A Tale of Two Proms (Bard Academy) (31 page)

“How are you going to explain this?” I asked Headmaster B, wondering what on earth she would dream up to say to the parents of all the students who would go home telling them they’d seen Dr. Jekyll London circa 1780.

“Gas leak,” Samir offered. “It’s your best option. You can evacuate everyone to a safe location and explain the delusions as being caused by too much gas exposure.”

We all stared at Samir for a beat or two.

“Why is everyone staring at me?” he asked after a second. “I mean have you seen how rundown everything is on this island? Gas leak would be
seriously
likely.”

“No—I mean, we know,” Hana said. “It
is
a good idea.”

“That’s why we’re staring,” Lindsay said.

“So why do you look so surprised?” Samir glanced at each of us. “Like I don’t ever have good ideas?”

“Maybe you don’t want to know the answer to that,” Ryan said and gave Samir a rough pat on the shoulder.

Samir shrugged.

“I think you’re still going to have a lot of explaining to do,” I told Coach H.

“Well, the fact is we’ll have to close Bard Academy for awhile,” Headmaster B said. “We’ll have to…regroup.”

“Close?” Lindsay’s voice made a strangled sound. “You can’t close. I’ve got another two years before I graduate! And what about Miranda? And Blade? And Samir? And Hana? And...…” She couldn’t quite say Ryan’s name. But she meant us, the seniors (and in Ryan’s case, the fifth-year seniors). What happened to our diplomas if Bard Academy shut down a month shy of graduation?

“You’ve completed your course work,” Headmaster B said. “Seniors will all graduate. We’ll send diplomas through the mail. As for underclassmen, we’ll transfer your credits to another school. But, you will all have to go home.”

“No!” Lindsay protested.

“Home?” Hana echoed, weakly. Her eyes darted to Ryan. He lived near Chicago. Hana’s parents lived in New York. They’d be miles apart if they had to go home now. Lindsay and I would have to go back to Chicago as well. Would Samir have to go home to India? How about Blade? Her family moved to Arizona last year.

Miss A glanced at all our downcast faces. “We can’t keep the students here,” Miss A said gently. “We have to work on getting things back to normal.”  Miss A put a hand on my shoulder. I noticed, for the first time, that her hand seemed to becoming transparent in the sunlight. I guess she was worn out after the last few days. And I knew it took energy for the ghosts to make themselves appear solid. “We’ll deal with all this later,” she promised me. “Right now, you need to change your clothes and shower. Your parents will be here in the morning to take you home so we can get things back in order here.”

“Parents?” squeaked Samir. He didn’t get along with his traditional Indian parents, who were still set on the idea of trying to get him to agree to an arranged marriage.

“Of course. They had to be notified,” Headmaster B said. “They’ll be taking you home in the coming days so that we can get the school in order.”

“When did you do that? We
just
got back,” Hana said.

“We have our ways,” Headmaster B said, mysteriously. I assumed she meant it was a ghost thing. Maybe they could make the telephones or email work with a blink of their eyes. Who knew? I was too tired to think about what it would mean to see my parents again or what I was going to tell them. But, I didn’t want to think about that right now. I needed to sleep. Next to me, Heathcliff seemed to sense how tired I was. He pulled me closer to him, and let me lean against him, taking the weight off my sore feet.

“No long faces,” Coach H instructed us. “This is for the best.”

Miss A hugged everybody, which made it seem like we were saying a final goodbye, despite the fact we were just headed back to our dorms to shower and sleep before our parents came in the morning.

Headmaster B called after me. In her hand, I saw my book bag. She dug around in it and handed me my journal. She planned to keep the other books. Of course, they were vault books and belonged to the faculty. “Keep writing, my dear. You have true talent.” She said it in a way that implied she’d read more than a few pages. I was embarrassed, but also a little bit pleased. Even though I was bleary-eyed and exhausted, I nodded at Charlotte Bronte, and smiled. It’s not every day you get a compliment like that.

She gave me a stout nod of approval. She wasn’t one for touchy-feely goodbyes.

Miss A ran back and gave me one last hug.

“Thank you,” she whispered fiercely in my ear. She seemed to be growing more transparent, or maybe she was just tired and it was showing.

“Why are you thanking me?” I asked her, puzzled. “I should be thanking you. For Heathcliff.”

Miss A gave me a bright smile. “You’re welcome, my dear. It was the least we could do for you, considering how much you’ve done for us.” Miss A glanced back at Coach H and Headmaster B. Coach H nodded fiercely at me, the closest he got to showing affection. Headmaster B and Coach H were standing close together by the entrance to the library. Miss A gave me a tight squeeze. They were all looking a little bit…thin. But nobody else seemed to notice.

“Go on, now,” she said, and blinked fast, as if she were trying to hold back tears. Heathcliff pulled me gently away, and I walked with him. I glanced backward once, and saw them standing there, watching us, sad smiles on their faces. I didn’t know what to make of it, exactly, and I wanted to go back and ask them more questions, but I was too tired. My legs felt like lead. Now that all the adrenaline that had been buzzing through my system over the last day had drained away, I didn’t even know how I was going to walk back to my dorm to shower. All I wanted to do was collapse on my bed and sleep for days. I leaned heavily on Heathcliff as we walked, and he didn’t seem to mind. I knew I’d have to have a long talk with him about what had happened, and about how he really felt about Catherine and everything that had happened, but now wasn’t the time. I could barely keep my eyes open, despite the fact that it was three in the afternoon.

I never made it to the shower. I stumbled into my room and fell on my bed. The last thing I remembered was Heathcliff taking off my shoes before I drifted off in a deep and dreamless sleep.

I awoke with a start to find that I’d slept through all the way through the night. Bright morning light was already shining in through my dorm window. It was mid-morning, and I’d slept through the entire night and breakfast, too. 

I noticed Heathcliff wasn’t anywhere to be found. I had a heart-stopping moment when I wondered if all of it had been a dream. Did Bard really disappear? Had Heathcliff and Catherine really banished the entire school? Had Sydney really taken Heathcliff’s place? Had Parker really been eaten by Cyclops? I wasn’t sure if I was hoping or not hoping for that last part. Yeah, that’s cold of me. But it’s Parker we’re talking about and if anyone deserved to be eaten by a giant cannibal, it might be her. I’m kidding. Sort of.

And was it true that we were all
going home
? I couldn’t imagine it. 

I sat up and yawned and stretched. I felt like there were four layers of grime on me, most of it 18th century grime, and I decided I was in desperate need of a shower. I grabbed a clean change of clothes and headed to the bathroom. Once the hot water washed over me, I considered the last few days. Now that I was rested, I felt I could see things a little more clearly. I realized I still had a lot of unanswered questions for Heathcliff. We had a serious discussion coming. There was also something bothering me about what Miss A had said, about how she’d thanked me. I needed to ask her about it.

I pulled on a sweatshirt and some yoga pants, a decidedly non-uniform choice, but I figured it didn’t matter because we were all headed home anyway. I padded back to my room, my stomach growling. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d actually had a meal. I wondered if the cafeteria would be open yet and I figured probably not, but I decided to head there anyway. I pulled on a pair of tennis shoes and walked outside.

The campus looked different. The big thing was that the campus chapel was still a smoldering pile of rubble. But even more strange was the swarms of parents
everywhere.
They’d descended overnight it seemed and they were all wandering around with their dazed-looking Bard students under their arms. Headmaster B had gotten the word out, because many of them were already taking their kids home. It seemed really bizarre, and then I realized why. Parents had never before been allowed on the island. There had never been a Parent’s Night at Bard. I was sure that was by design. The faculty didn’t want relatives asking too many questions.

I also noticed that hardly anyone was wearing the Bard uniform. Rental cars were parked everywhere, no doubt brought over by the ferry sometime in the night or morning. Kids looked confused and out of sorts, and most parents looked grim or annoyed. You could tell by the looks on their faces they weren’t happy with having to find a new reform school for their offspring this late in the school year. Somehow, seeing them made it all feel too real. We would be leaving Bard soon, and there was nothing I could do about it.

There were other strangers here, too—firefighters and police officers. Overnight, yellow caution tape had been placed around the rubble of the chapel. The firefighters had search and rescue dogs.

“Hey,” called Hana. She trotted up to me. She had on jeans and a long-sleeved crewneck tee and her hair pulled back in a simply ponytail. “Crazy, huh?”

That was a good word for it.

“Your parents get here, yet?” I asked her. She shook her head.

“They’re late, as usual,” Hana said and shrugged like she was used to it. 

“Looks like Samir’s were right on time to meet Blade,” I said. Across the commons Samir was standing awkwardly with his parents. I waved at him and he waved back. Blade was standing with them, and I noticed Samir took a perverse kind of satisfaction in the double takes his mom made as she openly gaped at Blade’s orange hair and excessive piercings. That would make for some interesting breakfast conversation, no doubt. Next to Blade, I saw a very preppy looking woman wearing a pink cardigan and a string of pearls. I wouldn’t have known they were related at all except she had Blade’s eyes.

“Whoa, is that…?” I asked Hana.

“Yep, Blade’s mom. Can you believe it?”

“No, I definitely can’t.” I couldn’t help but stare. Her mother looked like June Cleaver. That was a little bit of a shock. I realized now that there were other similarities between mother and daughter in the cheekbones and eyebrows. Blade might actually look a lot like her mom if she ever traded in the spiky dog collar she wore around her neck for a strand of pearls. Blade saw me and instantly changed direction. She hurried over and gave me a big hug. She even hugged Hana, which showed she was in a very affectionate mood. Her mother trailed behind.

“Hey, former roomie,” she said and beamed at me. “You okay?” She glanced at my face.

“I’m glad to be alive,” I said. 

“Good,” she said and she gave me a hard punch in the arm. “I’m going to leave soon, but you have my number right?”

“Of course,” I said.

“Good—use it. When we’re off this rock, we’ll have our phones back and I expect to hear from you,” Blade said and gave me a big hug. Blade’s mom came over then and said, “Who are your friends, Jill?”

“Jill?” I asked for a second, confused, and then I realized she meant Blade. That was Blade’s real name, Jill Thayer. I had completely forgotten about that. 

“Don’t laugh,” Blade told Hana, who looked like she was about to start snickering. “Or I swear I will punch you.”

“I’m not laughing,” Hana said, but she put her hand over her mouth.

“I will
hurt
you,” Blade hissed. Her mom looked on, confused. Apparently, she hadn’t gotten the memo about Jill changing her name to Blade. 

“What’s wrong with Jill? It’s your grandmother’s name,” Blade’s mom said.

“I told you I don’t go by that anymore,” Blade said, and she poked out her lower lip in a pout.

 “Nice to meet you, Mrs. Thayer,” I said, taking the hand of Blade’s mom and trying to head off an argument. “I’m Miranda.”

“Oh! Miranda, I’ve heard so much about you.” Blade’s mom shook my hand vigorously.

“There’s Ryan. Um, excuse me,” Hana said suddenly and ducked away from us. Ryan was standing near his Dad. I knew him because they lived in the same suburb of Chicago we did. I’d seen Ryan and his whole family at basketball games, back before Ryan and I had been sent to Bard.

I let Hana go to Ryan so she could meet the parents by herself.

Ryan slid his hand behind Hana’s back and pushed her forward. His eyes were bright. From a distance, it looked like the introductions were going well. I saw lots of smiles all around. As I watched everyone, I suddenly had the strong feeling that everything would work out okay for all of us. I was glad we’d made it through Bard. And even if we lived in different places, I was pretty sure we’d still keep in touch. You don’t survive something like three years on Shipwreck Island and then forget to call. Somehow, I knew, we’d all be all right.

It was heartwarming seeing all my friends alive and reunited with their families. It was a good moment. It was about this time that I started to wonder if I was going to be the only person on the commons without a family contingent. But then my eyes lighted on Lindsay, standing near the cafeteria. She was talking with Mom and Mr. Perkins. Mom saw me first. I trotted over. Mom enveloped me in a hug fierce enough to squeeze the breath out of me.

“We thought we’d lost you,” Mom said, and I could hear her voice waver. I glanced over at Lindsay, confused.

“You know, the big gas explosion—the one that took out the
faculty
dorm?” Lindsay had to spell this out for me since apparently I’d come late to this party.

“Oh…yeah, right.” Faculty dorm? It didn’t exist. But, I guess this is how they were going to explain everything that had happened to the campus.

“But the gas had been leaking for a few days before,” Lindsay said. “We were all just lucky that the fire was contained. Some of the students had hallucinations, of course. And one girl, Parker, died.”