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Back The House Party
Chapters (57)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. April 2008
  4. 1
  5. 2
  6. 3
  7. 4
  8. 5
  9. 6
  10. 7
  11. 8
  12. 9
  13. 10
  14. 11
  15. 12
  16. 13
  17. 14
  18. 15
  19. 16
  20. 17
  21. 18
  22. 19
  23. 20
  24. 21
  25. 22
  26. 23
  27. 24
  28. 25
  29. 26
  30. 27
  31. 28
  32. 29
  33. 30
  34. 31
  35. 32
  36. 33
  37. 34
  38. 35
  39. 36
  40. 37
  41. 38
  42. 39
  43. 40
  44. 41
  45. 42
  46. 43
  47. 44
  48. 45
  49. 46
  50. 47
  51. 48
  52. 49
  53. 50
  54. Author’s Note
  55. Acknowledgments
  56. About the Author
  57. About the Publisher

The girl seemed to hunch over further in her seat, but she didn’t say anything. Dr. Johnson cleared his throat. “Maybe I’ll start. Olivia Park, here, is a sophomore in Ms. Grady’s history class.” Dr. Johnson gestured in the direction of the woman taking notes. “Olivia became very upset during Ms. Grady’s class this afternoon. When she couldn’t calm down, Ms. Grady sent her to the nurse, and Olivia told the nurse that there was an incident. Again, I want to be clear, it was not on school property, but it did involve one of our students. It seems that there may have been an assault.” Dr. Johnson glanced over at Ms. Grady. “A, uh, sexual assault. Possibly.”

At the principal’s announcement, Jake and Detective Murray exchanged surprised glances. This wasn’t what they were expecting.

Murray sat down in the chair opposite the girl. “Olivia? I’m Detective Murray. I’m an officer with the New Falls Police Department. Is there something that you’d like to talk to me about?”

Olivia finally looked up from her lap, but she didn’t reply.

Murray tried again. “Did somebody hurt you?”

Before she could answer, Ms. Grady interrupted. “Excuse me, but shouldn’t Olivia’s parents be called? I mean, before she speaks to the police?”

Jake glanced at Murray, expecting him to be annoyed, but his face betrayed nothing but polite concern. He didn’t take his eyes off of Olivia’s face as he replied: “Of course, if you’d be more comfortable, Olivia, we can call your parents. But if there’s something that you’d like to tell us without them here, that’s also okay.”

Olivia was already shaking her head. The idea that her parents might be called seemed to make up her mind. “Nobody hurt me,” she said emphatically. “It was . . . well, it was another girl. From school. I saw, I mean I heard about it. She was . . .” Olivia paused, seemingly unable to find the right words, or unwilling to say them in a room full of adults and strangers. “She was sexually assaulted,” she finally said, borrowing the principal’s words. “Someone gave her some kind of drugs, and she was really out of it. It’s all anyone’s been talking about.” She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at Murray, the principal, and Ms. Grady, almost as if she resented having to explain this to them, as if they should already have heard and done something about it. Just another failure of the clueless grown-ups.