Lurker

“I bet,” Laurel said. She changed her voice, suddenly speaking in a softer, higher tone. “Ooooooo, he sounds so dreamy. I’ll bet he sneaks over to your house with roses and kisses you. He probably reads poetry and has a unit the size of your arm. Oh, tell me about him again. Oh. Tell me. Oh. Oh. Harder. Oh Kyle. Oh.”

Mandy cracked up, falling over on her bed as Laurel continued to coo into the phone, imitating their friend. She laughed so hard that tears filled her eyes. “Knock it off,” she said, her voice spluttering from the laughter.

“Yeah, she understands all right. Until we get her a man, she’ll keep using ours and her shower massage.”

“You can be such a bitch to her.”

“It’s all from love,” Laurel said. “I love. I tease. They are my gifts.”

“So, is your dad letting you come to school tomorrow?”

“Yes,” Laurel said, as if the word weighed a ton. “Now that everyone knows what that guy looks like, he figures I can go places that are populated and well lit. His words. Not mine.”

“Then you don’t have to sit home all weekend,” Mandy said, wiping the last tear from her cheek. “We can catch a movie or something.”

“Definitely.”

“Good. The sooner things get back to normal, the happier I’ll be.”

6

Mandy barely saw her friends over the weekend, though they did manage to spend a couple hours at the mall Saturday afternoon. She spent all of Friday night online with Kyle. She liked chatting with him, not only because he told funny stories about all of the places she dreamed of going one day, but also because he really seemed to understand her. Sometimes they wrote the exact same line of text and sent them simultaneously. Then they’d both rush to write Jinx and LMAO. They were totally in sync with each other. Which is why she felt bad, even a little hurt, that Kyle wasn’t online Saturday night. Mandy waited to see his handle show up on her buddy list, but it never did. Eventually, she turned on the television and fell asleep. Now it was Sunday, and she planned to meet Laurel and Drew at Nicki’s funeral. But Mandy was running late.

MC9010025: Everybody at skool was just weird on Fri

Kylenevers: U mentioned that.

MC9010025: Sorry.:-) It was the same way in the mall yesterday. People just wandering around, looking sad. They couldn’t have all known Nicki, but it’s like they did. U know?

Kylenevers: It’s a tribal reaction. I’ve seen it a lot.

MC9010025: Tribal????

Kylenevers: Sure. It doesn’t matter that they didn’t know N all that well. She lived among them, part of the town, part of the tribe.

Mandy smiled. Here was another example of them being totally in sync.

MC9010025: I thought the same kind of thing the day it happened. I didn’t know Nicki real well, but it felt like a really good friend had died.

Kylenevers: It’s natural. Every1 is looking 4 answers and scared. And they’re all hurt, and they know every1 around them feels the same way. For a while it actually makes them nicer, more polite. It doesn’t last.

MC9010025: Well, I wouldn’t mind if the nice stuck around

Kylenevers: Believe me, compared 2 some of the places I lived, Elmwood started out plenty nice.

MC9010025: I guess. R u going to N’s funeral?

Kylenevers: Can’t. Brunch with family and a friend of dad’s. He’s a real player at Stanford U. It’s 1 of the colleges high on my list, so I totally have 2 show.

MC9010025: Kewl

Kylenevers: Shouldn’t you have left by now?

MC9010025: OMG! Crap. I am soooo late. Gotta go. TTFN

Kylenevers: BFN

By the time Mandy got to the chapel, it was already full. People stood on the threshold and spilled out onto the concrete walk. Cameramen and reporters gathered near the door, and Mandy skirted them, choosing to stand on a small circle of concrete at the corner of the church. She tried to call Laurel on her cell, but for once in her life, Laurel had the phone turned off. Drew’s phone was the same. So, Mandy stood on the periphery of the gathered mourners, men in black suits and women in conservative dresses and pantsuits.

She wished Kyle were there, though she totally understood him wanting to make points with the guy from Stanford. Kyle was focused on his future, and she liked that about him. Besides, Mandy had to admit, it would be pretty strange to have a first date (okay not a date, just meeting) at a classmate’s funeral.

A man wearing a long black coat walked into Mandy’s peripheral vision, and her heart skipped a beat. She turned toward him, instantly thinking of the Witchman. But it was just a mourner, making his way to the chapel doors.

When Dale pulled his Audi into the lot and parked against the curb behind a news van, she knew she wouldn’t stay. At first, a spark of defiance kept her feet grounded. She wasn’t going to run off just because of him. She did, however, rationalize that she couldn’t see the service. She would never get in. It’ll probably go on for hours. Besides, she had gone to the candlelight vigil. If Nicki were looking down at her, she’d totally understand.

So, Mandy slipped around the side of the church, walking up a grassy rise and back onto Summer Avenue, which would wind around to Garret Street three blocks from her house.

At home, she logged on to her computer and waited for Kyle to get home from brunch so she could tell him all about the circus at the chapel.

“So, you ditched us for a username?” Laurel said. “Not cool.”

“I know. I’m sorry. We were just chatting and I wasn’t watching the time. How was the service?”

“Well, I’m still a mess,” Laurel said. “It was beautiful and really sweet, and I don’t think I’ve cried that much in my life.”

“How’d Drew hold up?”

“How do you think?”

“That bad?”

“Worse,” Laurel said. “But hell, no one was exactly acting cool, you know?”

“I’m really sorry,” Mandy said. “I should have been there.”

“Damn straight. But we gotta keep livin’, so I sort of forgive you. But only sort of.”

“What are you doing for the rest of the afternoon?” Mandy asked.

“Talkin’ to you. Talkin’ to Drew. Watchin’ some screen. Might actually study for that calculus test Wednesday.”

“Do you think Walpern will really give us a test this week? God, nobody can even concentrate on normal things.”

“You were there Friday. You heard him. He said ‘test,’ so I’m thinkin’ test. And since calculus is the one class that wants to blow my grade point, I’m thinkin’ crackin’ that book might be a good idea.”

“Ugh,” Mandy said. “I’ll never be ready by Wednesday.”

“You will if you don’t spend all your time chattin’ with Mr. Internet Yummy Drawers.”