Scene One
It’s true California doesn’t have East Coast seasons, but there’s something about the fall in San Bellaro that I love.
No, the trees don’t change and our campus doesn’t look like a postcard of yellow, red, and orange, but the air is crisp and cool, and there’s this sense of newness.
Like maybe change is possible, even if you can’t see it.
And things have changed.
“I think Mrs. Barch has it out for me,” I say.
We’re sitting in the courtyard, finishing lunch.
By the time you make it to October at San Bellaro, some kids have decided to park themselves in the cafeteria until spring.
Not us. “We’re troupers,” as Charlie likes to say. We wear sweaters, and we stay outside.
“Hmm?” Charlie murmurs. She’s watching Jake where he’s standing on the breezeway. They broke up last week over what Charlie deemed “weekend abandonment.” Jake decided to go to a concert with John Susquich and left her alone Saturday night. She hasn’t yet recovered, and they’re still not speaking.
“I still can’t believe you’re not in physics with us,” Olivia says. “Yesterday Mr. Dunfy brought in cupcakes. We just ate them all period.” She looks at Ben for confirmation, and he nods.
“It’s true,” he says. “All period.”
The truth is that this bio thing actually is a problem. I applied early to Stanford but they’re going to want to see my first semester grades, and right now I’m barely pulling a B minus.
“Who’s your bio partner?” Olivia asks.
“Len.”
“Stephens?”
Charlie picks her head up and looks at us. “What are we talking about?”
“How I’m failing bio.”
“Should have taken physics,” Charlie says. “Do you know we had—”
“Cupcakes, all period. I know.”
Olivia picks up her apple. She takes an unenthusiastic bite and sets it down.
A look I know well by this point dances across Charlie’s face, and I glance up to see Rob and Juliet walking by, hand in hand.
Juliet looks over at our table and at the same moment reaches up to tousle Rob’s hair.
She nuzzles her head closer to him and keeps one eye on me as she loops his arm around her back.
It’s been over a month, but every time I see them together, it catches me by surprise.
Like I still expect Rob to come up behind me, lay his hands over my eyes, and ask me to guess who.
Charlie says it’s normal to mourn someone for a while, that when her mom died, she still expected to see her every day for a year.
Rob isn’t dead, though. He’s right here.
“He might as well be dead,” Charlie says, reading my mind. “You don’t even say hello to him.”
Olivia has English with Juliet and Rob and has informed me that they do nothing except talk to each other. She also says that Rob has basically stopped hanging out with Ben. “He doesn’t even go surfing anymore,” Charlie adds. “And I heard he’s fighting with his family.”
“No way,” I say. “Rob and his parents are really tight.”
“Way,” Olivia confirms. “Josh told me.”
“Josh is six.”
“Yeah, and Mathew’s best friend.” Mathew is Rob’s brother, the youngest of the four boys.
“Why are they fighting?”
Olivia shrugs. “I don’t know. But I wouldn’t be surprised if it had something to do with her.”
Me either.
“Look, right now bio is the more important issue. I’m screwed,” I say, resting my forehead on the table.
“Maybe it wouldn’t be the worst thing if you didn’t end up at Stanford,” Charlie says. “What the hell do you want another four years with that guy for?” She gestures over her shoulder to where Rob and Juliet are disappearing into the cafeteria.
“I don’t even know if he applied early,” I say.
“But wasn’t that the plan?” Olivia asks.
“A lot of things were the plan,” I say.
I drag my bio book off the table and stand up to go to lab.
Charlie whines, “Where are you going?” but she doesn’t take her eyes off Jake.
I still have ten minutes until class, but I need to reread the latest chapter.
Every time I look at the textbook, it feels like the words morph into another language.
Like I bought the Arabic version by accident or something.
Len is already there. He’s sitting at a computer in the back, wearing that purple lightning shirt. One long curl rests on his forehead, and I have the sudden, intense urge to pull it and watch it bounce back.
“You’re early,” I say.
“Class is canceled,” he says without looking up.
“Yeah?”
He gestures over his shoulder to the board. I read the words “Mrs. Barch Out. Assignment to complete with partner is on my desk.”
“She’s out,” I say.
Len nods. “Yep. It was probably the play. I mean, all that bad acting was starting to make me sick to my stomach too.”
He turns around and smiles. “What’s up, Rosaline?”
“Should we start the assignment?”
He waves a dismissing hand. “Later. Pull up a chair.” He grabs a plastic one and slides it next to his, patting the seat.
I drop my bag and sit down, craning to see his computer screen.
“A little privacy?”
“Please. Like you care.”
Len snorts and angles the screen between us. Immediately I see a picture of Juliet’s family.
“What is this?” I ask.
“The news? Contrary to popular belief, I do, in fact, know how to read. Hey,” Len says as I turn the screen and scan the article. It’s something about education reform and Senator Caplet’s commitment to family.
“His policies suck,” Len says.
“You follow his career?”
Len blows some air out through his lips. “I’m an informed citizen,” he says.
He reaches over me to grab the mouse, but I slap his hand away. I have an idea. My fingers are already on the keyboard. I type “Richard Caplet” into the search page of the San Bellaro News, and a thousand articles come up.
“Obsess much?” Len asks, amused.
I methodically click through, moving backward in time.
Two years, three years, four, five, scanning the headlines for what I’m looking for.
When I get to the last section, there it is, in big, bold font, dated over ten years ago.
But the headline is something I never expected.
I read the words once, twice, and then look at Len to see if he’s reading the same. I click open the article.
There is a picture of my dad and Juliet’s father, and typed above the photo are the words BETRAYED BY HIS OWN brOTHER.