“One more thing,” she said to her granddaughter. “Why hasn’t Misty spoken to her parents? They should know about this.”
“They’re probably getting a divorce, and it’s really, really bad at home right now. Misty doesn’t want them worrying about her. Plus, it’s humiliating, you know? The stuff Annabelle is saying is really nasty. Nobody would want a parent to see that, even if they know it’s not true.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Paula said.
But the truth was, it was more of a reflection on Annabelle Litchfield and her twisted mind than it was on poor Misty. She could understand, though, why a young woman Misty’s age might not be able to make that distinction when she was the victim of such terrible harassment.
* * *
Misty hadn’t left the house all day. She was pretty sure her mom hadn’t even noticed. From everything she’d read online, her mom probably had some kind of depression. She wondered if she ought to call her dad and beg him to do something. Her own efforts to get through to her mom and cheer her up sure hadn’t accomplished anything. Who knew what would happen if her mom heard about those pictures supposedly of Misty that Annabelle had posted on the internet?
Every time the phone rang during the day, Misty froze. She worried at first it could be the school, calling to find out why she wasn’t there. Then she panicked that it might be another parent calling about the awful pictures. It would be just like some stupid kid to leave them on the screen of their computer or to print out copies and leave ’em lying around for anyone to see.
She eavesdropped at the top of the steps, but so far her mom hadn’t even bothered answering the calls. For once, she was glad that her mother was too lethargic to care about who might be calling.
She was just starting to think she’d made it through the day without everything getting any worse when Jake came in from school. Her brother spotted her at the top of the steps and raced up, his face red, one eye bloodied, a scratch on his cheek. He handed her a fistful of pictures. Misty sat down hard, the tears she’d managed to keep at bay all day finally spilling over.
“Is it you?” Jake asked in a voice filled with indignation.
“Are you crazy?” she asked, infuriated that her brother even had to ask.
“That’s what I told the guys at school, but they didn’t believe me.”
“You got in a fight because of me?” she asked. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay.” He gave her a cocky grin. “You should see the other guy.” He sat down beside her. “Who would do this to you?”
“You saw the page, Jake. You know who did it.”
His eyes widened. “Annabelle? Why? What did you ever do to her?”
“She thinks I want her boyfriend,” Misty told him.
“Greg? He’s a jerk!”
Misty smiled for the first time all day. “I couldn’t agree with you more.”
“Have Mom and Dad seen these?” he asked.
“No, and I don’t want them to know about any of this. Things are awful enough around here.”
“Maybe they could help, though. I think they’d want to.”
“You’ve seen Mom. She can barely get through the day,” Misty said. “And Dad’s never even here.”
“They’re gonna hear about this,” Jake predicted. “You can’t hide it from ’em. They’ll be on your side.”
Misty wished she was as sure of that as her brother was. “Or they could believe what they see.”
“No way,” Jake said.
“You did,” she reminded him.
“Only for a second,” he conceded. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have doubted you even for that long.”
She nudged him in the ribs. “You still fought for me. Thanks for that.”
“Nobody talks about my sister the way the guys at school were talking,” he said with bravado. “I don’t care how many times I get a black eye. I’ll always defend you.”
Touched, Misty hugged him fiercely until he complained.
“Stop!” he pleaded.
“You defend me, you get hugs.”
“Even though my ribs hurt?”
She frowned at him. “How bad did this fight get?”
He gave her an offhand shrug. “Bad enough.”
“Are you in trouble at school?”
“No, I waited till I was off school property before I caught up with them. Smart, huh?”
“I guess we’ll know when we find out how many calls mom and dad get from the kids you beat up.”
He winced. “I never thought of that. Do you think they’ll tell? If it were me, I wouldn’t want my folks to know that some kid beat me up because I was saying lousy stuff about his sister.”
Misty regarded him with surprise. Apparently Jake had both a code of honor and common sense. It gave her a whole new sense of appreciation for a boy she’d mostly thought of as an annoying pest.
* * *
J.C. had worked up a pretty good sweat at the gym. He knew he was trying to sublimate the desire to call Laura. Their date had gone a little too well. Not only had he opened up to her in ways he’d never expected to, but the attraction he felt to her had intensified. He’d resisted the urge to kiss her when he’d dropped her off at her apartment, but just barely. Something told him that once he’d crossed that line, he’d be lost, all of his resolve wiped out in an instant.
Glancing across the gym, he noticed that Cal’s workout seemed a little more intense than usual, as well. Wiping his face with a towel, he crossed the room.
“Everything okay? You look thoroughly ticked off about something.”
“You have no idea,” Cal muttered, putting the weights he’d been lifting back onto the stand. “Do you have some time? I’d like to talk this through with an objective outsider. Something tells me you’d be the perfect person.”
“Sure. I can spare some time,” J.C. said. If it would keep him from going home to an empty house yet again, he could spare a lot of time.
“Let’s grab a couple of drinks in the café and sit out on the deck. I don’t think anyone’s out there. We’ll need some privacy for this.”
In the café Cal grabbed two bottles of water. “You hungry? Want anything else?”
“Water’s good,” J.C. said, accepting one of the bottles.
“Put ’em on my account,” Cal told the young man behind the counter, then led the way outside.
Dusk had already fallen. Though the air felt
