“Waiting for you?” May was confused. “I just this instant got back here as well.”
“Oh, weird!” Emily seemed glad, though. “I couldn’t fall asleep for a while, but you were already out. I kept picturing you here, waiting for me, and it made it even harder for me to fall asleep!”
“Yeah, no time passes when we’re gone. It’s like Narnia.” May had a newfound appreciation for things of fantasy, and was making the comparison in full seriousness.
“So let’s go back to school and get my iPod back!” Emily was already headed out the door.
May knew Emily was right to want to get back as soon as possible, but she felt wary. The next step would be to turn Alicia in, but how could they explain how they knew she was the thief? And as much as she may deserve it, May still was uncomfortable with turning her in—she would get in a lot of trouble. May detested these sorts of confrontations. She wished there was a way to just get the iPod back and leave it there. Justice wouldn’t be served, but it would be so much less stressful.
When they were back at school, they paused before leaving Emily’s car in order to formulate a story for how they knew Alicia had done it. May was stumped, but felt pressure to take the lead because it was her mirror that had solved the crime.
Fortunately, Emily’s mind was working away, and she suddenly perked up with an idea. “Alright, this is simple enough; I’ll make a report, and tell the guard that I noticed Alicia watching me closely in the locker room, and that she was the last one out—“ May was about to point out that those facts were not enough to convince them to search her, but Emily held up a hand to cut her off before she could begin. “—and then you can say you saw her at lunch with an iPod in her hand. If we say that we know she doesn’t have one of her own, they’ll be bound to check her out!”
“But I didn’t see her with it, and I hardly know her! How would I know whether or not she had one?” May was uncomfortable with being involved on this level.
“So, we’ll fib! The ends justify the means, May! And anyway, the security guard doesn’t know who you do and don’t know. It’ll be enough to get them to search her locker, I’m sure of it.” Once again, Emily charged off, before May was really ready to accept what was happening.
In the security guard’s office, the two girls sat and relayed the story they had agreed upon. May hoped she didn’t look like she was lying. Her nervousness and uneasiness was a little baffling; she knew she wasn’t falsely accusing the girl. Yet for some reason, she felt so badly about what she was now doing.
Emily was right; the story they concocted was enough and then some to convince the security guard to search Alicia’s locker. He wanted the girls to accompany him, so that they could identify the iPod. May was finally starting to calm down about the whole scenario, when the guard stopped outside of the Biology classroom.
Oh, no. Alicia is in there. The guard is going to pull her out. Ethan is in there. He knows I didn’t see her with an iPod. Oh, no!
The guard entered the classroom, and spoke to the teacher, who was at her desk as the students worked on a lab. May flattened herself against the lockers outside the door, so she couldn’t be seen. Her heart was racing. Emily was waiting patiently outside the door, smiling contentedly. Just as May realized that Ethan would know she was here if he saw Emily, she heard his voice.
“Emily!” His voice got louder as he got closer to the door. “Any luck finding the thief?”
May was trying to send psychic vibes to her best friend now… Don’t look at me. Don’t tell him our “story”… Get him to go away! Emily did not receive the transmission.
“Yeah! After we left you at lunch,” Emily gestured to where May was hiding herself, “May and I put our heads together and realized we knew who had done it.”
Ethan leaned around the edge of the lockers and jumped a little when he saw May pressed up against them. She immediately tried to look relaxed and nonchalant.
“Hey.” She answered his expression weakly.
“May!” He beamed when he saw her. “So who did it?”
Before she could answer, the security guard exited the classroom with Alicia, his hand behind her back guiding her out. He let her lead the way to her locker, and gestured for the other girls to follow. How unprofessional! May did not think he should be keeping the thief and the thieved in such proximity, especially when there was a third party present who could totally refute a large piece of evidence against the accused.
“No, way!” Ethan whispered, “Alicia?”
“Yes,” Emily whispered back before she followed the guard. “May noticed her with it at lunch.”
Thanks a million, Emily! Why did she have to be so excited about that one piece of fake evidence?”
May turned to follow after Emily, but Ethan grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back to him. “What is she talking about? I was there too, Alicia didn’t have an iPod.”
Closing her eyes to avoid looking at him, she answered in a hushed tone, “You must not have noticed, but I did.” Ethan didn’t respond, and after a few moments she opened her eyes to look at his face.
It felt like a razor was slashing through her chest when she saw that he did not believe her. His face held accusation, and disappointment. “May—I never would have thought you would do something like this. I really thought I knew you better. Jealousy is human, but this is vicious.”
A jolt ran through her when she realized he thought she had accused Alicia of stealing because she was jealous of the attention he gave her at lunch. How could he think she would be so malicious? May felt tears forming in her eyes as she tried to speak, but she couldn’t find the right words. It shocked her that he could so quickly assume in the worst in her. She just put out her hand to touch his arm, the gesture pleading for understanding. He misinterpreted the meaning behind it. “I won’t lie for you. When the guard comes back, I’ll tell him what I saw. Which was nothing.”
Defiance, hurt, betrayal, beseeching… all washed through May’s face. Finally, she was able to say, “You’ll see, trust me,” before she turned away from him to follow after the others.
But she could already see them down the hall, coming back towards her. As they drew nearer, May could see that Alicia was not unhappy. Emily was frowning, looking thwarted.
Ethan could read the facial cues just as well as May, he looked at her with a cold expression before turning and saying, “Goodbye, May.” His tone had a finality to it that knocked the wind out of her.
A sob erupted from within her, and she ran away down the hall without thinking where she should go. All she knew was that she wanted nothing more to do with the wretched iPod business. This day had been the longest, most dramatic one of her life, and school wasn’t even out yet. Not for the rest of the students anyway, but May resolved that she was done.
She made her way to the nurse’s office, and deftly faked her way into getting excused from the rest of the afternoon classes. She had no one to drive her home in the middle of school, so she walked, crying the whole way. Her heart was aching. She just wanted Ethan. His arms around her would make all of her despair vanish, she was certain. But of course, the only thing that could cause such anguish was the absence of any hope for what would cure it. What a conundrum. She was so wounded by his instantly unfeeling behavior toward her—he was always so friendly to everybody; even people who called him outright names to his face! That she could be the one to bring out such a frosty reaction was inconceivable to May.
When she reached her house, she went straight to the couch, and lay on it, not even bothering to remove her backpack. She became catatonic, and stared into space. She could feel the skin of her face tightening as her tears evaporated on her cheeks, leaving behind salty deposits.
May wasn’t sure how long she had been laying there, when the phone rang. Without thinking she sat up to answer it, not realizing that she had no desire to speak to anybody until she had already uncradled the phone.
“Hello?” She answered dully.
“May! Oh, May! There you are!” It was Emily, and she sounded relieved. “I looked for you everywhere, I didn’t know where you had run off to!” May didn’t answer, and Emily didn’t wait for her to. “We found it! We found my iPod! It was still in her gym locker, I guess she never took it out. Oh, May! I owe you huge! Why did you leave so quickly?”
There was barely any relief for her in hearing that the iPod had been found. May couldn’t bring herself to tell Emily what Ethan had deduced and assumed about this afternoon. How he had in not so many words dumped her, even though they were barely dating each other anyway. She could only say, “I suddenly got really sick. I needed to come home.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Emily sounded sympathetic. “Is there anything I can do for you? I mean it, you did so much for me today…”
May thought of something Emily could do. “Can you fake sick tomorrow to get out of school? I need a serious mental health day, and I need you to take me to that voodoo store so I can hopefully get some answers about the mirror.”
Emily was still so elated at the return of her iPod, “Anything! Of course. I’ll wait until my parents are gone to work, then I’ll come and get you.”
May felt the weight of her depression about Ethan pressing down on her again, “Thanks. I’m gonna go. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
May hung up the phone, and threw herself back down on the couch. She wanted to scream, break something, cry, and hug someone all at once.
When did I turn into such a drama queen?!
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