The Thrashers(64)

But Sunday night, Jodi sat in her bedroom with a Sac High ’22/’23 yearbook she’d gotten from one of the actors who had a sister there. She found Emily in the freshman Ms, and after ten minutes of searching, she found Vanessa Jones—also a freshman. She wasn’t sure what else she could get from this yearbook, but she flipped through every page anyway.

She turned to page twenty-three, the Sac High Homecoming Rally of 2022. There, in purple and white face paint, Emily and Vanessa smiled at the camera, their cheeks pressed together as they hugged each other close.

Jodi stared down at the picture. They looked happy. She found three other pictures of Emily and Vanessa throughout the yearbook—sometimes just the two of them, sometimes in a group. Finally, a picture taken around May of that year showed Emily leaning her head on Vanessa’s shoulder in PE class. Vanessa was leaned away from her, a distant look on her face.





Chapter Nineteen


DECEMBER

Jodi was sitting on a window ledge, reaching out for a tree branch.

“I’ve got you,” a voice said to her right.

Zack sat in the tree, arms extended to her. She smiled at him and stretched her leg out, letting him pull her out of her second-story window.

“See? That wasn’t too bad,” he whispered excitedly.

It was dark on the street except for the lamps that would always wink at her. She let Zack help her down the branches, like she was following him off to Neverland.

A black Mustang idled on the street with its lights off. Zack’s friends waited inside, and although Jodi could tell they looked bored and even cranky, she didn’t care. Zack had asked her to hang out. Zack wanted her there.

They drove to the rose garden, and Zack and Julian Hollister lit joints while Paige Montgomery and Lucy Reed drank hard ciders. The guys dared the girls to streak, and Jodi laughed as Paige and Lucy ran in their underwear around the abandoned playground. Zack and Julian took off after them, and Paige screamed when Julian caught up with her and tackled her to the ground.

Jodi turned her face up to the stars and thanked Jesus for this night. For this boy. For this life.



* * *



Jodi woke with a start. Her left arm was completely numb, and as she shook life into it, she couldn’t help but remember the dream.

The dream that didn’t feel like it was hers.

Jodi had been there that night. She remembered Paige and Lucy streaking, and her and Emily declining. She remembered sitting with Emily in the rose garden, waiting in silence for her friends to return so she wasn’t alone with the strange girl.

But that wasn’t her second-story window. That wasn’t her tree. It was Emily’s.

Jodi wondered if Emily had even noticed she was there that night.



* * *



“I think we should go to the rose garden.” Paige popped a fry into her mouth and slid her eyes over to Jodi.

It was the first day of winter break, and it had been Lucy’s idea to celebrate at Burr’s for lunch. Zack had passed chemistry with a C plus, Lucy had been offered a volleyball scholarship to Denver (her third choice), and Jodi had gotten her CalArts application in with a recommendation from Mrs. Calloway—practically blackmail for agreeing to take drama again in the spring.

This was the first day in three weeks that the five of them had gotten together. Jodi tried not to take it personally, but Lucy flat-out asked her last week if she had any idea what they expected her to say on the witness stand against them. Jodi didn’t know. They hadn’t even scheduled a deposition.

Jodi had ridden her bike to the Thrashers’ two weeks ago to tell Greg about Vanessa Jones. He said he’d look into it, but not to get her hopes up—everything could be circumstantial. She left without even seeing Zack; Greg had been watching him like a hawk in the lead-up to his chemistry final. But Jodi couldn’t help but notice that Kiera was also taking chemistry, and Kiera was allowed to join Zack after school before his tutor arrived so they could attempt the homework together.

Julian had his first meeting with the judge during finals week, scheduled purposefully to sabotage him, they guessed. She didn’t know if he’d started to struggle in anatomy class toward the end, or if he was checking up on her, but he started asking her for her notes after class, walking back to her locker with her. Then he would ask about the drawings in her locker or stay and poke fun at her clothes, but it was lighter—less cutting. In retaliation, she’d started drawing pictures of him being torn apart by wolves in the margins of her notes.

Paige had given up on her obsession with Emily and the supernatural since visiting Nan’s salon. Or so Jodi had thought.

“Why now?”

Zack looked up from his phone, and Julian met Jodi’s eyes before looking away.

“It just feels like unfinished business.” Paige tossed her hair over her shoulder and wiped her fingers on her napkin. “Emily wanted us to go there.” Her eyes flicked to Lucy.

“There hasn’t been anything weird happening though. Has there?” Jodi asked.

The group was quiet as Lucy and Paige seemed to have a silent conversation across the table. Then Paige blurted, “Lucy is having visions.”

“They’re not visions,” Lucy retorted quickly. She sighed and addressed the table. “It’s called sleep paralysis. I’ve been having trouble breathing in the mornings. It’s like an out-of-body experience. It’s not a nightmare. I know I’m awake, but I can’t catch my breath, and … it feels like someone is watching me.”