I act.
“Your face looks terrible,” Nat said matter-of-factly. “Does it hurt?”
“No,” I lied.
If I had said yes, maybe Nat wouldn’t have said what she did, and then we wouldn’t have argued. Maybe she would have felt sorry for me and saved it for later. “Tory,” she said, a coolness in her voice that I hadn’t heard before, “I’ve worked really hard, practically killed myself to get this far. Becoming a doctor is the most important thing in my life.” She gave me a long hard look. “I’m not going to give it all up this early in the game just because you’re having an attack of conscience.”
“Who said I am?” I said defiantly. Why was everyone getting so nervous about me all of a sudden? It was Mindy we were supposed to be worrying about.
“Bay. You’re making him really jittery, Tory. I think you should go find him and tell him to quit worrying. He’s not acting like himself at all, and I know it’s because he isn’t sure about you. He’s afraid you’re going to fink.”
What a rotten thing to say. As if I’d ever turn in my best friends. How could she even think that?
I was so furious, I couldn’t say a word. I also hated the fact that she and Bay had been discussing me behind my back.
What was happening to all of us?
I was about to respond heatedly when the phone rang. I snatched it up, grateful for the interruption. Things were bad enough already without Nat and I fighting.
It was Eli. “Are you alone?”
Weird. Why would he ask me that? “No.”
“Meet me downstairs in two minutes. I have to talk to you.”
I could feel Nat’s eyes on me. She probably assumed I was talking to Bay. Something about Eli’s voice warned me to let her go on assuming it. “What’s wrong?” I asked him, but he wouldn’t tell me.
“Just meet me. Lobby. Two minutes. I’ll explain then.”
All I told Nat when I’d hung up was that I was going out. I knew she thought I was meeting Bay, and I let her think it. Fewer questions that way.
As I hurried to the elevator, I couldn’t remember ever having left the room before without telling Nat the truth about where I was going and why. I hadn’t told her about the mummy, either. I’d intended to, but then she’d started in on me, and after that Eli had called.
But I knew, as I stepped into the elevator and pressed the lobby button, that even if those things hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t have told her, just as I hadn’t told Bay. I wasn’t sure why. I only knew that I would have kept that to myself.
And yet it was the kind of thing you told your best friends, wasn’t it? When something scared you half to death, didn’t you share that with your best friends, knowing they would understand and be sympathetic? Even if you yourself weren’t one hundred percent sure that you had actually seen it?
Why hadn’t I told Nat or Bay?
Because something was happening to us, to our little group. I’d thought of us as a rock of friendship, solid and unchangeable, but now I could feel the tiny little cracks developing around the edges.
And as the elevator descended rapidly and the lighted buttons over the door counted off the floors, I had the unshakable feeling that what Eli was going to tell me would only make things worse.
Chapter 13
E LI, IN JEANS AND a gray Salem sweatshirt, was leaning against the lobby wall when I stepped out of the elevator. His glasses had slid down slightly on his nose and his long hair was windblown. He grimaced when he saw my face.
“That burn looks worse this morning,” he said, opening the front door to usher me out into the bright sunshine. “You okay?”
“I wish everyone would quit asking me that,” I said. “I’m fine. Well, I’m not fine, exactly, but I’ll live. Have you heard anything new about Hoop?”
Eli shook his head. His dark, wavy hair slapped against his shoulders. “Not yet. Listen, there’s a problem.” He sounded worried.
I almost laughed. Of course there was a problem. There
“Your face looks terrible,” Nat said matter-of-factly. “Does it hurt?”
“No,” I lied.
If I had said yes, maybe Nat wouldn’t have said what she did, and then we wouldn’t have argued. Maybe she would have felt sorry for me and saved it for later. “Tory,” she said, a coolness in her voice that I hadn’t heard before, “I’ve worked really hard, practically killed myself to get this far. Becoming a doctor is the most important thing in my life.” She gave me a long hard look. “I’m not going to give it all up this early in the game just because you’re having an attack of conscience.”
“Who said I am?” I said defiantly. Why was everyone getting so nervous about me all of a sudden? It was Mindy we were supposed to be worrying about.
“Bay. You’re making him really jittery, Tory. I think you should go find him and tell him to quit worrying. He’s not acting like himself at all, and I know it’s because he isn’t sure about you. He’s afraid you’re going to fink.”
What a rotten thing to say. As if I’d ever turn in my best friends. How could she even think that?
I was so furious, I couldn’t say a word. I also hated the fact that she and Bay had been discussing me behind my back.
What was happening to all of us?
I was about to respond heatedly when the phone rang. I snatched it up, grateful for the interruption. Things were bad enough already without Nat and I fighting.
It was Eli. “Are you alone?”
Weird. Why would he ask me that? “No.”
“Meet me downstairs in two minutes. I have to talk to you.”
I could feel Nat’s eyes on me. She probably assumed I was talking to Bay. Something about Eli’s voice warned me to let her go on assuming it. “What’s wrong?” I asked him, but he wouldn’t tell me.
“Just meet me. Lobby. Two minutes. I’ll explain then.”
All I told Nat when I’d hung up was that I was going out. I knew she thought I was meeting Bay, and I let her think it. Fewer questions that way.
As I hurried to the elevator, I couldn’t remember ever having left the room before without telling Nat the truth about where I was going and why. I hadn’t told her about the mummy, either. I’d intended to, but then she’d started in on me, and after that Eli had called.
But I knew, as I stepped into the elevator and pressed the lobby button, that even if those things hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t have told her, just as I hadn’t told Bay. I wasn’t sure why. I only knew that I would have kept that to myself.
And yet it was the kind of thing you told your best friends, wasn’t it? When something scared you half to death, didn’t you share that with your best friends, knowing they would understand and be sympathetic? Even if you yourself weren’t one hundred percent sure that you had actually seen it?
Why hadn’t I told Nat or Bay?
Because something was happening to us, to our little group. I’d thought of us as a rock of friendship, solid and unchangeable, but now I could feel the tiny little cracks developing around the edges.
And as the elevator descended rapidly and the lighted buttons over the door counted off the floors, I had the unshakable feeling that what Eli was going to tell me would only make things worse.
Chapter 13
E LI, IN JEANS AND a gray Salem sweatshirt, was leaning against the lobby wall when I stepped out of the elevator. His glasses had slid down slightly on his nose and his long hair was windblown. He grimaced when he saw my face.
“That burn looks worse this morning,” he said, opening the front door to usher me out into the bright sunshine. “You okay?”
“I wish everyone would quit asking me that,” I said. “I’m fine. Well, I’m not fine, exactly, but I’ll live. Have you heard anything new about Hoop?”
Eli shook his head. His dark, wavy hair slapped against his shoulders. “Not yet. Listen, there’s a problem.” He sounded worried.
I almost laughed. Of course there was a problem. There
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