or Cameron will get arrested for possession before then and everyone will forget about you being a woman beater and rapist.”

“Shut the fuck up,” I say darkly, just as Cameron himself swaggers up to our table, sitting down with the rest of his crowd.

“Quain, busy weekend, I hear,” he says, grinning down at me.

I stare him down, not amused in the slightest. “Busier since people have started spreading rumors and shit around.”

Cameron leans forward over the table, until we’re practically nose to nose. “Are you accusing me of spreading them?”

I don’t even blink. “Don’t remember saying that, Fuller.”

He slowly lowers himself back down onto the bench, and we’re still staring at each other. Finally Cameron lets loose a laugh, and then tension around the table eases, though not from my own shoulders.

“So, tell me, how did it feel to fuck a million dollars?” Cameron asks, laughing. “I hear that’s just a fraction of what Evie Parker’s trust fund is.”

“Best lay I ever had,” I bite out, because I don’t give a crap about Cameron knowing the truth. “Most profitable too. You should see how much she paid for it.”

Everyone at the table laughs and for the moment, the topic is shoved aside. But the rumors don’t die, and everyone continues to keep their distance from me. When I take Cindy to ballet that night, even Jenny Hunt skirts me and gives me a terrified look. I don’t care, not really, because soon enough the truth will come out, and it’s not like these people are my friends to begin with. In fact, it just reinforces my reasons for keeping everyone at a distance.

Tuesday I have a shift at the club and am finally able to find Uncle Alex and ask if there is news about Evie. It turns out he knows Dr. Parker pretty well, since Dr. Parker always contacts Alex about any charity events he wants to hold at the club. Alex tells me that Evie is stabilized, but hasn’t woken up yet. Even though I know I shouldn’t care, the news that she’s going to be okay relieves some kind of tightness in my chest that I wasn’t aware I was carrying around.

I don’t have much time to worry about it anyway, because midway through my shift waiting tables, Uncle Alex comes up to me and tells me that Koby is going to take over my tables and I’m being reassigned to buss the tables and help out in the kitchens. I cross my arms and glare at Uncle Alex, because I haven’t had to do grunt work in the kitchens for a year and a half.

“It’s not my choice,” Alex growls at me.

“You’re the manager, you call the shots, so it’s obviously your choice,” I snap. “I’ve already served my time in the kitchens!”

“It’s not my choice because two of your tables requested a different server,” Alex hisses back. “They’re close friends of the Stulls and the rumors are flying, and not in your favor. So I think it’s best that you keep a low profile in the dining room for a while, understand? It’s that, or you can take a few weeks off. Which would you prefer?”

Furious, I untie my servers apron, fumbling with the knots because my hands are shaking, I’m so mad. I finally get the thing off and pitch it to the ground, stalking off into the kitchen. Alex grabs my shoulder before I can escape all the way, holding me in place.

“You did the right thing, Zeke,” he says in a low voice. “You know that, right? That girl might have died if you hadn’t stopped him. This will blow over and everything will be fine.”

“Whatever,” I say, and pull away hard, taking out my fury on the huge stack of dirty dishes.

It doesn’t get any better all week, and Tony’s and Evie’s continued absence only fuels the fire, instead of calming it. It gets to the point where even my teachers are eyeing me with contempt, which makes me want to roll my eyes. Things seem to implode when I get called to the principal’s office Friday morning. As soon as the summons comes in my second period class, the students around me erupt in whispers.

All Principal Smith wants to say is that Dr. Parker has contacted the school and informed them of the real events and the charges that will be filed against Tony, and that he and the faculty are behind me a hundred percent, even if the rumors are not. He asks if I want to talk to my guidance counselor or the school psychologist, but I say no, because I don’t see any need. Last time I talked to her, it ended in disaster and I have no urge for therapy for the rest of my life as a result.

As I leave the office, during the break between second and third period, it becomes clear that this has only turned the spark into a full-blown bonfire, and people are now convinced of my guilt. People openly point and whisper, and I think longingly of summer break for entirely new reasons. The only semi-comforting thought I have is the affirmation that I am right to keep everyone at a distance, because they can turn on you in an instant, just for the sake of drama and half-truths. If I had actually tried to make a connection to any of these people, I’d be a lot worse off than I am now.

I’m at my locker, gathering my books and secretly relieved that I’ll be able to escape this place for two full days, when I become aware of a group standing next to me and not moving away. Slowly, I close my locker door and am confronted with Tony and Evie’s group of friends; Josh Samuels, Aaron Michaels, three other guys from the football team I’m not familiar with, and the usual entourage of Barbie’s standing behind them, a safe distance away from the riffraff named Ezekiel Quain.

I have to reign in the desire to push past them, because I’m at least smart enough to know that in no way, shape, or form should I touch them. The rumors are bad enough and all it would take is a stumble of one of the girls and everyone would be screaming assault. Instead, I close my eyes, count to ten, and then open them to glare at the group.

“What?” I demand.

Josh and Aaron exchange a glance, and then take a small step forward.

“I don’t know who you think you are,” Josh says in a low voice, his dark eyes hard, “but you messed with the wrong person. Tony isn’t going to let you forget this. You
or
Evie.”

My eyebrows rise, because hearing that Evie might be involved with the guilty party is a new twist on the rumor that I haven’t heard yet. “I’ll bite,” I say in as bored a voice as I can manage. “I know I raped and pillaged, but what did Evie do?”

“We saw you,” chimes in one of the girls, Tiffany, I think. “Both of you, together. Tony told us all about how the two of you were meeting up all the time. She was cheating on him, and when he caught you, you went ballistic and almost killed both of them because she tried to tell Tony that you forced her.”

I explode laughing, actually bend over a little bit, because it’s even more ridiculous than the first version of the story. “You people are insane,” I finally say, chuckling as I lean against the locker doors. “You’ll do anything so your perfect world doesn’t get fucked up, won’t you?”

They all just shake their heads at me, and the boys begin to usher the girls away protectively. “You’re sick,” Aaron spits at me over his shoulder. “You’re one sick bastard.”

“Tell Tony to keep a better grip on his girl next time!” I shout after them, even though I know that I shouldn’t. I can’t help it, and seeing them scurry away gives me more satisfaction than any physical blow ever could.

I chuckle to myself, knowing that if there wasn’t such rock-hard evidence against Tony I wouldn’t find it the least bit amusing. But I feel fairly safe that any legitimate suspicion against me will never come, from the law, at least. While I’m annoyed by everyone, it is nice that now I have to make no effort whatsoever to keep them all at arm’s length.

Even as I stand there, though, images of Evie flash through my brain. I picture her in the bathroom, beating the floor with her hand as Tony drags her around by her long hair, because she’s too helpless to protest in any other way. I feel sick to my stomach as I remember her coughing up blood on my shirt, and the empty look in her eyes when she came into the dance studio on Monday night.

For the first time, I wonder what, exactly, Tony had done to her that put that look in her eyes. What sent her out of the house and into the dance studio, since she’d apparently found me a better alternative than any of her actual friends. Then I can’t help snorting, because if this is how her so-called friends react, then she won’t have many people to lean on in the future. And I know for sure that Evie Parker has rough times ahead. A lawsuit, rumors, and healing from whatever Tony has done to her, since it probably left damage more permanent than bruised ribs and a broken nose.

I wonder how she’s doing, locked up in the hospital, if she has any idea what’s in store for her if she manages to return to school before the end of the year. Or hell, if she sets foot on the grounds of the country club.

Don’t get involved, Zeke. Keep your nose out of it. You’ve done your part, now stay out
.

Even as the words echo inside my head, I’m reaching for my cell phone to call Uncle Alex, and headed for my dad’s work to pick up the car.

Ezekiel

21

I have to stop and pick up Cindy first, and then say a quick prayer of thanks that she’s going to a sleepover tonight. I drop her off at her friend’s house and then set off for Grant Hospital, where Uncle Alex told me Evie was taken. He warns me that one visit is fine, but to stay out of it after this. I plan on taking his advice, and I’m not even sure why I’m going to see Evie. I don’t owe her anything; in fact, she really owes me, but that’s not what’s going through my head.

I tell myself that I just want to do the single good deed of warning her about the rumors, and make sure she’s really all right with my own two eyes. I’ll have done my fair share of good deeds, and then maybe karma won’t kick me in the ass for a while, at least until I’ve finished high school. I figure life owes me a good turn, and I’m just insuring I’m set up for it, so in the end, all of this is ultimately a selfish act.

It’s all bullshit and I know it, but it gives me peace of mind as I park at Grant Hospital in downtown Columbus, and then walk into the lobby. As I approach the front desk, it suddenly occurs to me that I probably should have changed out of my baggy, ripped jeans and into something a little more decent. I hardly look respectable, and I can tell right away that the older receptionist isn’t going to give me the time of day. I try anyway.