The Crazy School by Cornelia Read

Author:Cornelia Read [Read, Cornelia]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Fiction, General
ISBN: 9780446511100
Google: -SY1AQAAQBAJ
Publisher: Hachette UK
Published: 2008-01-10T00:00:00+00:00

Pete stood up again.

“Come on,” I said, “what happened?”

He wouldn’t look at me, couldn’t stand still.

“So it’s true?” asked Lulu.

“Yeah,” he said.

I turned toward Lulu, “What the hell’s going on?”

“Last night, Mooney and Fay committed suicide,” said Lulu.

“But they were just . . .”

“Oh, honey, I know,” said Lulu, putting an arm around my shoulders to draw me close, tears running down her face.

I couldn’t even cry, I was too numb. “How do you know for sure?”

“Dhumavati got a call this morning,” said Lulu.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Dhumavati asked me to wait. She wanted to make sure you were okay fi rst.”

I looked up at Pete. “Who found them?”

“Gerald,” he said. “Early this morning. Up in the loft.”

“What loft?”

“Above the living room at the Farm. He wondered why the ceiling hatch to it wasn’t closed all the way.”

“How do you know they . . .” I couldn’t fi nish the question.

“They drank something,” said Pete. “Nothing up there with them but two half-empty cups of punch, and Gerald said there was some—”

He stopped.

“Some what?” I asked.

He shook his head.

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I pulled away from Lulu. “Some what, Pete?”

He grimaced.

“Tell me,” I said.

“Gerald said there was foam. Around their mouths. And that the cops were talking about poison.”

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24

I pushed the covers off my legs.

“Madeline, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” said Lulu.

I didn’t answer, just crawled away from her and started to climb out the other side of Dhumavati’s guest bed.

I felt horrible when I stood up—pounding headache, still sore all over. Weak and shaky. I caught sight of my refl ection in an old mirror hanging over Dhumavati’s bureau. I looked so horrible I closed my eyes. “This wasn’t suicide.”

“How do you know?” asked Pete.

I opened my eyes and stared at him in the mirror. “I just do.”

“Madeline, come lie down before you fall over. I told Dhumavati I’d keep you in bed,” said Lulu.

“I can’t.” I walked over to the bureau and braced myself, one hand against the top drawer.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said.

I turned toward Pete. “Where is everyone, in the dining hall?”

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Lulu stood up. “You’re sick as a damn dog.”

“No, I’m not,” I said.

“Oh, please,” she insisted. “You puked all over yourself in the snow. Couldn’t even walk without us holding you up. I’ve never seen anyone get hit that hard with the fl u.”

“Look, Madeline, if the cops want to talk to you, they’ll come down here,” said Pete.

“Dhumavati told me to let you rest,” said Lulu. “Half the school’s down with this bug.”

I walked back to the bed so I was standing in front of her and took her hand.

“Feel my forehead,” I said, laying her palm against my skin.

“No fever, right?” I said. “And I didn’t have any fever the fi rst time you touched my face this morning, did I?”

She pursed her mouth, unswayed.

“And I haven’t puked since you guys found me out there last night.”

“Once,” she said. “We had to change the sheets.

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