14

EVE

Text message, as her family drove into the school parking lot, unknown number:

u there?

hey its brody

u think about what i asked?

What should she do? What should she say? How should she act? Complimented? As afraid as she really felt?

Eve prayed she didn’t see Brody at the assembly. She didn’t want to see anyone. There, in the school auditorium, kids who hid behind those unknown numbers would surround her. And they’d continue sizing her up.

Eve’s parents had refused to leave her at home with Abe. They said she had to “join her community.” At this, Abe had rolled his eyes.

“Sorry, man.” Abe put a hand on her shoulder. “And what if your own community has turned on you, huh?” he added to himself as he headed to his room. “What then, Mom and Dad…”

The assembly was packed. Eve found herself looking at every eighth grader and wondering which of them had sent her which text. She wore a baggy hoodie to hide inside, and she turned her phone off because she couldn’t take any more buzzing.

Apparently Principal Yu had emailed Eve’s parents about getting Eve in to see the school counselor. But Eve told them she was fine. So far, thank goodness, they believed it. Hopefully they could get out of there before Principal Yu had a chance to grab her parents and persuade them to make Eve talk to someone.

Nessa and her parents found Eve and hers, and Nessa filled her in on the entire cast list. They did their special handshake, a series of seven moves.

“I knew you’d get the part.” Eve smiled.

“Well, yeah.” Nessa pretended to pose with a microphone like a pop star. “But, ew, Brody my-dad-ran-for-Senate-one-time Dixon got Harold Hill.”

Should Eve tell Nessa about Brody’s invitation to the dance? She’d kept it to herself all day.

Before Eve could decide whether to say anything or not, Principal Yu came to the stage to speak.

Eve saw that Curtis Milford sat a few rows to the left of them, and she made sure to keep her face pointed toward the right so he couldn’t even try to catch her attention.

As Principal Yu began to speak, several parents’ hands shot up.

Despite Principal Yu’s attempts to assure the parents they’d have a chance to talk, some moms and dads stood up one by one in order to yell, first at Principal Yu and then at one another.

Eve took out her notebook and buried her face inside it. She continued the poem she’d left unfinished yesterday morning. Words and images drowned out the voices around her.

“I just hope this doesn’t start some kind of witch hunt in the school,” one of the standing dads said. “Like every boy here is a suspect. Look, we all did this kind of stuff when we were kids. It’s normal.”

“Oh, ‘boys will be boys,’ right?” a mom hollered at him. Hayley Salem sat next to her. They shared the same nearly translucent skin and hair.