I’ve got that achy-pit-of-my-stomach kind of feeling I had the moment I saw Sheriff Bell standing in my kitchen a few months back, the day this whole mess started.
“Have a seat,” says Vernon.
“Am I somehow in more trouble?” I ask as I move the stack of binders from the chair opposite the desk and sit down. “I swear to God I’ve been living like a freaking nun since I started working here.” A few memories pop into my head. Specifically of Melissa. And the main hall of the school covered in green paper. “Well, mostly.”
Sheriff Bell laughs, but it comes out like more of a grunt. “Not this time.”
Vernon coughs into his fist. “Inga did the, uh, math, and it looks like if we were paying you the same wage we pay Millie, you’d have paid off the insurance deductible by now and whatever damage they didn’t cover.”
“Okay?” Cautious optimism tingles in my toes. “So what does that mean for me?”
“Well,” says Sheriff Bell, “you’re a free woman.”
“We’re not pressing charges,” confirms Vernon.
“So my life is back to normal?” I ask, totally unable to conceal my excitement.
Sheriff Bell purses his lips together, which I think is his version of a smile. “The school board decision to ban you from the Shamrocks still stands, so you won’t be able to rejoin for your senior year, but other than that, your time is your own.”
I jump up and squeal. “As of, like, right now?”
Vernon nods. “Well, in about ten minutes, so yeah.” He whips out a paper. “I just need you to sign this, saying you understand that you were not compensated for your work and that your labor was in exchange for the insurance deductible and miscellaneous damages.”
I’m signing on the dotted line before he can barely finish his sentence. “Can I ask you something?”
“Shoot,” says Vernon.
“You didn’t really need my help around here, did you?”
He’s quiet for a moment. “You could say business is slow.”
“So why’d you agree to this? It’s not like you were saving money on labor you didn’t even need.”
Vernon shrugs. “There were a lot of you. Didn’t seem right for just one of you to carry it on your record. Guess I wish someone would’ve given me a second chance at that age.”
“Hell,” says Sheriff Bell, “if it weren’t for your Millie’s sharp eye, we wouldn’t have caught any of you.”
I snap my head toward him just like our dog Shipley does when she hears the crackling sound of my mama cooking bacon. “Excuse me?”
“Slip of the tongue,” he says. “Don’t you worry about it, girly.”
Girly.The word is like a hot coal on a fading fire. It stokes the anger that’s always rumbling inside me, even when it’s only a low murmur.
I follow Vernon and Sheriff Bell out of the office, and the two of them head straight for the front door.
“Callie,” says Vernon, “just leave your name tag with Millie.”
Before the door can even shut all the way, Millie turns to me with that deer-in-headlights panicked look. “You’re leaving?”
Suddenly I don’t buy it. I don’t buy any of this afterschool-special friendship bullshit she’s been selling.
“You.”I say. I don’t even have all the details or the facts, but I know Millie well enough to know that she’ll spill the moment she knows her secret’s out. “You’re the reason I’m off the dance team. And why I’m stuck working in this body-odor hellhole. And why Bryce broke up with me! I humiliated Melissa! And Sam! And most of the team! Do you remember that? And you let me do that. You didn’t even tell me that you were the one who knew it was me after I spilled all their secrets. I... I...” Suddenly the weight of exactly what I did to the Shamrocks hits me.“My mama is never going to forgive me for that, Millie. I violated her trust. All their trust!”
Her eyes fill with tears immediately. “I didn’t know how to tell you,” she blurts.
I have no pity for her. In fact, seeing her cry only makes me angrier. I’m the one who should be upset! I don’t know the what or the how. But Millie is the one who turned me in.
“Your necklace,” she says. Her whole face is flushed red and splotchy. “I saw it on the security footage. I wanted to tell you, but then we became friends and I was too scared to lose you.”
