Chapter 14
One mile away from Sunset Homes, in a redbrick ranch house on Lowell Drive, Bella retrieved her overnight bag, a brown corduroy backpack with a pink butterfly appliquéd on the front. Inside, she packed a toothbrush, a purple nightshirt, an Asus note tablet, green headphones, a charging cord, Silly Putty, Jolly Rancher Chews, a cat stuffed animal, and nine cat magazines.
As a light breeze rustled the pine trees outside, Bella told Stacie she was ready to go. But Stacie explained that she would not be able to drive Bella to the party until a little later, because “there were people coming over to work on the counter.”
“Why does your mom think she controls the plans of our party?” Morgan asked, when Bella phoned to say she’d be late.
Morgan knew that Stacie hated her and assumed the “counter” excuse was a lie. She had already proven herself capable of handling uncooperative parents earlier that week, when Anissa emailed, subject line “Birthday party,” to say, “My mom just said that because I missed 1 F’ING little choir assignment I might not be able to go!!!” To which Morgan had responded, “I swear if your mom says you can’t come … I WILL LITERALLY CRAWL IN YOUR FREAKING WINDOW, AND ADD HER TO THAT LIST OF BAD PEOPLE. DELETE THIS EMAIL.”
It’s unclear whether Kristi’s threat was genuine or if Anissa had fabricated Kristi’s punishment as a way to bow out of the plan. “My mom says no” would have been an easy way out. Regardless, Anissa had quickly backtracked, not mentioning the choir assignment again, and came to the party as planned.
Back at Bella’s house, Bella turned to Stacie and said, “Morgan wants to know why you think you can control the plans of her party.”
Stacie became upset. Morgan’s sassy question, issued with the same confidence with which Morgan had lied to her about the rug and the fire, rattled her. According to police reports, “Stacie began to wonder if she should allow [Bella] to go to the party. She kept thinking something was not right with Morgan.”
Shocked by the intensity of Morgan’s response to Bella’s belated arrival, Stacie listened as Bella and Morgan quickly went to work sorting out how to get Bella to Morgan’s house without Stacie’s help. Morgan and Bella determined that Morgan’s dad would drive over to get her.
Before heading outside to wait for Morgan’s dad, Bella hugged her concerned mother goodbye. She bounded out dressed up like a ray of sunshine in a yellow tank top and matching yellow shorts. Like any sixth grade girl, she had selected her outfits for the party carefully. Her change of clothes for the next morning included yellow capri pants and a motivational T-shirt with words and symbols stacked neatly on top of one another inside the horizontal stripes of a rainbow heart.
She also brought with her blue-and-white slide-on sandals, which would later make it difficult to run.
Stacie watched as Bella climbed into the back seat of Matt Geyser’s Saturn Vue SUV. Usually, she would have chatted with Matt before sending Bella off to the Geysers’ house for the night. But on that particular evening, she felt annoyed with Bella for not staying home. So she remained in the house, taking another silent stand against the friendship, even as she reassured herself that everything would be fine. There was no reason to worry, Stacie thought. Yes, Morgan had set fire to her house and destroyed the good carpet. But they were just kids. Bella had brought along her American Girl doll. It would be a normal night.