For a moment, Abilene watched the Wagoneer rush forward. But the back of her neck felt crawly. She turned her head and stared at the open door.
All she could see beyond it was shadowy gloom.
CHAPTER TWO
BELMORE GIRLS
It started with Finley and her new, portable video camera.
It started at Belmore University in the east wing, second floor of Hadley Hall, one of the campus’s two dormitories for freshman girls. The girls were eighteen, then.
It was the third week of September.
It was a Wednesday night.
Abilene’s roommate, Helen Winters, was hunched at her desk, face low over the pages of a Western Civ textbook. Abilene sat at the window, her back to the hot night, hoping to catch a stray breeze while she struggled to make sense of Othello. With a sigh, she closed the paperback.
‘God, it’s hard to think when you’re baking.’
Helen dropped a yellow hi-lite pen into the gutter of her book. She turned her chair around. She looked forlorn, miserable. And even more unattractive than usual. Her brown hair, cut in a style resembling a football helmet, was greasy and matted against her scalp. Wet ringlets clung to her face. She had speckles of sweat under her eyes. Dribbles streaked her heavy cheeks. In the crease of one nostril was a white-peaked zit that looked ready to erupt. Her lower lip bulged out so far that it cast a shadow over her chin.
Sullen eyes gazing up at Abilene, she said, ‘I hate everything about this place.’
‘It’s probably just the heat.’
‘It’s everything.’
‘Homesick?’
‘That’s a good one.’
‘I sure am. I wish I was there right now. Mill Valley’s great this time of the year. I sure wouldn’t be sweating my butt off.’
‘Do you want to take a shower with me?’
Abilene felt as if her stomach had been pushed off a cliff. She realized her mouth was hanging open. She shut it. Not knowing what to say, she shrugged.
Helen blew out a long breath that puffed out her cheeks and lips. She rolled her eyes upward. ‘Hey, if you don’t want to, it’s all right.’
‘Well…
‘You aren’t a lesbian, are you?’
Abilene’s face went hot. ‘No!’ she blurted.
‘Me, neither.’
‘Well, that’s good. Not that… you know.’
‘So how about a shower?’
‘Now?’
‘Yeah. It’ll feel good.’
She grimaced. ‘I don’t know. I was planning to wait till morning.’
‘Please?’
‘Geez, Helen.’
‘It’s just that… I really don’t want to go alone. There might be some other people there. Strangers.’
‘If anyone’s there, it’ll just be kids from our sector.’
‘But I don’t know any of them. Not really. And they kind of scare me. If you want to know the truth, I haven’t taken a shower since last Thursday night.’
'Last Thursday?'
‘I just haven’t quite worked up the nerve again.’
‘Did something happen?’
‘Well, that was the night I walked to the movies. I saw a really scary one. It was great. You were asleep when I got back. The place was really quiet. I thought everybody in the whole sector was asleep, so I figured it would be a great time to take my shower. Anyway, I was in there and all of a sudden the lights went off. Somebody turned them off. It was pitch black. I couldn’t see a thing. I couldn’t hear much, either, because of the water. I was sort of spooked, but I figured it was just some creep’s idea of a joke. So I went on taking my shower. I was soaping myself, you know? And suddenly there was an extra hand on me.’
‘Holy shit,’ Abilene muttered.
‘The one that wasn’t mine… it squeezed one of my breasts. I kind of jumped back and slipped and landed on my butt.’ She shrugged. Making a sickish smile, she said, ‘And that’s the true story of why I haven’t taken a shower since Thursday night.’
‘No wonder.’
‘So, will you come with me?’
‘Okay. Sure.’
‘Great. You’re a real friend.’
‘Hey, after hearing that, I’m not sure I want to take any more showers alone, myself.’ Abilene shoved the chair out of the way with her feet, scooted off the low bookcase and stood up. ‘What happened after you fell?’ she asked.
‘Nothing.’
‘Nothing?’
‘Well, I sat there for a real long time. But nobody touched me again. Whoever it was just left, I guess. Finally, I worked up enough nerve to get up and leave.’
‘God,’ Abilene muttered. ‘You never got any kind of look at her? She never said anything, or…?’
‘For all I know, it might’ve been a guy.’
‘Jesus.'
‘It probably wasn’t,’ Helen said, and started to unbutton her blouse.
Abilene took that as her cue to move on. She walked past her bed. Facing her open closet, she stripped to the waist and put on her robe. Then she pulled down her shorts and panties, stepped out of them, and knotted her robe’s cloth belt. She didn’t realize, until she was done, that it was a pretty dumb way to undress.
Why worry about modesty at a time like this?
From their first night as roommates, less than two weeks ago, they’d maintained unspoken rituals to keep their privacy. They’d jumped at every opportunity to change while the other was away from the room. When that failed, they’d turned their backs to each other. Abilene often stood facing her closet - more to avoid a view of Helen than to prevent Helen from seeing her.
If they’d been more open about things, maybe Helen wouldn’t have felt compelled to take that shower alone in the middle of the night.
She crouched, scooped up her clothes, and sidestepped past her dresser. She tossed them onto her bed.
