The Sinister Sweetness of Splendid Academy by Nikki Loftin

Author:Nikki Loftin
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin Group, USA
Published: 2012-08-02T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN:

THE UNSPOKEN RULE

That night, when Dad got home, I ran out to the driveway to meet him. I was crying so hard that by the time he opened the van door, I could hardly speak.

“Dad. Dad, I have to talk to you.” I grabbed his arms, my rough hands catching on the smooth cotton of his shirt. My palms were red and raw from the afternoon’s work.

“Whoa, Lorelei. Calm down! What happened?” He put his hands on my shoulders and looked into my face. “Home stuff or school stuff?”

I took a deep breath. “School stuff,” I managed. He held me close, rubbing my back the way he used to do when I was little.

After a few minutes, I stopped crying. “Thanks—hic!—Dad,” I hiccupped, and we both laughed. He leaned back against the door of the van, pulling me next to him.

“It wasn’t that kid Bryan was talking about, was it? Andrew something or other? He didn’t come back to school today, did he?”

“No,” I said, trying to stay calm, but I couldn’t. Hearing his name brought the whole horrible afternoon rushing back. “Dad, it’s not Andrew. In fact, that’s part of the problem. I think Andrew is dead. Murdered.”

“What?” Dad stood up. “Lorelei, is this just more of the same kind of drama you’ve been coming up with since Molly?”

“Dad! I don’t care about Molly. She didn’t even want me to tell you. I need you to pay attention.”

He stepped away. Great. I’d ticked him off. “Don’t care about Molly? I think we’d better have this discussion inside. Is she home?”

“Yes,” I mumbled. “She’s going to be mad I said anything. I tried to tell her what happened—I mean, she asked me why I was so upset, right? But she thinks I made it all up. She even took the phone away when I tried to call his parents!”

“Well, I’ll admit, it’s a little far-fetched,” he said, pulling on my ponytail softly. “I think I would have heard something, on the news even, if one of your classmates had been murdered.”

He wasn’t listening to me. I had to get his attention, and I knew one way to do that for sure. One word. “Not if they didn’t find his”—I swallowed hard—“his bones yet.”

I had broken the unspoken rule.

Dad stopped, his hand trembling on the doorknob. “What exactly do you think happened, Lorelei?”

I knew he probably wouldn’t believe me, but I had to tell him what I suspected. “I think my teacher, Ms. Morrigan—and maybe the other teachers, I don’t know for sure. They all seem suspicious,” I took another deep breath. “I think she ate him.”

Watching Dad laugh at me, I remembered why I never told him anything. Why kids didn’t tell adults anything, most of the time. Adults don’t listen. They don’t pay attention, and they don’t care.

Of course, Dad hadn’t listened to anything I’d said since the day Mom went into the hospital and never came out.

That had been all my fault.

I supposed I deserved to be ignored now.

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