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When 17-year-old Arbor Hayes' best friend turns up alive after a mysterious six-month disappearance, she must piece together the fragments of her story to make sense of what happened. But as clues e...
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When I get to school in the morning, the entire student body is in celebration mode.
They're congregating in groups, sharing details of what they've heard, and taping Welcome Back posters to the walls. Even Emma's locker is decorated with red and white balloons, representing our high school colors. Metallic confetti dusts the floor and sticks to the bottom of shoes, leaving tiny sparkles scattered across the linoleum like thousands of fallen stars. Someone must have dumped an entire bag in front of her locker.
"Crazy, huh? It's like a circus around here." I'm stuffing my book bag into my locker when the voice takes me by surprise.
Mey Hsiang leans against the steel door, her dark hair pulled into a half ponytail.
I glance at the party favors around us. "Good news travels fast. But I have no idea if Emma's coming back to school or not. We don't even know what happened yet. What if she's—" I pause, unsure if I should finish. But this is Mey. "What if she's messed up or something?"
The texts Emma sent didn't sound that way, but maybe it was meant to cover up something she didn't want me to know. To prove everything will be alright.
It's impossible for me to interpret until I see her for myself. I spent most of the night imagining all of the things she could have been through, and none of the scenarios were pleasant. It's not like Emma was on vacation for six months. She was taken against her will, the blood in her truck proof.
"I've been wondering the same thing. Whatever happened, she'll never be the same. I've seen enough Dateline to know that." Mey gives me a sad smile as the fluorescent lights buzz overhead. "Have you heard anything new?"
"Nope." I close my locker and readjust my books as we begin a slow march down the hall. "Have you seen Smith? He usually stops by after his morning workout."
"Last I heard, he was meeting Kobe in the library. Something about sharing science notes. They have a quiz today and that boy can't afford another D." She rolls her dark eyes. "Did you hear Penn State is interested in him?"
"I did. That's fantastic. I know that's where he wants to go."
"I just wish I could go with him. But nooo, I have to wait another year." She releases a forlorn sigh. "It's gonna suck when you guys are gone. Who am I going to eat lunch with? Or sit next to at football games? Will I even go to prom?" That last part comes out with dramatic flair, as if she's performing in one of the plays she always snags the lead in.
"I'm sure Kobe will come back to take you to prom. There's no way he'd let you go solo your senior year." Kobe Newman may be the class clown, but he takes his relationship with Mey more seriously than I've seen him take anything. Even football.
The day stretches on and I don't see Smith until lunch, when he staggers into the cafeteria late and plops into a chair at our table.
Lance Belavich glances up from his soggy slice of pizza and tosses the blond hair from his eyes. "Hey, buddy. Where ya been? They're almost out of pie."
