Convergence - The Last Science #2.1 - In Plain Sight

B2: Chapter 11 - The Emerald City (Part I) - I

  Friday. Natalie just had to get through one more day of school. She hated every single class now, since she was bound to run into Quinn in most of them. Even the classes where he wasn't there, she spent every waking moment dreading her next encounter with him. He'd returned to school a week ago, and she'd quickly lost even the little bit of joy she'd found hanging out with the Glasses Gang.

  It wasn't even that he'd actually done anything yet. He was still nice to her, helped her out in all her classes, hung out with her, did the normal friend thing—but he knew. Quinn knew her real name. He'd known for weeks. It was the most important thing, one of the few things Rachel told her to keep absolutely secret, and she'd failed. She hadn't been paying attention, and her name had gotten out.

  The school was awash with excited conversation about Rallsburg yet again. Since it was in their home state, a lot of the kids seemed to want to take ownership of it—like it was their conspiracy, their special story. Anyone who'd managed to sneak into the quarantined area with parents or older siblings (mostly in the easy time before the case had gotten fresh again) was a minor celebrity in the school. They shared their stories of the decaying buildings, the ominous library, the burned forest, the exploded grocery store with hushed awe. Like they'd witnessed it themselves.

  Natalie wanted to shake them silly and shout in their faces. It wasn't exciting. It was terrifying. It was horrible and monstrous and it had ruined her entire life. She just wanted them all to shut up about it!

  But Hailey had been seen on TV, just for a second, covered in ash and diving out of a burning building, and that meant everyone wanted to talk about it again.

  Natalie had messaged her a dozen times whenever she got a chance, sneaking outside between classes so she could login to the website on her phone, but Hailey hadn't answered yet. She wondered if Hailey was in just as much trouble. No, Hailey's an adult. She doesn't have anyone to put her in trouble. I bet she still feels awful though. I wish she'd answer me.

  More than wanting to comfort her friend, Natalie needed advice. She had no idea what to do about Quinn at this point. Hailey hadn't covered what the next steps were if she had told him her secret. She didn't dare ask anyone else on the site. Hailey was the only one she felt like she could trust.

  Natalie had failed every test all week, too busy stressing out to concentrate on anything set down in front of her. After failing the make-up test too, her teacher sent her down to the principal's office. She sat on the too-tall chairs, kicking her feet anxiously and waiting. She felt like running. Anything would be better than going in to face the severe old woman.

  "Come in, Jenny."

  Natalie took a deep breath, like Hailey always told her to do, but it didn't seem to help much. She hopped off the chair, patting her purse for good luck (and to remind herself that it still held plenty of gemstones if she needed them). With the eye of the front desk lady trailing her, Natalie walked very carefully up to the office door and pushed it open.

  The principal was sitting behind her desk, doing her best to project a friendly look. Unfortunately, the woman's face just wasn't built that way, so it came off more like the principal was getting ready to eat her.

  Natalie grimaced, and the principal's face fell, returning to its usual look of impatient annoyance. It was a huge improvement. "Take a seat."

  She did, placing her purse on her lap, trying her hardest to keep her legs from moving. "Am I in trouble?"

  "I'm not sure." She sighed, pressing her fingers to her temples again. "Something happened, didn't it?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "I know you're friends with Quinn and his little group. After a scare like what happened to him, it wouldn't be a surprise if you got worried."

  "Yeah." Natalie felt like that was an easy way out. She'd been worried about him. Makes sense. It's also true. I really was worried about him...

  "But Jenny, you only started doing poorly after he came back. He was gone for over a week and you didn't slip up once in class. As soon as he came back, you started doing worse."

  "Oh." Oh no.

  "Is there something I need to know?"

  "I don't know," she said, too quickly.

  The principal shook her head. "Jenny, I've never been a fan of how you came to my school. It broke a lot of the usual rules. You've been a good student, but things just keep happening around you, right from your first day here."

  "But I didn't do any of that."

  "I know you probably didn't, but I have to think about all my students."

  Natalie frowned. "So what am I supposed to do?"

  "Make it stop?" The principal rubbed at her eyes, which Natalie noticed were bagged and exhausted. "I don't know what's going on with you, Jenny, and I feel like I'm not supposed to know. If that's true, and you have no idea what's going on, then don't tell me. But if there's something that you're doing, or something that's happening because of you, and it's putting some of my students in danger, then you need to tell me, so we can figure out what to do about it." She sighed. "We've had a reputation as one of the best, safest schools in the city for a long time, and it's done a lot to help our budget and volunteer hours. I can't lose that. I hope you understand."

  The principal stood up and walked around her desk. She knelt down in front of Natalie so that they were at eye level. "I'm sorry to put this on you, Jenny. I know it's not fair."

  "If you know that, then don't do it."

  "I don't really have a choice." She frowned. "Maybe nothing else will happen though. If nothing else happens, then we can just forget this whole conversation. How about that?"

  Natalie nodded slowly. She wondered if the principal thought her whole demeanor and actions were supposed to be friendly and comforting. Having the woman so much closer made her look even scarier, like she was getting ready to devour Natalie whole.

  She smiled, and it made everything even worse. "Good. Okay. Back to class, then."

  Without another word, Natalie hopped off the chair and did her absolute best to resist sprinting out of the office.