“None of this is important,” she called. Brandon didn’t give any sign that he’d heard her, but below, the crowd’s whispers grew. “Don’t you see? This doesn’t matter. I don’t care about any of this.”

Brandon’s black eyes still looked right at her. Into her.

He could see everything she’d ever done. Every thought she’d ever had.

“Please,” she whispered. Brandon’s eyes shone. “I’m so sorry.”

Brandon vanished.

The power came back on.

“Please! She just needs to go to the health center!”

Lily’s begging sounded overwrought even to her own ears. Maria was on her feet now, her face pressed into Lily’s bare shoulder and her arm wrapped tight around Lily’s waist. All Lily could think about was what they must look like to all those silent people watching below.

“I’ll take her,” Lily said. “She’ll be fine. She’s tired, that’s all. She’s been so upset about Brandon.”

“She needs jail, is what she needs,” Mateo said to the dean. “Did you hear what she said about somebody getting hurt? About blood? And what was that bull about the moment of silence not mattering? What the hell is wrong with her?”

“She isn’t making sense.” Lily focused on Dean Cumberland. She didn’t know how much argument she had left in her. If the dean didn’t agree, Lily might just collapse onto the stage in tears herself. “She hasn’t been sleeping. She needs to get some rest. Sir, please.”

The dean seemed to still be in a daze.

“Yes, take her to the health center,” he finally muttered, waving Lily on.

“No!” The look in Mateo’s eyes was fierce.

The dean didn’t seem to hear Mateo. He grabbed the dean’s arm.

“Look, she’s obviously on something.” Mateo sounded just as desperate as Lily. “At least take her to the hospital and get her tested.”

“No!” Lily said. “She didn’t take anything. Sir, please!”

Lily wished she hadn’t climbed onto this stage at all. No one would’ve thought she had anything to do with Maria or Maria’s crazy. Now it was way too late.

“It’s not anything,” Lily went on when the dean looked unconvinced. “I swear. I’ve been with her all day and she didn’t take anything. I’ll just bring her to the health center and they’ll check her out.”

The dean looked at Lily as if he were seeing her for the first time. His eyes slid down to her crutches. Then he looked up at her face again and nodded.

Lily looped her arm around Maria’s shoulders. She didn’t bother looking to Mateo, or anyone else, for help this time.

Maria hadn’t said any single word since the lights came back on.