Chapter 17
CHAPTER 17
PEYTON
I hunched lower in my seat, pretending to read my history textbook while feeling twenty pairs of eyes burning into my back. Second day at Sutter’s Ferry Middle School, and I was already the main attraction in this small-town freak show.
“That’s her,” someone whispered two rows over. “Ford Donoghue’s secret kid.”
I gripped my pencil tighter, focusing on the page about the Revolutionary War that I wasn’t actually reading. The whispers followed me everywhere—hallways, cafeteria, even the bathroom. It was the same song, different verse from what I’d experienced in Oregon. Back there, I’d been the girl with the dead mom. Here I was the secret baby who showed up out of nowhere. The girl whose dad didn’t even know she existed until last week.
At least in Oregon, people had waited until I was out of earshot to talk about me. Nobody here had gotten up the nerve to talk to say anything directly to my face, but everywhere I went, I heard conversations starting and stopping abruptly when I came into the room that way that said everyone was for sure talking about you.
I wanted to pull up my hood and hide until the day was over, but that wasn’t an option. Hoods weren’t allowed up in class. It was part of the dress code.
Stupid rules.
The clock on the wall tick tick ticked, counting down to lunch period. That was a whole other nightmare. I didn’t have anybody to sit with, and no part of me wanted to run the gauntlet of finding somewhere to sit that didn’t encroach on some pre-existing group’s space. Maybe I could go to the library and find a quiet corner to read. I could inhale my sandwich on the way. Would I get in trouble for that?
The bell rang before I’d figured out my plan. Damn it.
I shoved my history textbook and spiral notebook into my backpack, trying to be quick about it. The faster I could get out of here, the better chance I had of finding some hiding spot before the lunch rush.
“Hey, you’re the new girl, Peyton, right?”
I froze, one hand still gripping my math folder. A girl with dark curly hair tied back in a ponytail was looking at me from the next row over. She had freckles scattered across her nose and was wearing a bright yellow sweater that somehow didn’t make her look like a walking banana.
I nodded, waiting for whatever was coming next. Probably some nosy question about my dad or why I’d shown up out of nowhere.
“I’m Madison.” She smiled, revealing a set of blue braces. “You looked kind of lost yesterday at lunch.”
“Yeah, well...” I shrugged, not sure what else to say. Was she making fun of me?
“Why don’t you come have lunch with us?” She hitched her own backpack higher on her shoulder. “We sit by the windows in the corner. The table’s not super crowded or anything.”
I blinked, trying to process what was happening. This girl—Madison—was actually inviting me to sit with her? Not because she wanted dirt on my situation, but just... because?
“For real?” The words slipped out before I could stop them.
Madison laughed, but it wasn’t mean. “Yeah, for real. Unless you’ve already got plans?”
“No, no plans.” A warm feeling spread through my chest. “Yeah, thanks. That would be... thanks.”
“Cool. Come on, then.”
As we walked out of the classroom together, I remembered what Ford—my dad... that was still weird to think about—had said last night about how he was always the guy who befriended the new kid when he was in school. Maybe he wasn’t totally wrong about how things worked here.
I followed Madison through the hallway, dodging clusters of students rushing to lunch. She, of course, knew exactly where she was going. She’d probably lived here her whole life. I’d gotten a tour before I started, but I was still getting my bearings.
“So the middle school and high school share a campus.” Madison gestured vaguely to our right as we passed a set of double doors. “All their buildings are on that side, and ours are over here. We share common areas, like the cafeteria and gym, though.”
“That’s... efficient, I guess?” In Oregon, our schools had been completely separate.
Madison shrugged. “Small town. It’s cheaper than building two of everything. The high schoolers have different lunch periods than us, so we don’t really run into them much. Except sometimes in the gym if PE schedules overlap.”
We turned a corner, and I tried to mentally map our route. Yesterday I’d just followed the crowd, but I still felt disoriented. Every hallway looked identical—beige walls, blue lockers, motivational posters about perseverance and teamwork.
“Is it weird having a dad who just... appeared?” Madison immediately clamped her hand over her mouth. “Sorry! My mom says I have no filter. You don’t have to answer that.”
I almost stopped walking. Here it was—the real reason she’d invited me to lunch. Information mining.
“It’s fine,” I said, even though it wasn’t. “And yeah, it’s weird.”
Madison nodded earnestly. “I bet. My parents are divorced, and when my dad got remarried, I suddenly had this stepmom I had to deal with. Not the same thing at all, but still weird.”
Something about her straightforward admission made me relax a little. “Does your stepmom suck?”
“Nah, she’s actually pretty cool. Makes amazing cookies.” Madison pushed through a set of double doors, and we entered the cafeteria. The noise hit me like a wall—hundreds of voices all talking at once, the clatter of trays, chairs scraping against floors.
I thought of Mimi’s snickerdoodles. “My… grandma makes really good cookies.” That felt so weird to say. I’d never had a grandparent before. Mom’s parents had died in a car crash before I was born. Now I had two grandmas. That was pretty cool. Maybe. Probably.
“Our table’s over there.” Madison pointed to the far corner where three other kids were already sitting. “Come on, I’ll introduce you.”
Madison led me to the table where three kids were already sitting. My stomach clenched with new-kid anxiety. Would they be nice? Would they care that I was Ford Donoghue’s surprise daughter?
“Guys, this is Peyton. She’s new.” Madison slid onto the bench. “Peyton, this is Trevor, Sarah, and Jake.”
Trevor was a lanky boy with sandy hair who barely looked up from his phone. “Hey.”
Sarah waved enthusiastically. She had a pixie cut and bright blue glasses. “Hi! Where’d you move from?”
“Oregon.” I hovered awkwardly, my hand clenching my backpack strap for dear life, until Madison patted the empty space beside her.
Jake, a stocky kid with dark hair, nodded at me. “Cool. That’s like, super far.”
“Yeah.” I sat down, grateful for the spot Madison had saved me. From here, I could see through the windows to the grassy area outside. The view of open space made the crowded cafeteria feel a little less suffocating.
I pulled out my lunch—a brown paper bag that Ford had packed this morning. He’d stood in the kitchen looking completely lost, asking if I preferred turkey or ham. It was weird watching a grown man so completely out of his element.
I unfolded the top of the bag and pulled out my sandwich. That’s when I saw it—a bright yellow Post-it note stuck to the plastic wrap. In messy handwriting: “Have a good day, kid. :)”
A smiley face. He’d actually drawn a smiley face.
I quickly flipped the note over before anyone could see it. What kind of goofy person put notes in a middle schooler’s lunch? My new dad, apparently. I should have been mortified—I was thirteen, not six—but something warm unfurled in my chest instead.
Mom used to leave notes in my lunch too, when I was little. She’d draw little cartoons or write silly jokes. I hadn’t thought about that in ages.
I slipped the note into my pocket while the others weren’t looking. It was totally childish, and I was definitely too old for lunch notes with smiley faces, but... it felt kind of good that he’d thought to do it.
Movement beyond the window caught my attention. I expected to see another student or a teacher walking by. Instead, I saw him . The guy who’d been on the ferry. The one I’d seen later that night outside of Home Port. He was talking to someone. A woman. I couldn’t see her face, but her body language was rigid, like they were having an argument. They stood in the shadow of one of the high school building across the green space. Mystery dude didn’t seem too happy with how the conversation was going, either.
As I watched, the woman waved a dramatic arm. Telling him to go? Must have been because dude broke away and began walking in the direction of the cafeteria. The sidewalk he followed went right by the window where I was sitting. As he passed, he glanced inside. Our eyes met, and again, I felt that shiver of ook . Then he winked at me.
I jerked back.
Madison leaned toward me, frowning. “Hey, are you okay? Something wrong?”
I blinked, pulling my attention back to the lunch table. “No, I’m fine.”
“You look like you saw a ghost.” She followed my gaze toward the window. “What were you looking at?”
“Do you know that guy?” I pointed, but when I looked back, the sidewalk was empty. The man had vanished like he’d never been there at all.
Madison squinted through the glass. “What guy?”
“Never mind.” I took a bite of my sandwich to avoid saying anything else. My appetite had disappeared, but I needed something to do with my mouth besides talk.
What was I going to say, anyway? That some random creepy dude I’d spotted on the ferry had just winked at me through the window? That would sound completely paranoid. Or worse, like I was making stuff up for attention. The last thing I needed was for people to think I was some weirdo who invented stories about strange men to seem interesting. If I started talking about mysterious men following me around, I’d cement my reputation as the school freak before my second day was even over.
I looked back out at the green space. The woman was still there, looking in the direction the guy had disappeared. I couldn’t tell if she was annoyed or upset or what. Didn’t matter. I didn’t know her. I didn’t know him. There was no reason to think any of this had anything to do with me, and I had friends to make.