Page 17 of The Corruption of Hollis Brown

Hollis was so surprised to see everyone gathered in there that he stood in the doorway for longer than was probably polite.

To the left of the principal’s desk was Timothy and James. To his right were the younger girls he’d vaguely remembered being around the fire, as well as two adults who looked enough like Jorge that Hollis could comfortably assume they were his parents.

They looked furious.

“Sit.”

Hollis made his way to the only empty chair next to Tim and James and sat down.

The principal, Mr. Feehan, was the sort of man who got angrier at being bothered than he did about actual problems. He was sweaty and balding, but younger than most principals usually were. Hollis knew him to be fair, and kind more often than not.

So it was jarring to see him with this expression, like Hollis had done something very wrong.

“Do you know why you’re here?”

“This is about Rose Town . . . ?” Hollis asked, purposefully vague.

Mr. Feehan took off his glasses and folded his hands.

“Can you give me your account of Friday night?”

Hollis glanced over at Timothy and James. They seemed annoyed.

“Annie Watanabe and I got there around nine,” Hollis started. “We went in to set up a place to sleep, then came back outside. Jorge had an argument with Annie because they just broke up. So, Annie and I decided to take a walk away from the group. We went off on our own for a while, then came back when we heard screaming. Something happened to Jorge that got him all cut up, and no one was waiting around to help, so Annie, Stephanie, and I took him to the hospital. Then we all went home.”

Mr. Feehan flicked his eyes over to Jorge’s parents, then back to Hollis.

“So, you agree that you and Jorge fought before he got hurt?” he asked.

Timothy sighed loudly and muttered something Hollis didn’t catch.

“Uh . . . not really? He punched me in the stomach, and then I left. Annie and I didn’t show up to the house until after whatever happened to him happened,” Hollis clarified. “They were playing truth or dare or something, I don’t know.”

“He’s lying,” Jorge’s father cried.

That pissed him off. Hollis turned around in his chair to face the man directly.

“I spent most of Saturday morning scrubbing Jorge’s blood out of the seat of my friend’s car because me and Annie and Stephanie were the only people who cared enough to stick around to help him,” Hollis said bluntly.

Jorge’s father ignored Hollis completely. “What if he just did that to cover up what he did?!”

To Hollis’s surprise Timothy spoke up. “He didn’t. Look, I don’t like this guy as much as anyone, but he quite literally wasn’t there when Jorge went into the basement. I don’t know how many times we have to say it. Hollis and Annie were blocks away.”

Hollis’s blood went cold, and the hairs rose on the back of his neck.

So that’s why it had taken so long for them to call him: Jorge was pinning this on him.

Mr. Feehan held up a hand, and the room went quiet. He nodded over at the sophomore girls.

“They say Tim and James came to your defense during the fight you had with Jorge, so I’m having a hard time believing they aren’t on your side. Stephanie went with you to the hospital, so there’s a chance she was an accomplice.”

Hollis leaned forward and drove the heels of his hands into his eyes and rubbed hard, trying to get his heart rate down.

Everyone knew Rose Town was “haunted,” but it’s one thing to make spooky jokes and another to try to wiggle out of assault charges by claiming that “a ghost did it.”

“I barely know Stephanie, and Timothy and James aren’t my friends,” Hollis said, sitting back up. “Tim broke my nose freshman year, and we haven’t exchanged a single word since, until Friday.”

He glanced over at James. “James beat me up so bad last week I had to go to urgent care myself. To be honest, I’m shocked they aren’t joining Jorge in whatever the fuck this is.”