This morning I sat at the top of the back steps listening to my older sister, Riley, arguing with Mom about whether I should stay home from school today. Their argument had to do with the fact that my Saturday night double date with Martin Leonard had ended with him babbling and incoherent on the floor of the movie theatre and two security guards accusing him of being drunk. When the other couple and I got Martin home, he folded up on himself in the marble foyer of his parents’ home. His parents went north of ballistic.

By the time Mom picked me up and drove me home, several videos had already been posted on social media of Martin propped up against me and gibbering as his friend and I tried to get him out of the theater. By noon the next day came the postings that Martin had almost died because I had drugged him.

Once Mom saw them, she took away my laptop, tablet, and smart phone—for my protection, she said. Mom might have meant well, but I had seen the worst of it already. The online world hummed with lies even if I didn’t have a screen to read them. Martin was popular and handsome and someone would have to pay for this humiliation. The only thing left for me was the ritual execution that would occur when I set foot on the Duncan High School campus. Even Mom, as old and out of date as she was, knew that.

“Darcy!” Riley shouted from the kitchen and jarred me back into the present. “I know you’re listening at the top of the back steps. Put on your big girl panties and get down here now.”

I thought about going around and coming down the main steps at the front of the house just to keep her from being right, but there wasn’t any point to that this morning. Somehow Riley would know the difference, and that would only add fuel to the flames. I made my way down the back steps. On the last step I closed my eyes for a moment, embarrassed to have to walk out in front of my perfect sister while covered in the stench of disgrace. Nothing this strange or unsavory had ever happened to her. She would think it was my fault that this happened to me and say so. I squared my shoulders, put on the proverbial big girl panties, and went into the kitchen.

Riley sat at the kitchen island wearing a pale pink dress and spike heels patterned with magenta zebra stripes. Her dark blond hair lay over one shoulder and moved like a serpent across her upper arm. Next week Riley would leave the house for her senior year of college, but this week she was still at home finishing her internship at a law firm. She had our father’s brown eyes and they narrowed whenever she spoke to those she considered beneath her, like me. Her lips thinned when she turned to me.

“You don’t have to go,” Mom said. Her jaw was tight and she looked harassed. “You can stay home for a few days until this thing blows over.”

“She does too have to go,” Riley said, never taking her eyes off me, as if she were afraid I would suddenly bolt and she would have to chase me. “I saw the video and the postings. If she doesn’t go today, she’ll never be able to show her face there again.”

“How do you figure that?” Mom asked.

Riley spun her chair back around. “Because that’s the way things go in a high school. The most ridiculous rumors get spread in a nanosecond and you can guarantee that everyone at that school is eating them up. You’d know that if the Internet had been invented when you were in high school.”

“Such a pity that my generation couldn’t destroy one another using anonymous online calumny.” Mom always used her extensive vocabulary when annoyed. She was a dean at a private college and every bit a match for the quick-minded Riley. “The school had better do something about this.”

“And just what would that be? They can’t confiscate everyone’s cell phones or check every website.”

Mom’s eyes flashed. “All the more reason for Darcy to stay home.”

“If she doesn’t go, she’ll look like she’s hiding something.”

“So she can become a sacrificial lamb on the altar of slander?”

“There’s nothing you can do about that. Darcy will have to leave some blood on the floor before this is over. That’s just the way it is. We live in Likely, Minnesota. It’s the real world, not Mayberry.”

“Thank you, Riley, for those cheerful words,” Mom said sharply.

My heart pounded as I poured myself a cup of coffee. My throat felt so tight and thick that I wasn’t sure I would be able to swallow. Behind me I could hear the housekeeper coming in and stashing her purse in a cupboard. She would listen to every word even though she was pretending to be invisible.

“Ultimately the decision is yours, of course. And if you do go, you’ll have your friends to shelter you,” Mom was saying to me. “Thank heavens for them. And there will be a lot of new students at Duncan this morning because the other high school burned down. With all the excitement of the new school year and the new students, people will be distracted from this unfortunate situation with Martin.”

“Really?” Riley spat. “Did you bother to check him out before you let Darcy date him? Last year Martin was the class president, a starter on the basketball team, and the pitcher of the baseball team. He’s practically rock star status and he’ll be bringing all his friends to Duncan with him. If she tried she couldn’t have picked a worse boy to be accused of trying to murder.”

Mom’s temper flared. “This murder idea is completely absurd! Even high school students can figure out that Darcy couldn’t have caused him to have low blood sugar at a theater during a movie. That’s why he collapsed.”

“Mother, the rumors are that she gave him some kind of drug that there’s no test for yet and that the drug caused the low blood sugar. That’s how Darcy supposedly tried to kill him.”

Mom wasn’t deterred. “Even a bunch of gossiping high school students can recognize that Darcy wouldn’t have access to medications like that. These drug lies are a ruse to keep Martin from looking like there’s something wrong with his health and ruining his chances for a scholarship. Besides, what would be Darcy’s motive for trying to murder him?”

“Mother, you’re being naïve. It’s all about perception, and it’s impossible for Darcy to prove something she didn’t do.”

Mom wasn’t convinced. “You’re being cynical. Common sense and logic are on Darcy’s side.”

“Mother, if you’re looking for common sense and logic, you won’t find it at a high school.”

“Well, whatever happens, I’m proud of you for taking the high road and not attacking Martin,” Mom said as she enveloped me in a huge bear hug.

“Didn’t you ensure that when you took away her computer and her phone?” Riley asked.

As I lay my face on my mother’s shoulder, I had the terrible feeling that I had, in fact, nearly killed Martin Leonard. The attempt wasn’t on purpose and I certainly didn’t have any drugs. But I had gripped his wrist in the movie theatre and let my fury at his relentless groping hands come out in a red-hot flood. The moment he slumped over in his seat I felt a surge of vitality; a roaring tidal wave of his youthful masculinity and vigor flooded my veins and made my palm tingle. Deep down inside I knew the two events couldn’t have been a coincidence.

Mom took my chin. “My dear, I’m sure that once this blows over, Martin and the others who are attacking you will feel really guilty about their behavior.”

“On what planet?” Riley snorted. “People like that will feel as if Darcy deserved something just because it happened in her presence. She’s not going to get away from this clean no matter what.”

Privately I had to agree with Riley on that account. High school justice was swift and brutal and not overly concerned with truth.

“You don’t have to go to school today,” Mom said again.

“Yes, she does,” Riley said in a singsong voice.

I didn’t look at either of them when I answered. “I do have to go. If I don’t, the gossips will win. Eventually the truth will come out.”

“No, it won’t, but you’re still making the right decision.” Riley’s mouth curled into a smug smile. “Just make sure you watch out for retaliation. Martin’s posse may try to use the zero-tolerance rules to get you expelled.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Mom said. “That’s not even possible.”

“Mother, high school students use those rules to play the vice principals like pianos. I saw five people get suspended because some students told lies about having overheard threatening conversations that had never taken place or received text messages that had never been sent. They know how to work the system. You’ll see.”

“My friends won’t let that happen,” I said, more to comfort Mom than myself.

Riley barked a laugh. “Do you mean Parisa, Cosette, and Gail? Three of the four Vestal Virgins? They won’t stick their necks out for you if it means getting themselves in trouble. I mean, really, they come to a complete stop at stop signs and would rip out their own eyes with dinner forks rather than get a grade less than an A. Has even one of them ever been on a car date alone?”

“Why are you calling us Vestal Virgins? That’s mean,” I said, irritated that she would bring that up in front of Mom. I already knew the four of us were being called that at school, and it hurt and annoyed me to hear it at home.

“You know what they call you.”

I didn’t try to deny it.

“Don’t you have some place you need to be?” Mom asked as she shot a severe look at Riley.

“I have a few minutes,” Riley said with a grin. “And give Darcy back her phone. There’re computers all over that school, so there’s no sense in keeping her under a media blackout anymore.”

Mom handed me back my phone, and I slipped it in my purse. Just having it back made me feel more like myself. I sat down at the kitchen counter and picked at a chocolate croissant with an appetite I didn’t feel. The light flakes were so dry in my mouth I was afraid I would inhale them. Nevertheless, under Riley’s relentless gaze, I would buck up as if I were actually strong enough to face the attention I would surely receive on campus this morning. I would take Dad’s advice and fake it until I could make it, and as the minutes passed, I was pleased when I did feel stronger. I finished my coffee and croissant and handed my dishes off to the housekeeper.

My cell phone chimed and I read the message on the little screen. “Gail’s on her way.” The four of us car-pooled because Cosette believed in saving the planet.

“Mother, aren’t you going to take your usual beginning-of-the-school-year picture?” Riley slid Mom’s cell phone across the island to her. “You’ll want to add this one to Darcy’s collection in case you decide to create a retrospective once you’ve retired and have nothing better to do with your time.”

“Yes, dear, thank you for your considerate suggestion,” Mom said tartly. “And maybe while I’m at it, I’ll take one of the two of you together. In your declining years you’ll treasure this memory of how you offered your little sister your wisdom.”

Clearly Riley hadn’t expected that, but she was never one to refuse a challenge. She got up and put her arm around me. I summoned every bit of acting ability I had to smile for the camera. I didn’t want to ruin the picture for Mom’s sake. She could forget the events of this morning, but only if I didn’t look as if I were standing on one of the bridges crossing the Mississippi River and was about to jump. After taking a few shots of Riley and me, Mom handed me her cell phone. In every image Riley projected confidence and beauty, and I looked much smaller and weaker, a less perfect version. I gave Mom her phone back, picked up my backpack, and said goodbye. Mom gave me a hug and a kiss on the forehead before going off to her study. Riley followed me to the foyer.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Walking you out.”

“There’s no need.”

Riley didn’t listen, and in all honesty, I would have been surprised if she had. She trailed me to the front door and closed it behind us. She looked through the sidelight to make sure that Mom hadn’t followed before drilling into me with the intensity of her stare.

“Did you know that Martin’s mother is a vice president at the same college where our mother is a dean?”

I nodded. Martin had mentioned it a few times.

BOOK: Alien Me

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