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“No one's going anywhere,” Dr. Davidoff said softly. “For now, I'm putting you both on notice. But don't give me any reason to revisit this discussion. Is that understood??
?
It was.
Thirty
WHEN THE DOCTORS DISMISSED us, Derek and I headed into the hall together. I tried to dawdle, fussing with an imaginary spot on my shirt and giving him time to walk ahead, avoiding any awkwardness. He parked himself in front of me, arms crossed, fingers rapping his biceps with impatience.
I reminded myself of how he'd rescued me. I should be grateful. I was. Right then, though . . . I don't know. My head hurt and I was still smarting over my aunt's rejection, and when I'd offered to be sent away and he didn't argue, it stung. I didn't want it to. But it did.
“What are you wiping at?” he whispered finally.
“A spot. ”
“There's no spot. ”
I straightened, tugging my shirt down and adjusting it. “That's because I fixed it. ”
I tried to step past him. He didn't budge.
“We need to talk,” he whispered.
“Do you really think that's a good idea?”
“Simon'll be there,” he said. “Five minutes. Out back. ”
* * *
I really didn't think it was wise for me to be seen hanging out with Derek, even if Simon was there. So five minutes, later, I was in the media room, lying on the love seat, listening to my iPod, trying to lose myself in my music.
When a shadow passed over my head, I jumped up.
Rae stood there, hands out. “Down, girl. It's just me. ”
I pulled out my earbuds.
She draped her sweatshirt over a chair. “So what happened?”
“Not what everyone thinks. ”
“Well, duh. ”
She settled in at the other end, feet pulled up under her, throw pillow on her lap, getting comfortable, waiting for the real story. She'd known me less than a week, and she knew I hadn't been fooling around in a crawl space with Derek.
“I'll tell you later,” I murmured, “when we're in our room. ”
“But you will tell me, right?”
I nodded.
“Good. So, how'd it go?”
I told her about the meeting with the doctors and about Aunt Lauren. “It's one thing when strangers think you'd do stuff you wouldn't. They don't know you. But when it's someone who should? Someone you thought did?” I shook my head.
“Yeah, I've had my share of that. At school, if I did anything wrong, I got hauled into the counselor, who lectured me on the temptations of the street and the importance of staying in school. It's, like, excuse me? Is there anything in my record that says I've ever been near a gang? Or that I don't think school's important? I get straight Bs, and I never skip class—go lecture someone else. ”
She hugged the pillow to her chest. “I tell myself that's cool—they don't know me. But I get the same crap from my mom. Every time we get into it, she reminds me about my friend Trina. Ran away at fourteen, got mixed up in a gang, and killed in a drive-?by shooting. Hello? What does that have to do with me? There's a reason Trina and I weren't friends anymore. I'm not like that. ”
“They mean well, I guess. But it stings. ”
“The worst of it—“ Her gaze rose above my head. ”What do you want?"
Derek circled in front of me and tapped his watch. “Did I say five minutes?”
“Yes, you did. And I said it wasn't a good idea. ”
“We need to talk to you. ”
Rae started to rise. “Should I get the nurses?”
I waved her down, then turned to Derek. “No. ”
He pushed his hands into his jean pockets, rocked back on his heels, then said, “Simon wants to talk to you. ”
“Does Simon have feet?” Rae asked. “A mouth? What are you? His faithful Saint Bernard, lumbering around, bearing your master's messages?”
He swiveled, putting his back to Rae. “Chloe?” There was a note of pleading in his voice that made my resolve falter. “Chloe, pl—” He held the l, stretching it; and for a second, I thought he was actually going to say “please,” and if he had, I'd have given in, despite my reservations about being seen together. But after a second, he snipped the syllable off and stalked out.
“Bye!” Rae called after him. “Always a pleasure chatting with you!” She turned to me. “You are going to tell me what all this is about, right?”
“I promise. So how did swimming go?”
“Okay, I guess. Nice to get out, but not much fun. Simon swam laps, I can barely dog-?paddle, so we went our separate ways. Nothing new there. They have a cool slide, though, and—”
She looked behind me again and offered a cautious nod.
“Hey,” Simon said.
He perched on the love seat arm. I moved over to give him room, but Rae was on the other side, so I couldn't go far, and his hip brushed my shoulder.
“I—” I began.
“Don't want to go outside,” he finished for me. “That's cool. We can both hide out from Derek in here, see how long it takes him to find us. "
“I'll leave you two—” Rae began, pushing up from the sofa.
“No, stay,” Simon said. “I didn't mean to butt in. ”
“You didn't. I hear chores calling my name, though, so I'll take off. ”
When she was gone, I moved over. Simon slid down beside me. I gave him plenty of room, but he stayed close, not touching but almost, and I gazed at the gap between us, that scant inch of bare sofa, staring at it because, well, I didn't know what else to do, to say.
