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But who was I to talk? Look at what I had given the security guard. I was twisting up inside with all of my mixed feelings. They hadn’t liked me before; they’d hate me now.
“Stop thinking about them. You don’t want to be on this ship anyway,” Cassie muttered. “Let it sink.”
Sinking Ship
LESS THAN AN hour later, I looked out my room window and saw the police car. I stood mesmerized by the sight of it. This was far more than just being expelled and having to face your parents. Ellie was going to be in very serious trouble now. This was no longer some silly prank her parents would eventually excuse. Moments later, the campus security guard and a patrolman escorted her out of the building with her hands behind her back in handcuffs and put her into the rear of the vehicle. I knew all of the girls were at their own windows, watching in shock. Mrs. Hathaway stood on the steps talking to another patrolman for a few minutes, and then he got into the car, and they drove Ellie off. I caught a brief glimpse of her face in the window. She looked like a little girl, really terrified. It brought tears to my eyes.
“Stop that pity. Good riddance,” I heard Cassie whisper. “Just think of the trouble she could have gotten you in and what this might have done to Daddy.”
“I’m not as hard as you are, Cassie,” I whispered back. “I don’t think I ever will be.”
“Yes, you will,” she insisted. “Someday, you will be just like me.”
Not long after the patrol car left, two taxicabs arrived. Natalie Roberts got into one, and Cara Allen got into the other. I watched them drive away as well. Then I went to my doorway and looked down the hall to see Pam talking softly with some other
girls. She glanced up at me and quickly turned her back. Despite what I knew Cassie thought of this, I couldn’t help but feel even more pity for Ellie. I felt sure that the biggest disappointment had been learning that her so-called good friend had turned her in to save her own neck. But to my surprise, Pam went into her room and came out with her suitcases, too. She marched down the hallway, where the security guard waited to take one of her bags and escort her out. I followed curiously and saw her stop to talk with Mrs. Hathaway before she went out to a third cab.
I was confused. If she was being forced to leave, too, why had she turned on Ellie?
“She’s letting her take her exams a week after graduation,” Amanda Crowley said, as if she could read my thoughts. She had come up beside me. “If she passes everything, she graduates. That was her deal.”
“Oh.”
“You’re getting away with a lot, too, aren’t you?”
“Me? Why?”
She smirked. “She stole things for you. Everyone knows it. She told some of the girls. You’re an accessory. You should have been in that police car sitting right beside her. But not Princess Heaven-stone.” She walked away.
“Den of vipers,” Cassie muttered.
When I returned to my room, I called Ethan.
“Hey,” he said. “What’s up?”
I described the events that occurred after he had dropped me off. He listened in silence and then said, “Wow. What a terrible scene. I’m sure you can’t wait to get out of there.”
“Yes, but I can’t help feeling sorry for her, Ethan. You should have seen her in the police car.”
“Well, I feel sorry for her, too, but I’m not surprised that something like this has happened to her,” he said. “Best we both concentrate on what we have to do to finish things up and not let any of this bother us.”
I wondered how much he was including in “any of this.” Did it include what had happened at the motel?
“Okay. Call me when you get an opportunity,” I said.
He promised he would, and I hung up.
Not a day passed when I didn’t wait for his call, but none came. On the Friday before graduation, I finally called him again. His roommate answered, sounding annoyed to be interrupted. He blurted something about Ethan going home on a family matter. He wasn’t sure when he’d return. He hung up before I could ask him to be sure to tell Ethan I had called.
That Sunday, Daddy and Uncle Perry arrived after noon. They had flown in on the private jet Daddy rented. To my surprise, Lucille Bennet was with them. I had been waiting at my dorm-room window and saw them driven up in a limo. The driver opened the door, and Daddy stepped out first, turned, and offered his hand to a tall woman who looked only a few inches shorter than he was. She had light auburn hair in a medium cut, layered in a semistraight style I couldn’t help but think was very attractive.
There was something elegant about her. Dressed in what looked like an expensive bright white designer outfit, a cardigan with three-quarter-length sleeves and a skirt, she had a very self-confident posture. The cardigan had black piping and a floral pattern at the left shoulder. Daddy wore one of his black suits with a ruby tie, and Uncle Perry, who stepped out quickly behind them, looked as handsome as ever in a light blue suit and tie.
I rushed down the hall to the lobby to greet them. Daddy opened the door for Lucille and Uncle Perry and followed them into the dorm.
“Hey, Sam,” I heard Uncle Perry cry. As far back as I could recall, he had called me that.
“Hi,” I said, and moved quickly to embrace and kiss Daddy and then him.
