Chapter 20
Emma-Jean wasn’t sure where to go after Colleen and Kaitlin left her, and so she returned to the utility room. She closed the door and sat down on the cold tiles. Her mind continued to race and she was sweating. She had the sense that the delicate equilibrium of the William Gladstone universe had been upset and that chaos lurked just outside. She remembered Colleen’s grief in the aftermath of the ski trip, how she had yelled at Emma-Jean. “Why would I want help from YOU?” she had sobbed. “Why are you even here?”
Those were the last words that Emma-Jean had heard before she fell from the tree. She did not want to hear such words again.
And so she determined that she could stay in the utility room until the dismissal bell rang and the buses had rumbled away. She would then hurry through the empty halls and out the door, and run home to her room. The thought comforted her—Henri’s velvety cheek against her own, the dogwood out her window, the smell of curry and garlic, her father’s picture smiling out at her.
Yes, that’s what she would do. She would get home. After that, well, she couldn’t be sure what she would do. The situation was too unstable to make plans for the future.
The dismissal bell rang, and Emma-Jean heard the muffled pounding of hundreds of feet against the floor, the slamming of lockers, the giggles and hoots of her peers. And then she heard screaming.
“Oh my God! Oh my God!”
For a moment she thought it might be Colleen. But no, the timbre of Colleen’s voice was not so shrill. And now it wasn’t just one person screaming. It sounded like a whole crowd of girls screaming in panic.
“Ahhhh!”
“What happened!”
“No way!”
Emma-Jean scrambled to her feet. Something was seriously wrong in the seventh-grade wing, and Emma-Jean could not simply sit idly while a crisis unfolded. Her peers were clearly in need of assistance.
She flung open the door and rushed down the hall in the direction of the chorus of screams.
“Ahhhhhhh! Oh my God!”
Emma-Jean could see a crowd of girls huddled together, and Laura Gilroy’s golden head in the center. But before she could get close, Colleen came bounding up to her. And she did not look panicked or distressed. She was smiling, and Kaitlin was right behind her, holding Colleen’s hand.
“Everything is okay!” Colleen said.
Relief rushed over Emma-Jean with such force that tears came to her eyes. Colleen wrapped her arms around Emma-Jean, her thin arms holding her with surprising strength. Emma-Jean did not step back as she normally did when one of her friends became overly exuberant in their affections. She rested her hands lightly on Colleen’s back and stood very still. She had the feeling that not even the strongest gust of wind could knock them down.
Finally the shrieks around them became too loud to ignore.
“What has happened?” Emma-Jean said as she and Colleen parted.
“You won’t believe it,” Kaitlin said. “You know Mr. Johannsen’s grandson Carl? The one on TV?”
“Of course,” Emma-Jean said.
“He’s coming to town,” said Colleen.
“Mr. Johannsen told me,” Emma-Jean said. “There is a retirement party.”
“Did he tell you he was going to invite Laura so she could meet Carl?” Kaitlin said.
“No,” Emma-Jean said. “Why would he do that?”
Emma-Jean knew that Mr. Johannsen did not think highly of Laura, who was bossy and rude, even to staff members, and routinely threw her gum wrappers onto the floor.
What possible reason would he have for including her in a family celebration?
“He must know that Laura is such a big fan,” Colleen suggested.
“But it makes no sense,” Emma-Jean said.
“And it means Laura has to miss the Spring Fling,” Kaitlin said.
“It does?” Emma-Jean said.
“Yes,” Colleen said. “It’s the same night!”
Of course it was. Mr. Johannsen had told her that.
“And everyone knows Laura is obsessed with Carl Johannsen,” Kaitlin added.
Colleen nodded. “She’d do anything to meet him, so I guess . . .”
Colleen and Kaitlin continued to speculate about Laura, but Emma-Jean was no longer listening.
Because she understood exactly why her friend Mr. Johannsen had invited Laura to his party.
“I’ll see if I might be able to fix this little problem, missy.”
And indeed he had.
She stood very still, marveling at the afternoon’s surprising twists and turns, at the unpredictable forces at work in the William Gladstone universe. She looked at Colleen, who stood close to Kaitlin, her cheeks flushed with excitement as they chattered about Laura.
And suddenly Emma-Jean was struck by an idea, an idea so stunning and simple she couldn’t imagine why she hadn’t thought of it before. Her heart began to pound, and this time she knew exactly what it meant.
“I must go now,” she said to Colleen and Kaitlin, rushing past them with barely a wave.
There was someone she needed to speak to without delay.