Jill was so furious she felt like there was lava rising through her body and boiling out the top of her head. “WHATEVER!” she screamed, because she couldn’t think of anything else. She stormed into the bathroom and slammed the door as hard as she could, then dropped onto the toilet seat with her head in her hands and burst into tears.
***
That night Jill’s family went out to dinner at Wahoo Willie’s, a restaurant just off the beach with outdoor tables. Jill usually loved eating outside because she and Hillary would scope out hot guys walking by, but tonight Jill sat silently, staring at the table and pouting. Hillary was also silent, but with the air of an adult who was waiting out an immature fit of temper from a child.
She acts like she’s so above me now, Jill thought angrily. Hillary’s comment that maybe Jill would understand if she had a boyfriend had really hurt, and she was sure Hillary knew it and had said it on purpose.
While Hillary was still reading her magazine, Jill had gone into her parents’ bedroom and complained about how annoying Hillary was being about having to talk to Dirk every day. She had gone on to express her frustration with Hillary blowing her off over the course of the school year. Her parents had both agreed they were a little annoyed with Hillary as well, because they couldn’t leave the condo to do anything as a whole group until Hillary was off the phone, plus she tied up the line for an hour every day. Jill’s mom had added that Hillary was way too young to be so serious about a boy, and it was too bad she was behaving the way she was; it was ridiculous for a freshman in high school to blow off girlfriends she’d known her whole life for a boy she’d just met.
“I never really saw her as one of those girls who would do that,” Jill’s mom had said, shaking her head. “It’s just really too bad.”
Jill’s talk with her parents had made her feel a lot better since she wasn’t the only one who thought Hillary was out of line, but she was still furious about the party, and she didn’t have anyone she could vent to about that. Hillary had a boyfriend; it wasn’t fair for her to take away the opportunity for Jill to hang out with a guy she liked and maybe get a boyfriend too!
She is so not even a good friend anymore! Jill thought sourly as she watched Hillary stuff French fries into her mouth impassively. How can she possibly think she’s right about this situation?! And how can she not even care that I’m obviously so upset? So much for the pact to stick together during high school. Hillary had left Jill hanging out to dry. And the pact had even been Hillary’s idea.
Well, there were three of us left, Jill thought. And now it’s down to two.
***
For the rest of the trip Jill and Hillary were polite to each other, but there was so much tension between them Jill felt like she could’ve cut it with a knife. There was no more juicy gossiping, no more shared secrets. When they went to play volleyball with Jon and his friends one last time on Friday and Jon asked why they hadn’t come over last night, Hillary casually responded, “My boyfriend called, and Jill’s parents wouldn’t let her come alone.”
Jill felt hatred rise up through her body as she glared at Hillary. Hillary’s look was cool and indifferent as she met Jill’s eyes. Stupid bitch! Jill thought to herself.
But at least Jon didn’t make fun of her about her parents. “Oh, that sucks. But that’s cool,” was his only response.
Jill had fun playing volleyball with him that day, and they flirted a lot. “Hey, do you wanna get each other’s addresses or something?” Jon asked as the girls were getting ready to head back to their own condo. “Here, let’s go upstairs for a sec and we can write them down. We can send each other our school pictures or something.”
“Okay!” Jill said eagerly. She and Hillary followed Jon and Alec upstairs as the rest of Jon’s friends headed down to the ocean to go swimming. The four of them wrote down their addresses on some paper Jon dug up from a drawer in his condo.
“All right, well it was fun meeting you girls,” Jon said as Jill and Hillary left. “Write to us!”
“We will!” Jill and Hillary replied.
Jill was ecstatic as they walked back to their condo. But she kept her excitement to herself; she didn’t feel like sharing with Hillary anymore. She couldn’t wait to tell Hilton. Actually, maybe she would call her as soon as they got back. A small smile spread across her lips. It was probably between 4:30 and five right now. Perfect. Wouldn’t it just be so tragic if Hillary missed Dirk’s call today?
They got back right at five, and Jill immediately locked herself in her and Hillary’s bedroom and called Hilton. They talked for an hour, and by the time they hung up, Jill had invited Hilton to come on spring break with her next year instead of Hillary. Hilton had screamed, and they talked excitedly of what all they would do and how much fun they would have. Hilton had always wanted to go parasailing, which Jill thought sounded like a great idea. She couldn’t wait for next year’s spring break now. As soon as Jill hung up, her parents said it was time to head out to dinner before a big weekend crowd came in, and that night at dinner it was Hillary who pouted silently.
chapter 17) lockdown
“Would somebody want to take our Riley bucket down to the student council room?” Mrs. Jenner, Jill’s SRT teacher, asked on the third Friday in April.
Riley was a children’s hospital in Indianapolis, and this week had been Spring Riley Week. BC had three Riley Weeks a year to raise money for the hospital. Jill had known about it for a long time, because for Fall Riley Week and Winter Riley Week, money was always collected at football and basketball games, so she’d seen it going on during elementary school and junior high. Besides collecting money at games, there was a Hat Day, where you could pay a dollar to wear a hat to school, and you were supposed to wear red every day of the week to show your support. There was also always a contest between SRT sections to see which one could raise the most money. Jill’s SRT was pathetic; she knew they had never raised very much at all. She donated at the games and at lunch; she didn’t see any reason to donate in SRT when they didn’t have a chance to win anyway. She thought it was a good cause, and she wished Mrs. Jenner made a bigger deal out of it. She always just reminded them on Monday it was Riley Week, then she’d set out her bucket every day. Jill had heard of other teachers who sold food in their classes to raise money or promised rewards for their SRT students if they won, like pizza parties or field trips or cool stuff like that. Her SRT sucked so bad. She figured even if Mrs. Jenner did make a big deal of it though, they probably wouldn’t do much better, because it was a bunch of losers in here who probably didn’t care about giving to a children’s hospital.
Todd, who’d been staring at his open geometry book and pretending to do homework for Mrs. Jenner’s benefit while really making faces in Jill’s direction and acting like he was stabbing himself in the chest with his pencil, jumped out of his seat. “I’ll do it!”
Jill felt a sense of emptiness when he left the room and hoped he’d hurry back. Hilton turned around slightly and slid a note onto Jill’s desk.
Jill grinned and opened it.
You should go ask for a bathroom pass and “run into” Todd in the hall. Maybe you’ll end up in the pantry again.
Hilton turned around slightly again, grinning a little. Jill was trying to hold back hysterical giggles. “I’m serious,” Hilton whispered.
Jill’s heart pounded. She felt excited and nervous at the same time. What if her timing was off and she missed him in the hall? She couldn’t just stand around outside the bathroom and act like she was waiting for him.
“Go!” Hilton mouthed, raising her eyebrows devilishly.
Jill grinned back and stood up, making her way nervously up to Mrs. Jenner’s desk. “Um, can I go to the bathroom?” She was scared to death Mrs. Jenner would be able to tell she was just making up an excuse to go do something else.
“Sure,” Mrs. Jenner said, handing Jill her laminated pass. “Here you go.”
“Thanks.” Jill turned and walke
d back down her aisle, sharing an excited grin with Hilton on her way past Hilton’s desk. Hilton quickly looked back down at her homework, and Jill practically raced to the door and slid out, afraid Mrs. Jenner would change her mind for some reason or see Hilton’s grin and get suspicious or something.
Once she was out in the hallway, she looked anxiously in the direction from which Todd would return. No sign of him. The student council room was a ways away. She slowly crossed the commons and went into the bathroom by the cafeteria. She decided she’d just stand by the door and then act like she happened to be coming out when she saw him approaching.
As she waited, she thought about what might happen when she ran into him. She desperately wanted to go to the coaches’ lounge again, but how was she going to suggest that? It’s not like they had a pass or an excuse to be out of SRT very long. Maybe they could steal some more passes from Stetson’s desk and say Todd had run into an office messenger in the hallway who’d been about to deliver them both passes to the guidance office or something. But that sounded too fishy; she didn’t want to get caught…she couldn’t even imagine what kind of trouble they’d be in then. Plus, Todd might not even feel like going down there today….But if they did….She flashed back to that day in the pantry, his hot breath on her neck, his body pressed up against hers, that look on his face when she’d thought he was going to kiss her…
And then she saw him coming. She’d been so caught up in her thoughts she hadn’t seen him at first, and he was almost to the commons. She practically leapt out of the bathroom. “Hey!” she said, crossing the commons toward him.
“Hey, Jilly! What are you doin’?” He stopped to wait for her.
“I had to go to the bathroom.”
“Oh.”
“Hey, we should go to the coaches’ lounge and skip again,” Jill said with a nervous laugh, trying to make it sound like she was at least partly joking and didn’t have the whole thing planned out.
Todd laughed. “Yeah, I wish. Hey, I have to piss. I’ll see ya back in there.” He stuck his tongue out and made a gagging noise.
“I’ll wait for you,” Jill said quickly. “I don’t wanna go back yet.”
“Okay,” Todd said, sounding a little surprised. Jill hoped it wasn’t totally obvious now that she liked him or something. “That’s cool, I’ll be out in a sec.” He disappeared into the boys’ bathroom.
Jill looked around the empty hallway, rolling her eyes at herself. He could probably tell how desperate she was to be around him. She was such an idiot! She should’ve just gone back into the classroom like it was no big deal.
Just as Todd started to come back out of the bathroom, a voice came over the intercom. Todd stopped, and he and Jill frowned at each other. It was still an hour till the end of school; announcements never came on in the middle of a period.
“Attention, all staff and students,” a voice said. Jill thought it sounded like Mr. Madden, the principal.
She suddenly felt a sense of dread. Something was off. He never made announcements. It was always Mr. Hooper, one of the assistant principals. She stared at Todd, who just seemed perplexed.
“At this time, we are going under code green lockdown,” Mr. Madden continued. “Teachers and staff, please make sure all doors are locked and cover any windows looking into the hallway. Everyone must remain in a locked room until further notice. If you are not in a room now, go immediately to the nearest one. Stay away from all doors and windows. Once again, no one may leave for any reason. Any student in the hallway will be issued a two-day in-school suspension. Once again, we are under code green lockdown until further notice.” He clicked off.
Jill stared at Todd, frozen in panic. What was happening?! They’d never done this before. Was something bad going on? Did someone have a gun in the school? Had someone died or something?! “What’s going on?” she asked Todd, her eyes big and worried.
“I have no clue,” he said, shrugging. “Come on.” He grabbed her and pulled her into the boys’ bathroom. Just as they stepped inside, a gate started to slide down from the ceiling. It completely covered the bathroom entrance.
“Oh my gosh!” Jill said. “I didn’t even know they had those!” She hurried around the corner, away from the door. She was totally freaked out. If someone had a gun, she wanted to stay out of sight. Why would Mr. Madden have said to stay away from all doors and windows?!
When Jill was completely out of sight of the door, she turned around. Todd was nowhere to be seen. “Todd!” she cried, her voice high and scared. She didn’t want him out in plain sight either!
Todd came around the corner, laughing a little when he saw her panicked expression. “Jill, calm down, dude, it’s probably no big deal.”
“Yeah, but why would he have said to stay away from the windows and doors?!”
“I dunno.”
Jill folded her arms across her chest and took a deep breath. She thought of all her friends in their classrooms…were they all okay? She rubbed her hands up and down her arms. “Todd, I’m kinda freaked out.”
Todd hopped up on a sink and sat facing her. “Don’t worry, I’m sure it’s nothing.”
“But why would they do this?! I’ve never even heard of it! Have you ever heard of them doing this before?”
Todd shrugged. “No.” Then he seemed to really notice how worried she was. “Hey, don’t worry. It’s gonna be okay.” Then he grinned, his hair falling in front of his eyes. “You have me to protect you.”
Jill let out a small laugh, feeling a little better. “Gee, thanks, I feel better now,” she said sarcastically, offering him a small grin. She was still freaked out though.
“Let’s get it on in a bathroom stall,” Todd said. “That’ll take your mind off it.”
Jill stared at him, her eyes wide, still hugging herself.
Todd laughed out loud. “You are out of control, Jilly. You always take me so seriously. Like that time you thought I was gonna kiss you in the pantry. Don’t you know yet I’m just an asshole?”
Jill laughed a little again, still totally thrown by his comment. She’d known he wasn’t serious, but just the fact that he’d said it had thrilled her so much she hadn’t known how to react. “I’m out of control?” she asked a little weakly. “I’m not suggesting getting it on in bathroom stalls!”
Todd jumped off the sink. “I’m gonna see what’s goin’ on.”
“No, Todd!” Jill reached out for him, even though he was several feet away.
The urgency in her voice stopped him. He turned to look at her. “Don’t worry about me. I’m sure there’s nothing going on. I can’t hear anything.”
“So you probably won’t be able to see anything either. Don’t do it. Please.” She begged him with her eyes.
He looked at her a moment longer, then shrugged and came back to sit on the sink. “Okay, but if nothing happens in five minutes, we’re gonna go look. Both of us.”
“Okay,” Jill said. She would still be scared, but doing it together would somehow be okay. She went and pushed herself up on the sink next to him.
“Soooo,” Todd said after a few seconds of silence. “What’s new?” He looked at her, and Jill shook her head and laughed at him. He laughed too. “Sorry, I don’t know what to talk about.”
“It’s okay,” Jill said.
“If we were getting it on in a bathroom stall we wouldn’t have to worry about finding something to talk about.”
Jill laughed and rolled her eyes at him. “Okay, let’s get it on until the five minutes are up,” she said sarcastically, her heart pounding so hard it was about to burst out of her chest. She prayed he couldn’t tell.
“Okay.” Todd got up and walked casually over to a middle stall. “You coming, or what?”
Jill laughed again, pretending she thought this whole thing was amusing just because there was nothing else to do, and walked over to him, stopping just outside the stall door.
Suddenly Todd grabbed her ar
ound the waist and pulled her into the stall, shoving her against one of the walls and locking the door, then pressing up against her. Then, as suddenly as he’d done it, he pulled away laughing.
“Jeez, Jilly, seriously, that face again. When are you gonna learn I’m joking?” He grinned and pulled on a strand of her hair.
“Aahh, stop it, Todd!” she shrieked, leaning out of the way. When are you gonna not be joking? she asked silently, wishing more than anything he was up against her again. Her whole body was tingling. She wished she could’ve known that was coming, so she could’ve tried to remember every detail of how it felt.
Todd leaned against the opposite wall of the stall. Then he started. “Ssshhh, I hear someone coming!” he hissed. “Quick, climb on the toilet!”
“What?!” Jill gasped in alarm, lifting her foot to step onto the toilet seat.
“Oh wait…” Todd squinted his eyes as if listening harder. “Never mind. That was just me fucking with you and winning for like the ninetieth time in our lives.”
“Todd!” Jill slapped at him. “That wasn’t funny! You totally freaked me out!” But she couldn’t help smiling a little. His grin was just so irresistible.
“Hey, I think our five minutes is up,” Todd said. “Coming with me?”
“Okay,” Jill said, feeling a little scared again.
Todd opened the stall door and walked to the corner, then looked back and reached out his hand. “Come on.”
“You don’t have to hold my hand,” Jill said, as if that were the biggest insult ever, but she took his hand anyway. He grinned back at her, and she smiled weakly at him, wondering if she should drop his hand. Why did she keep making it so obvious she wanted him?! But she couldn’t make herself let go. She’d always wanted to hold his hand…and even though they weren’t really holding hands and their fingers weren’t interlaced, it was still so adorable and sweet how he’d stopped and held out his hand to her…