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I skipped church Sunday morning and went to the hospital by myself to see Wayne. Mrs. Russell had called late Saturday evening to let us know that he had awakened from his coma. I hadn’t slept all night, and I figured there would be enough people thanking God in church today that they could thank him for me too. I also didn’t want to vomit in public, once they started preaching about the loss of sweet, young Matilda Hunt.
Wayne was sitting up in bed, doing his best to shovel orange Jello in his mouth left-handed. I stood in the doorway and watched him for a few minutes before he noticed me and jumped.
“Janie,” he sighed, letting a sticky orange glob dribbled down his chin. What was left of his hair was a tangled mess. The stitches that trailed down the left side of his head and along the top of his eyebrow were an angry red. Every bruise looked ten times worse than it had early Saturday morning.
I swallowed the lump in my throat and went over to sit next to him. I took the spoon and scooped up a heap of Jello, lifting it to his mouth. Wayne frowned, but he let me feed him. When the bowl was finally empty, we were both fighting to hold back tears.
“Wayne, I am so sorry. I shouldn’t have left the party. I should have stayed and given you a ride home.”
“This isn’t your fault.” He shook his head, and then groaned, squeezing his eyes shut. He was awake, but his head still wasn’t quite right. “I knew better. I shouldn’t have let Matilda drive. She just kept saying that she was fine.” He sniffled and rubbed his nose against the sleeve of his hospital gown. “Everything’s ruined now. I’ll probably lose my football scholarship. My parents are going to ground me for life. Matilda’s gone.” He blinked back tears and turned away from me.
“Wayne.” I laid my hand over his. “I’m sure your dad can pull some strings. You won’t lose your scholarship. I’ll copy all my class notes for you until you’re back on your feet.”
“Janie, my dad is a lot stauncher than you realize. The first thing he asked me when I woke up was where the party was held. He wanted to go gather evidence. He wanted to know who all was there. He wanted to know who supplied the alcohol.”
“Wow.” I raised an eyebrow. “What did you tell him?”
“That I didn’t remember a damn thing.” He pointed to his head injury and rolled his good eye.
I tucked my hands into the pouch of my hoodie and sighed. “I didn’t tell anyone that I was at the party.”
“Really?” Wayne whispered. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, seriously,” I said. “I told you I wouldn’t tell, and I didn’t. And then everything happened so fast, and I was in shock. I mean, I’m sure your dad will figure it out eventually. I just haven’t had the guts to approach him yet. God, I don’t even know what I’d say to him.”
“Don’t say anything. If he finds out, just tell him you didn’t know we were drinking. You weren’t there long, and you left early. Who knows, he might make it through this entire investigation without anyone even mentioning your name.”
The nurse came in to check Wayne’s vitals, giving us a suspicious look when we fell silent. We waited for her to leave, but as soon as she did, Wayne’s parents arrived.
Mrs. Russell gave my shoulders a squeeze. “Hi, Janie. We missed you at church this morning. Tell your mom thank you again for the breakfast casserole. It was great.”
“Sure.” I nodded to her and gave Officer Russell a tight smile before turning back to Wayne. “I’ll drop off your makeup work and notes after school tomorrow.”
“Thanks.” Wayne returned my smile with a strained one of his own. His dad’s grim aura made everyone want to hold their breath.
I hurried out of the room, but I wasn’t fast enough. Officer Russell caught up with me at the elevators. “Janie, do you mind if I ask you a few questions?”
My shoulders cramped into a tight square, but I nodded.
“Were you friends with Matilda Hunt?”
“Not exactly. We were from different crowds.”
“So you wouldn’t know who all she hung around with?”
“Sorry. I just knew her as Wayne’s girlfriend. She didn’t like that Wayne and I were friends.”
Officer Russell snorted. “Yeah, I noticed that we stopped seeing you around so much once they started dating at the beginning of the school year. We also noticed that Wayne’s grades started failing about that time too. I know it’s not nice to speak ill of the dead, but that girl was bad news.”
“Wayne’s grades are failing?” That was a surprise.
“If he doesn’t pull it together before Christmas break, he’s going to fail algebra and history.”
“I’ll get him caught up,” I said, trying to muster another smile.
“Thanks, Janie. You were always a good friend to him.” Officer Russell patted my shoulder just as the elevator doors opened.
I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. I all but ran through the parking garage on the way back to my mom’s car. My hands were shaking so bad that it took several tries before I could get the key into the ignition. I waited until my breathing slowed before putting on my seatbelt and pulling out into traffic. There had been enough accidents in the paper lately. Besides, mine wouldn’t make the front page like Matilda’s had.