at the photo I'd taken on impulse. Did I even want it, really? Did I want to look at Dad?
Tucking the picture in a drawer, I put on my pajamas and climbed into bed. I couldn't sleep, though. I just kept thinking about madness and money and bargains.
Dad had stolen from me ... Mom seemed to be losing touch again
... Tristen might kill himself... Thirty thousand dollars, all for me ... Was it a good bargain?
Yes. No. Maybe?
I tossed and turned for hours, and by the time my alarm went off in the morning, I had made my decision.
Chapter 20 Tristen
I WAS AT MY LAB STATION, rotely completing a very basic experiment, when Jill
approached me, face pale and drawn, as if she hadn't slept the night before.
73
"I'll do it, Tristen," she said, her pink lips crushed into a white line.
"I'll help you if you help me."
Although it was my deal on the table, I took a long moment to consider Jill's offer, regretting that I'd told her so many of my secrets--and sorry at the same time that she would enter into this arrangement without knowing all of them. She probably deserved to know everything--even the terrible thing that I feared had happened in London--but she was already too scared. "Are you sure?" I asked, lowering my voice. "Because we will have to work in secret. My way, according to my rules."
Even through her glasses, I caught the flicker of hesitancy in Jill's hazel eyes. "Why in secret?" Her voice dropped to the merest whisper, too. "Can't we at least tell Mr. Messerschmidt?" Tam the lab rat, here," I reminded her. "I told you, there will come a point when I begin drinking things. Do you think Messerschmidt will stand by and let me sip from beakers? And more to the point, don't you think he'd wonder why I was doing it? What would we say?"
She tucked her hair behind her ear. "But--"
"We will enter the contest," I added. "At the last minute, regardless of what we learn on my behalf. We will record our work, develop a presentation, and have an entry in time to win you thirty thousand dollars."
Her financial situation must have been desperate, because at the reminder of the money, she hesitated just one more moment, then took a deep breath and actually extended her small hand. "Okay. We'll do it your way. In secret."
I took Jill's hand, clasping her fingers, amused by her attempt to seem mature and businesslike. Amused and somehow touched.
"It's a deal," I said. "We'll start tonight. Say, nine?" 74
She nodded, and although I saw that she was still uncertain, agreed. "Okay. I think my mom will be working then."
"Meet me behind the school near the cafeteria," I said, recalling a place where smokers sometimes congregated. "There's a padlocked metal door, used to bring in kitchen supplies. We can probably get in through there."
Jill's fair cheeks blanched, but she kept nodding. "Sure. See you there."
As she returned to her lab station, I watched her ponytail swinging in time to her steps, and I kept thinking that she was not only smart but also a good person. Genuinely good to help me after the insane, truly insane, things that I'd told her. I was fortunate, indeed, to have her as a partner.
I also couldn't help but notice that Messerschmidt, Darcy Gray, Todd Flick, and Becca Wright were all trying hard to pretend that they hadn't just watched what had passed between Jill and myself.
Chapter 21 Jill
"TRISTEN, I DON'T THINK I want to do this," I whispered, touching his sleeve in a weak attempt to stop his hand and an even weaker attempt to reassure myself that I wasn't alone in the pitch-black parking lot behind the school. My other arm squeezed tighter around the box I'd taken after sneaking again into Dad's office. "Just be patient, Jill," he said. "It's fine." As Tristen picked the lock, I stole a look over my shoulder. My 75
dad had been stabbed to death in a lonely parking lot, and his killer had never been caught...
"One more moment," Tristen said, jiggling the lock. "I've almost got it."
And before I could
Tucking the picture in a drawer, I put on my pajamas and climbed into bed. I couldn't sleep, though. I just kept thinking about madness and money and bargains.
Dad had stolen from me ... Mom seemed to be losing touch again
... Tristen might kill himself... Thirty thousand dollars, all for me ... Was it a good bargain?
Yes. No. Maybe?
I tossed and turned for hours, and by the time my alarm went off in the morning, I had made my decision.
Chapter 20 Tristen
I WAS AT MY LAB STATION, rotely completing a very basic experiment, when Jill
approached me, face pale and drawn, as if she hadn't slept the night before.
73
"I'll do it, Tristen," she said, her pink lips crushed into a white line.
"I'll help you if you help me."
Although it was my deal on the table, I took a long moment to consider Jill's offer, regretting that I'd told her so many of my secrets--and sorry at the same time that she would enter into this arrangement without knowing all of them. She probably deserved to know everything--even the terrible thing that I feared had happened in London--but she was already too scared. "Are you sure?" I asked, lowering my voice. "Because we will have to work in secret. My way, according to my rules."
Even through her glasses, I caught the flicker of hesitancy in Jill's hazel eyes. "Why in secret?" Her voice dropped to the merest whisper, too. "Can't we at least tell Mr. Messerschmidt?" Tam the lab rat, here," I reminded her. "I told you, there will come a point when I begin drinking things. Do you think Messerschmidt will stand by and let me sip from beakers? And more to the point, don't you think he'd wonder why I was doing it? What would we say?"
She tucked her hair behind her ear. "But--"
"We will enter the contest," I added. "At the last minute, regardless of what we learn on my behalf. We will record our work, develop a presentation, and have an entry in time to win you thirty thousand dollars."
Her financial situation must have been desperate, because at the reminder of the money, she hesitated just one more moment, then took a deep breath and actually extended her small hand. "Okay. We'll do it your way. In secret."
I took Jill's hand, clasping her fingers, amused by her attempt to seem mature and businesslike. Amused and somehow touched.
"It's a deal," I said. "We'll start tonight. Say, nine?" 74
She nodded, and although I saw that she was still uncertain, agreed. "Okay. I think my mom will be working then."
"Meet me behind the school near the cafeteria," I said, recalling a place where smokers sometimes congregated. "There's a padlocked metal door, used to bring in kitchen supplies. We can probably get in through there."
Jill's fair cheeks blanched, but she kept nodding. "Sure. See you there."
As she returned to her lab station, I watched her ponytail swinging in time to her steps, and I kept thinking that she was not only smart but also a good person. Genuinely good to help me after the insane, truly insane, things that I'd told her. I was fortunate, indeed, to have her as a partner.
I also couldn't help but notice that Messerschmidt, Darcy Gray, Todd Flick, and Becca Wright were all trying hard to pretend that they hadn't just watched what had passed between Jill and myself.
Chapter 21 Jill
"TRISTEN, I DON'T THINK I want to do this," I whispered, touching his sleeve in a weak attempt to stop his hand and an even weaker attempt to reassure myself that I wasn't alone in the pitch-black parking lot behind the school. My other arm squeezed tighter around the box I'd taken after sneaking again into Dad's office. "Just be patient, Jill," he said. "It's fine." As Tristen picked the lock, I stole a look over my shoulder. My 75
dad had been stabbed to death in a lonely parking lot, and his killer had never been caught...
"One more moment," Tristen said, jiggling the lock. "I've almost got it."
And before I could
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