Seconds later, the door opens. Mandy Peters enters with a backpack gripped in her hand. She jumps at the sight of me; she is Angela’s best friend, after all. My throat constricts. What can I say? I haven’t thought this through, hadn’t pushed Mama enough about all the reasons why I shouldn’t come back this week.

Mandy seems shell-shocked. Her face is pale white, eyes puffy, and brown hair tumbled into one large messy bun. She stands in the doorway, not speaking. She almost backs up, eyes skirting around the room.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I won’t be here long.”

Mandy steps into the classroom, hesitant. “Angela’s desk? Where she kept her things, do you know?”

I point toward the student assistant desk.

“Anywhere else she used…stored things?” Mandy pauses, her hands shaking. “I told her parents I’d pick up her things.” She doesn’t move, just stares at me. I can’t tell if she’s another person who blames Jamal or if she’s just in a state of grieving disbelief. I know I should get up and go, that maybe she’s waiting for me to leave, but I don’t have anywhere else to go. Nowhere else has been a place of comfort for me at school.

I shake my head, then look away, out the windows, to give her privacy. I can hear Mandy finally move to Angela’s desk. I sneak a peek. She carefully places Angela’s things in a backpack. First a book, some notebooks, photos, then she throws away some papers. My eyes well.

As Mandy goes through Angela’s things, I think about the exposé Angela wanted to include me in. I wish I could go back and ask her more about it.

The announcement speaker comes on to say the assembly is beginning. Mandy jumps and then leaves without a backward glance.

I stand, praying no one else enters. A few minutes go by and I make my way to Angela’s desk. I don’t know what I’m looking for, just something to help me sort out what could’ve happened to Angela. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the garbage bin where Mandy tossed some of her crumpled papers. I pull the bin out and grab the papers. Most are draft copies of older articles, but mixed among them are a few pages from Angela’s calendar. Last Tuesday is circled.

Tuesday: PIKE—underground rally

Wednesday: Meet w/ Tracy: Exposé!!!

Underground rally? There’s something here. At ten, I’ll try to reach Jamal and ask him about this. Something had to be going down at the Pike related to her exposé. This might be something the police are keeping from the public, because the news stories are portraying Jamal as having lured Angela there and attacked her. But this shows she already had it on her calendar.