“He was here. He tried to do CPR with Orion, but it was too late.I don’t know where he went.” She said something else, but it was lost in her sobs.
I hung up the phone and tried Xander. It went straight to voicemail. I tried Harper and got her message too. My parents and the Harringtons were suddenly there, everyone staring at me.
“Emery?” Mom rushed to me. “Are you all right?”
“I have to go. I have to…I have to go to school.”
My father frowned. “Now? What’s happened?”
“Dean’s dead,” I said, the words sounding obscene and wrong. “He’s dead and I have to go…”
Abruptly, my father ushered the Harringtons away; I could hear him making some sort of excuse for me, pleasantries and niceties, while I sank onto a bench.
“Mom…?”
She sat down beside me, taking my hand awkwardly. “Who is this boy, Dean?”
“He’s a friend. He’s Xander’s best friend.” I gripped her arms in a panic. “I have to get to Xander—”
“Shhh,” she said quickly and pulled me close as Dad rejoined us. I held on, the shock giving way and the tears flooding out.
“What on earth is going on?”
“We have to get her home. Now.” Mom pulled back to hold my face, her gaze piercing mine. “We’re going home now, okay?”
“Terrible end to an otherwise lovely evening,” my dad grumbled, while all I could think about was Xander, and Dean’s rowing crew, and the sweet kids from the Math & Physics Club—and his parents. Dean’smother, getting the news tonight…
I cried in my own mother’s lap all the way home. Finally, alone in my room, I pulled myself together and tried Xander again. No answer. I tried Harper, and she picked up.
“Oh, Em, it’s fucking awful,” she cried.
“I’m so sorry, Harper,” I cried with her. “What happened? Are you okay?”
“No. I don’t know what to do or how to feel. Because I’m notsupposedto have to feel this, you know? He’s notsupposedto be gone.”
“I know. I wish I had been there for you.”
“No, you don’t. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. And oh, God, Em. Xander…”
My heart dropped. “Tell me.”
“He was out of his mind. Drunk, I think, and so distraught. He kept saying he was going to kill Rhett. That Rhett’s a murderer. I don’t know what he saw or what he told the police but…God, I just can’t believe it.”
“Do you want me to come over?”
“No, go to Xander, if you can. He’s in a bad way, Em. Real bad.”
“Where is he now?”
“Some guys from the crew took him home.”
“Okay, I’ll try to sneak out. And Harper.” Tears flooded my eyes. “I’m so sorry. I know you and Dean were close.”
“He was one of my best friends,” she said. “I just…I have to go.”
She hung up, and I wished I could split myself in two and be with her and Xander both. But getting out to see even one of them was going to be risky. I changed out of my pink dress and into jeans, sneakers, and a T-shirt and hoodie.
I exited my room just as my mother came out of hers, as if she’d been waiting for me. Without a word, she walked down the stairs with me into the kitchen, where my father was making himself a cup of tea.
