Kisscut

'No,' Lena agreed. ' But Dr. Clay doesn't need it.'

Carson knew she was right. He dropped the bag onto the floor. 'What do you want to know?'

Lena exhaled slowly. 'Tell me about Jenny Weaver.'

He waved his hand. 'I didn't know her, okay? She was on the retreat and all, but she and Lacey didn't really socialize.'

The other boys nodded. One of them said, 'They didn't like to party.'

Lena assumed that by 'party' he meant get high. From what little she knew about Jenny Weaver, this was not surprising.

'She was younger than us,' Carson added. 'We don't hang around with babies.'

Lena turned to the girls. 'What about y'all?'

Brittany started first. Her posture was as poor as the others', and her backbone seemed pliable, molding her into the back of the chair like Silly Putty. She sounded just how Lena had imagined she would: whiny and put-upon. There was something wrong with a society that let children talk to adults this way.

Brittany said, 'Jenny was weird.'

Lena tried to stir them up, asking, 'I thought y'all were friends.'

'We most certainly weren't,' Shanna toned in. 'I for one couldn't stand her.'

She said this as if she was proud of the fact.

'That so?' Lena asked.

Shanna's bravura dropped down a notch when she saw Lena was taking her seriously. She was considerably less confident when she said, 'We weren't friends.'

'None of us was really,' Heather said, and she seemed to be the logical one. She had uncrossed her arms, and Lena thought that, of the six, she was the only one who seemed to show any regret. Actually, Heather reminded Lena a little of herself at that age, on the periphery of things, more interested in sports than school gossip.

Heather said, 'Jenny was quiet most of the time. Even back in middle school.'

'You all went to the same school?'

They all nodded.

Heather indicated the other girls. 'All of us live near her. We rode the bus together for a while.'

Lena asked, 'But you weren't friends?'

'She didn't really have a lot of friends.' Heather was quiet for a few beats, then said, 'When she first moved into the neighborhood, I tried to talk to her and all, but she liked to stay home and read a lot. I invited her to hang out a couple of times, but she didn't want to, then I just stopped trying.'

'No one liked her,' Brittany provided. 'She was a real-what do you call it?-introvert.'

Shanna laughed, covering her mouth with her hand. 'Yeah, right,' she said.

Lena pointed out, 'She was friends with Lacey Patterson.'

The girls exchanged a look.

'What?' Lena asked.

They shrugged in unison. The boys were either comatose or not interested.

Lena sighed, sitting back in her chair. 'We'll sit here all night until you tell me what I need to know.'

They seemed to believe her, even though Lena wanted nothing more than to leave this school.

Brittany spoke first. 'Lacey was only friends with her because of Mark.'

'Mark Patterson, Lacey's brother?'

'Okay,' Shanna said, holding out her hand palm up, her voice excited, as if she'd just been cracked by Lena's tough interrogation and was now giddy to tell them all they needed to know. 'She was a whore.'

'Shanna,' Heather gawked.

'You know it's true,' Shanna countered. 'She slept around, and not just with Mark.'

Brad stirred in his seat, looking as uncomfortable as Lena had ever seen him, which was saying a lot.

'Who did she sleep with?' Lena asked, looking at the boys. None of them would meet her eye.

'I don't know for sure, other than Mark,' Shanna said, as if she were talking with one of her girlfriends over the lunch table. 'But there were all kinds of rumors that she'd blow guys-'

'Jeesh,' Heather interrupted. 'She's dead, okay? Why do you have to say all this?'

'Because it's the truth!' Shanna countered, her voice high and excited.

Heather seemed angry. 'It was just rumors. Nobody knows if they were true or not.'

Lena asked, 'What were the rumors?'

Shanna was more than happy to supply this. 'She was having sex with some of the guys behind the gym after fifth period.'

'Intercourse or blow jobs?' Lena asked, still watching the guys.

Shanna shrugged, giving Heather a sideways glance. 'I wasn't there.'

'Heather was?'

'Heather doesn't like boys,' Shanna provided.

'Shut up!' Heather ordered, alarmed.

Lena wondered if she looked just as shocked as Brad. It was like having their very own Jerry Springer show right here in the school library.

'Okay,' Lena said, holding up her hands, trying to rein this in. 'What proof do you have that Jenny was sleeping around?'

The girls were silent, looking back and forth at each other.

'Nothing, right?' Lena asked. 'You can't tell me any of the boys she was with?'

Carson stirred in his chair, but he didn't volunteer anything.

'Mark,' Shanna said, shrugging. 'But Mark was with, like, everybody.'

'No kidding,' Brittany muttered, with something like regret in her tone.

Lena sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. She was getting the kind of headache that would probably last for the rest of the day. 'Okay, then who started the rumor?'

They all shrugged. This seemed to be the universal teenage response