The Thrashers(10)

The school newsletter hung on the fridge under a Goofy magnet, and Jodi let her eyes pass over the memorized words.

As many of you know, we suffered the tragic loss of Emily Mills (Class of ’26) in May. The Millses would like to invite the entire school to a memorial on the New Helvetia football field on August 9.



That was just under two weeks from now. Jodi stared at Emily’s yearbook photo, which was included in the announcement. Just behind it, conveniently covered by other magnets, was a short note Jodi had been ignoring all month. It was from Emily’s mother, Maureen, inviting her over any time if she was sad or wanted to talk about Emily.

Jodi had asked the others if they’d gotten a note in the mail, too. They hadn’t.

She couldn’t imagine sitting down with Maureen Mills, lying to her about what good friends she and Emily had been and trying to tell her stories about their fun times together. Sure, Jodi had been conned into a few more shopping and movie dates than the others, but that’s because saying no to Emily Mills was like kicking a puppy.

A girl is dead because we didn’t invite her in our prom limo.

Was Lucy right? Were they partially to blame for this? Was that why Detective Harding was looking into them?

No one had invited Emily in the limo. Emily shouldn’t have assumed they would—she wasn’t friends with them. Not close enough, at least. She wondered where Emily’s wires had gotten crossed. Sophomores needed to be invited by upperclassmen to prom, so there must have been a misunderstanding if she was in her dress when she died.

Shaking her head clear, Jodi set a water glass next to her dad and went to her room. It was themed in monochromatic gray with pops of blue—a pillow, her desk lamp, the art on the wall. Her desk was cluttered with summer reading she was ignoring, opened makeup palettes, and her sketchbooks. Jodi’s charcoals and watercolors hung on the walls next to pictures of her and Zack. She climbed into her bed after a quick scrub with a makeup remover wipe, dismissing the notifications flashing on her phone. Too many tags to go through now. There was a text from Lucy, asking her if she got home okay—which she always sent to each of them after a night out. She responded and saw that she’d missed texts from her while they were at the party. Pictures of Lucy and Paige dancing, and the question WHEER RU?

Jodi tapped the picture to save it to the folder on her phone labeled Blackmail that she always joked about, but stopped when she realized a lens flare had cut a slice through both of their faces. If it had been done on purpose, it was awfully artsy. But by accident, it was odd. Like a knife slashing in the light, crossing their cheeks and jaws. It gave her the chills.

Just before she shut her phone off for the night, her eyes were drawn to the unknown number in her text list.

are you having a nice summer?

Jodi frowned and texted back, Who is this?

She waited twenty minutes for a response before finally lying back and waiting for sleep to come.



* * *



“You’re Jodi Dillon.”

Jodi looked up from her calculus homework to find a blond girl staring down at her. “Yeah?”

“Cool.” The girl took the seat next to her. “I’m Emily. I follow you on Instagram. I’m EmilySmiles on there.”

She sure was. Her teeth were oddly wide for her mouth, and her eyes were big and bright. She stared at Jodi like she expected her to know all of her followers by their handle.

“Hi, Emily.” She didn’t know what else to say, so she flashed her a quick grin and turned back to her book.

“You’re Zack Thrasher’s best friend.”

There it was. It wouldn’t be the first or the last time that someone decided to talk to her, only looking for a way to get closer to Zack. It was unusual that the person was so forward with their intentions.

Jodi took a deep breath and looked up again. “Yep. That’s me.” She shut her book, ready to engage fully. “Are you a junior?”

“Sophomore. But I’m in your bio class.”

“Oh.” A flush rose in her cheeks. “Sorry, I didn’t recognize you—”

“It’s okay,” Emily said. “I sit behind you.”

Jodi nodded, staring at her and trying to figure out what it was about this girl that had the back of her neck prickling. “Did you … did you want to study sometime? Or was there something you…?”

“No, no!” Emily shook her head and her hair fell into her eyes. She didn’t push it away. “I just wanted to meet you.”

“Right. ‘Zack Thrasher’s Best Friend.’” Jodi pointed a sarcastic thumb at herself, ready to begin her excuses for why she needed to get going.

“No, you. I wanted to meet you.” Emily’s blue eyes seemed to sparkle to life as she stared deep into Jodi’s. “You’re Jodi Dillon.”

She blinked at Emily, waiting for her to elaborate, but it seemed that “Jodi Dillon” was enough for her.

She felt her chest warm and something long-forgotten swell.



* * *



When Jodi stumbled to the kitchen in the morning and opened the cupboards, she heaved a sigh. Nothing, or at least, nothing edible. She glanced at the empty chair in front of the TV and the undrunk glass of water, the snores now coming from the closed bedroom door at the end of the hall.