Wrecked by E. R. Frank Page B

allowed to respond?” Mrs. Gerson asks Ellen.
    Ellen shrugs. “A-parent-ly.”
    “That movie will make every single one of you cry,” Mrs. Gerson announces. Then, at Ellen’s look, she speeds up, saying, “Yes. Yes. I’m going.”
    So we watch Big . Seth keeps his arm around my shoulders the whole time. Ellen doesn’t even seem to notice. I stick my tongue out at her to make her notice.
    “Mature,” she says out loud to me, but not like she cares.
    “Shh,” Lisa goes.
    Later I can tell that Ellen’s not even paying attention. Once, I see her eyes on the TV screen, but they’re all spaced out, and another time she’s braiding the tassels on the scarf around her neck.
    Jason’s not into it either. He wanders around the Gersons’ bookshelves halfway through and pulls out something to read. When the movie’s over and everybody’s getting ready to go, Lisa starts teasing him.
    “Since when are you such a bookworm?”
    “That movie sucked,” Jason says.
    “Are you kidding?” Seth goes. “That movie rocked.”
    Jason slides his book back onto the shelf, using his body to hide it so that we can’t tell what it was.
    “What were you reading?” Lisa asks.
    “You’ll never know,” Jason tells her.
    “I can’t believe you actually sat here and read a book while we watched a movie.”
    “Anna’s walking me out,” Seth announces. “Don’t follow us. We’re going to be fooling around.”
    “If you’re lucky,” I tell him, but I follow him to his car. We get in, and he leans over to kiss me.
    “Don’t,” I say.
    “Oh.” He sits up straight again. He looks bummed. I’m not really sure why I stopped him. I want him to kiss me, but when I think about him kissing me now, I think about us kissing later, and us being boyfriend and girlfriend, and I get tired. And then I think about Ellen and how tired she is all the time, and how, truthfully, she’s seemed not okay somehow, and I get more tired.
    “So why did you come into the car with me?” Seth asks after a while.
    “Because I like you,” I tell him.
    “Oh.”
    “It’s just … there’s a lot going on.” I’m not really sure what I mean.
    “Cameron?” It’s the obvious thing.
    “I guess,” I say.
    “I know.” He looks at me sideways. “Did you see her?” At first I think he means did I see her car swerving. But then I realize he means did I see her dead.
    “What kind of question is that?” I ask him.
    “I just …,” he starts.
    “Does it matter if I saw her?” Does he only like me because Fm some sort of reverse celebrity now? Because I’m some story?
    “Anna. Whoa. I didn’t mean to …”
    “Does it matter if I saw her!” Does he think he gets status if he can go and tell everybody all the gory details? “Seth!” I’m shouting. Really shouting. “I’m asking. You. A question!”
    He looks like I’ve just smacked him. “I was only …”
    “Forget it,” I tell him, opening the car door. “Just forget it.”
    The others are gone when I get back inside. Ellen and I set up our sleeping arrangements in her temporary downstairs room. Actually, I set things up, while Ellen watches and rubs Whitey across her chin over and over. She gets the bed, obviously. I sleep on the blow-up mattress, inside a sleeping bag.
    “I saw which book Jason was reading,” Ellen goes after we’ve turned out the light.
    “What was the book?”
    “The Bauble.”
    “The what?”
    “Think about it, Anna.”
    “I’m not in the mood to think. Just tell me.”
    She sighs. “The Bible.”
    “Oh.”
    “Yeah.”
    “Is he religious?”
    “I have no idea.”
    “He’s into philosophy, you know.”
    “I know. And stealing.”
    “What?”
    “He didn’t put it back. The Bible.”
    “He didn’t put it back on your shelf?”
    “Nope.”
    “But we saw him put it back.”
    “It’s not there now.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “Yeah.”
    We’re quiet, and I think she’s almost asleep, but she’s not. “Let’s not tell anyone,”