Daisy Lane (12 page)

When she was through, he continued to peer at her, and gradually she realized he had discontinued seeing her; seemed instead to be looking at some interior screen she could not see. She wondered if her problem looked like a physics exercise.

“I’m going to need some time to work on this,” he said finally. “Meanwhile I’d like to suggest you read up on a couple things.”

Grace took out a notebook and pen.

“Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs,” he said, “and Joseph Campbell’s ‘The Hero’s Journey.’”

“Anything else?” she asked.

“Any young adult fiction based on the epic journey of an abandoned child,” he said. “I’d suggest
Harry Potter
.”

Grace entered the school library between fifth and sixth periods and was surprised to see Jumbo’s mother, Mrs. Lawson, taking books off a cart and stacking them on the counter. Grace had no sooner placed her book on the counter than the woman grabbed it up.

“You shouldn’t be reading such trash, young lady,” Mrs. Lawson said. “It’s not good for you.”

“Run along, Grace,” the librarian said, with a harassed look on her face. “You’ll be late for class.”

“Where are you taking those books?” Grace asked.

All the Harry Potter books, the
His Dark Materials
books, and several science-fiction books were among those piled up on the front counter.

“Where they belong,” Mrs. Lawson said with a smug smile. “To the dumpster.”

Grace felt tightness in her chest and wondered if something like this could give a young person a heart attack.

“You can’t do that,” she said, and hearing the words come out surprised even her.

“Go on to class, Grace,” the librarian said. “I’ll handle this.”

Grace tried to jerk
A Wrinkle in Time
out of Mrs. Lawson’s hand but the woman held on.

“Grace!” Mrs. Lawson said.

“Let go,” Grace said.

“Grace, please,” the librarian said. “You’re not helping.”

“But you’re not doing a damn thing!” Grace said.

Grace jerked the book out of the woman’s hands so hard her arm flew into a stack on the counter and they all fell on the floor.

“Grace, that’s enough,” the librarian said.

“No!” Grace yelled at Mrs. Lawson. “You can’t do this!”

Grace fell to her knees and was scrabbling through the pile of books on the floor, looking for the third book in the
His Dark Materials
trilogy.

“I had no idea she was mentally deranged,” Mrs. Lawson said. “Just like her mother.”

Grace stood up in the middle of the library and unleashed a torrent of verbal abuse on Mrs. Lawson that was laced with so much profanity that when she was finished you could not hear a sound. Students in the hallway outside the library stood frozen in shock. Grace placed a hand over her mouth and looked at the librarian, whose face had turned a livid red.

Mrs. Lawson said, “The apple certainly didn’t fall far from the tree,” with a look of pure evil delight on her face.

The Vice Principal escorted Grace into his office and directed her to sit across from him at his desk. He was not that old of a guy and was dressed in what she knew he thought was a young, hip way. Grace thought he was about two years away from looking foolish in those long sideburns and hipster glasses.

“Grace Branduff,” he read off the infamous blue card the librarian had filled out with a trembling hand. “Are you new here?”

“I’m a sophomore,” she said. “This is my second year.”

“Well, I apologize,” he said with an ingratiating smile. “There’s just so many of you and so few of us. It’s actually good that I don’t know you; it means you’re never in trouble.”

“I am never in trouble,” she said.

“So what happened today?”

“There’s this book I want to read and this horrible woman was going to throw it away.”

“Really?” he said. “What book is that?”

Grace started to describe the series but he stopped her.

“I’ve read those,” he said. “They’re very good.”

Grace felt the tightness in her chest relax.

“Who was going to throw it away?” he asked.

“Jumbo’s mother,” she said. “Mrs. Lawson thinks that all these really good books are from the devil or something. She’s insane.”

“Her I know,” the vice principal said with a shudder. “Awful woman, just awful.”

Grace felt a fondness for the Vice Principal begin to blossom despite his hipster hair.

“Book banning is abhorrent, I agree,” he said, “and I think we should nip that bit of busy-body nonsense in the bud right away, but this card says you were disruptive, disrespectful and used offensive language toward Miss Briggs.”

“I did,” she said. “I’m not sorry about it yet but I’m sure I will be. As soon as I am, I promise I will apologize.”

The Vice Principal smiled at Grace and shook his head.

“Fair enough,” he said. “But before the week’s over, alright?”

Grace nodded.

“If I look at your file what will it say about your grades?”

“Straight As,” she said.

“What groups or clubs do you belong to?”

“None.”

“Why’s that?”

“My grandfather won’t pay for any of that nonsense.”

“I see,” the Vice Principal said. “Who’s your favorite teacher here?”

“I don’t really have a favorite,” Grace said. “But my English teacher’s okay.”

“What would she say about you?”

“I never miss an answer on a test but I won’t participate in class discussions.”

“Why’s that?”

“Speaking up makes you a target; I like to keep a low profile.”

“Not exactly keeping a low profile today, were you?” he said. “Is something going on at home?”

Grace laughed out loud and immediately covered her mouth in embarrassment.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to do that.”

“Who’s your guidance counselor?”

“Mrs. Pike.”

“Tough luck,” he said. “You’ll get no sympathy there. She and Jumbo’s mother are best friends.”

“Great,” she said.

“I tell you what,” he said. “I have about a dozen real sociopaths to sort out this afternoon. I’m going to recommend you see this particular school psychologist for three sessions. She’s a friend of mine and very good. She can probably help with whatever’s going on if you’ll be straight with her. Or, you can lie about it and probably get by with that; it’s up to you. As far as I’m concerned, you’re a smart kid who had a bad day. We’re all allowed one of those per year and you just used up yours. Please don’t make me see you again this year.”

“Thank you,” Grace said, and rose to leave.

“Grace,” he said. “If it’s something really bad at home; something you can’t live with, please let us help you. No one should have to put up with abuse of any kind.”

“Thanks,” she said, and walked as fast as she could out of the office and through the labyrinthine hallways to her locker. She felt as though everyone knew what had happened and was laughing or pointing at her, but actually no one said anything.

When she got to the computer lab Elvis wasn’t there, but Tommy was.

“Well,” she said, “I burned my school library bridge today.”

“I heard,” he said. “I think it might actually make you more popular.”

“Lucky me,” she said. “I have to apologize.”

“Just say the words,” Tommy said. “You don’t have to mean them.”

“I’m not sure I can do that anymore,” she said.

“Ed says school is just one of the hoops you have to jump through in life, so why make it harder than it already is? Twenty years from now this will seem like such a small part of our lives; he says don’t make it more important than it is by screwing up now. We need to take the long view instead of the short view, or something like that.”

“I think some kind of lid came off today,” Grace said. “I don’t know if I can put it back on.”

“It wasn’t that big of a deal, really,” Tommy said. “Don’t freak out about it.”

“It’s not that,” she said. “It’s more that it was just like something my mom would have done.”

“You’re not your mom.”

“Grandma said Mom’s craziness didn’t show up until high school. High highs, low lows, and nothing in between, she said; big emotions and big drama all the time. My Aunt Lucy said she was like a hurricane that blew through the halls.”

“Everybody gets mad and goes off sometimes,” Tommy said. “And you never ever do that, so cut yourself some slack. Somebody died on your porch last weekend.”

“I have to go see the school shrink.”

“That’s just another hoop,” he said. “Tell her what she wants to hear and jump through it.”

“I wonder what would happen if I told the truth,” Grace said. “It would blow their minds.”

“It would also be a first class ticket into a group home or foster care,” Tommy said. “If it weren’t for Ed, that’s where I’d be. Look at it this way, we’re almost sixteen and in two years we can do whatever we want. It may be awful now but it could actually be a lot worse.”

Grace reflected on this. She was hungry and cold a lot of the time, and her grandfather certainly didn’t like her, but the glass hadn’t hit her and he had never molested her. In a way, she thought, he was the only thing protecting her from all the awful things that could happen to a small teenager with no one to look out for her.

“So I’ll apologize to Miss Briggs and tell the shrink I had cramps today.”

Tommy blushed.

“Sorry,” Grace said.

“Your lid really is off,” he said, and pushed her shoulder.

The last class of the day was World Cultures. Grace was in her usual seat, waiting for the teacher to come in and start class, when a boy she had never seen before came in and took the seat next to her. He was tall, had sort of longish dark hair, big brown eyes fringed with thick lashes, and he reminded Grace of someone but she couldn’t think who. His cheeks were flushed a becoming faint shade of pink and his lips were naturally rosy, but his complexion was dark rather than fair. He turned and smiled at Grace, and she blushed, embarrassed to be caught staring. All through class Grace didn’t hear a thing for looking at the profile of this lovely boy.

He didn’t dress like anyone she had ever met. He had on a T-shirt, a V-neck sweater, jeans and loafers, but they weren’t covered in logos or modified with band names or rude messages. He was dressed plainly, but you could tell he had money. His backpack was a minimalistic sling of what looked like soft leather, and his shoes were suede desert boots. He took notes on a plain drugstore-type notebook, but his pen looked like it was made of highly polished burled wood. When he sneaked a look at his smart phone, Grace could see it was one of the expensive ones.

A few times he looked over and smiled at Grace, and each time Grace felt her face get hot. She could not stop looking at him, and realized by the end of class that she hadn’t taken one coherent note. After the bell rang, she pretended to rearrange everything in her backpack until he was gone. When she finally left the classroom, the last one to do so, he was waiting outside in the hallway.

“Hi,” he said. “I’m Rowan Gallaher. I just started here. It seems silly to start in the last few weeks of term, I know, but my mom was hoping I’d make some friends to hang out with over the summer.”

He was smiling, holding out his hand, and Grace was flustered. She had never shaken hands with anyone but a grownup. As she grasped his hand, she felt an electrical current pass between them and it snapped with a spark. It scared her, and she looked at him in astonishment.

“Static,” he said. “Sorry.”

“That’s okay,” Grace said. “Nice to meet you.”

“What’s your name?” he asked.

Grace and Rowan were standing facing each other against the wall as a steady stream of people hurried past, going to lockers to gather their things before running off to buses, car pools, or various practices for sports and intellectual competitions.

“Grace,” she said. “Where are you from?”

“All over,” he said. “My dad just took the college president job at Eldridge; before that we lived in Vermont, and before that we lived in California.”

“So you live in Rose Hill?”

“Yeah,” he said. “On Lilac Avenue?”

“I know,” she said. “I live down by the river on the other side of town.”

“You make that sound like a bad thing.”

Grace shrugged.

“Most people think it is,” she said. “Are you riding the bus?”

“Do you ride the bus?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she said.

“Then I guess I ride your bus, too,” he said. “Maybe you could show me where it is.”

Grace felt like she was thinking a million things all at once.

“Sure,” she said. “I need to put my books away but I’ll meet you out front in five minutes.”

“Great,” he said, and he smiled at her again. “See you out there.”

Grace ran through the halls to her locker, fumbled with the lock, and then flung most of her books inside, trying to remember what she needed at home for homework but not being able to focus on anything. This guy, this new kid, had dropped out of the sky like some care package to a needy, isolated population. He just, like, smiled at her and instantly liked her and now he wanted to ride the bus with her. She had read about that kind of thing happening but had never in a million years thought something like that could happen to her.