Chapter 11 — The Emerald City (Part I)

Friday. Natalie just had to get through one more day of school. She hated every single class now, since she was bound to run into Quinn in most of them. Even the classes where he wasn't there, she spent every waking moment dreading her next encounter with him. He'd returned to school a week ago, and she'd quickly lost even the little bit of joy she'd found hanging out with the Glasses Gang.

It wasn't even that he'd actually done anything yet. He was still nice to her, helped her out in all her classes, hung out with her, did the normal friend thing—but he knew. Quinn knew her real name. He'd known for weeks. It was the most important thing, one of the few things Rachel told her to keep absolutely secret, and she'd failed. She hadn't been paying attention, and her name had gotten out.

The school was awash with excited conversation about Rallsburg yet again. Since it was in their home state, a lot of the kids seemed to want to take ownership of it—like it was their conspiracy, their special story. Anyone who'd managed to sneak into the quarantined area with parents or older siblings (mostly in the easy time before the case had gotten fresh again) became a minor celebrity to the school. They shared their stories of the decaying buildings, the ominous library, the burned forest, the exploded grocery store with hushed awe. Like they'd witnessed it themselves.

Natalie wanted to shake them silly and shout in their faces. It wasn't exciting. It was terrifying. It was horrible and monstrous and it had ruined her entire life. She just wanted them all to shut up about it!

But Hailey had been seen on TV, just for a second, covered in ash and diving out of a burning building, and that meant everyone wanted to talk about it again.

Natalie had messaged her a dozen times whenever she got a chance, sneaking outside between classes so she could login to the website on her phone, but Hailey hadn't answered yet. She wondered if Hailey was in just as much trouble. No, Hailey's an adult. She doesn't have anyone to put her in trouble. I bet she still feels awful though. I wish she'd answer me.

More than wanting to comfort her friend, Natalie needed advice. She had no idea what to do about Quinn at this point. Hailey hadn't covered what the next steps were if she had told him her secret. She didn't dare ask anyone else on the site. Hailey was the only one she felt like she could trust.

Natalie had failed every test all week, too busy stressing out to concentrate on anything set down in front of her. After failing the make-up test too, her teacher sent her down to the principal's office. She sat on the too-tall chairs, kicking her feet anxiously and waiting. She felt like running. Anything would be better than going in to face the severe old woman.

"Come in, Jenny."

Natalie took a deep breath, like Hailey always told her to do, but it didn't seem to help much. She hopped off the chair, patting her purse for good luck (and to remind herself that it still held plenty of gemstones if she needed them). With the eye of the front desk lady trailing her, Natalie walked very carefully up to the office door and pushed it open.

The principal was sitting behind her desk, doing her best to project a friendly look. Unfortunately, the woman's face just wasn't built that way, so it came off more like the principal was getting ready to eat her.

Natalie grimaced, and the principal's face fell, returning to its usual look of impatient annoyance. It was a huge improvement. "Take a seat."

She did, placing her purse on her lap, trying her hardest to keep her legs from moving. "Am I in trouble?"

"I'm not sure." She sighed, pressing her fingers to her temples again. "Something happened, didn't it?"

"What do you mean?"

"I know you're friends with Quinn and his little group. After a scare like what happened to him, it wouldn't be a surprise if you got worried."

"Yeah." Natalie felt like that was an easy way out. She'd been worried about him. Makes sense. It's also true. I really was worried about him…

"But Jenny, you only started doing poorly after he came back. He was gone for over a week and you didn't slip up once in class. As soon as he came back, you started doing worse."

"Oh." Oh no.

"Is there something I need to know?"

"I don't know," she said, too quickly.

The principal shook her head. "Jenny, I've never been a fan of how you came to my school. It broke a lot of the usual rules. You've been a good student, but things just keep happening around you, right from your first day here."

"But I didn't do any of that."

"I know you probably didn't, but I have to think about all my students."

Natalie frowned. "So what am I supposed to do?"

"Make it stop?" The principal rubbed at her eyes, which Natalie noticed were bagged and exhausted. "I don't know what's going on with you, Jenny, and I feel like I'm not supposed to know. If that's true, and you have no idea what's going on, then don't tell me. But if there's something that you're doing, or something that's happening because of you, and it's putting some of my students in danger, then you need to tell me, so we can figure out what to do about it."

She sighed. "We've had a reputation as one of the best, safest schools in the city for a long time, and it's done a lot to help our budget and volunteer hours. I can't lose that. I hope you understand."

The principal stood up and walked around her desk. She knelt down in front of Natalie so that they were at eye level. "I'm sorry to put this on you, Jenny. I know it's not fair."

"If you know that, then don't do it."

"I don't really have a choice." She frowned. "Maybe nothing else will happen though. If nothing else happens, then we can just forget this whole conversation. How about that?"

Natalie nodded slowly. She wondered if the principal thought her whole demeanor and actions were supposed to be friendly and comforting. Having the woman so much closer made her look even scarier, like she was getting ready to devour Natalie whole.

She smiled, and it made everything even worse. "Good. Okay. Back to class, then."

Without another word, Natalie hopped off the chair and did her absolute best to resist sprinting out of the office.

"So what did the evil queen want with you, Jenny?" asked Tyler.

"The evil queen?" said Mitch, raising his eyebrows.

"I heard people were calling her that."

"Pretty weak nickname. I bet I could do better."

"Like what?" asked Kelsey, munching a fry.

"How about the bi—"

Mitch cut off as Kelsey slapped him on the back of the head. "Don't even think about it."

"Oh come on, you cuss more than I do!"

"Where's Quinn, anyway?" Steven interrupted. "Don't you two have like every class together?"

"We switch off tech and gym," said Natalie. She pulled out her lunch from her backpack, and her face fell slightly. It had been crushed at some point during the day. She wished she'd put it in her purse and taken it out before lunch, but she'd forgotten amidst all the other things on her mind. "I haven't seen him since third period."

"Oh. Well, I'm sure he's just taking forever to get out of gym. Don't worry."

"I wasn't worried." Natalie started in on her lunch.

"Don't you get tired of having the same lunch every single day?" asked Mitch. Kelsey slapped him on the back of the head again. "What?"

"You're being mean. Stop it," said Tyler.

"I just asked her a question, jeez."

"She just wanted to talk about something to do with my weird registration. How I'm not a 'resident student' or whatever." Natalie shrugged. The lie came easily to her lips, building off phrases she remembered from her previous meetings with the principal. "I don't really get it, but she gave me something to give to Lily when I get home."

"What does resident student mean?" asked Mitch.

"Means you live close enough to be in the district," said Steven. "Jenny lives outside the district though. That's why she takes the city bus home instead of the school buses."

"Right." Natalie went back to her lunch, feeling guilty that her friends knew as much as they did about her. Before Quinn had come back, she'd felt a sense of relief that they knew enough to understand what she was going through, but now that Quinn had crossed the line, every tiny detail seemed risky and threatening.

"Is that because you—" Tyler started, before he remembered he wasn't supposed to ask.

Even though they were at their usual table in the corner of the cafeteria, he'd been strictly instructed (and reminded countless times by Mitch and Steven) to never bring it up unless the rest of them said it was okay first. Natalie wished they'd never talk about her at all, but she knew that was a hopeless fantasy at this point.

"Yes, Tyler," Mitch answered irritably. "It's 'cause of that."

"Oh. That must really suck."

"It's not that bad," said Natalie. "The living outside the district thing. I just have a longer bus ride home. I get to listen to more music."

As she'd hoped, the conversation detoured immediately into a heated debate between Mitch and Kelsey about what music was best for bus rides, letting Natalie fade into the background. She could eat her lunch in peace and just enjoy listening to them throw shade over each other's music tastes.

Steven snuck her a knowing grin, understanding her diversion perfectly. When their conversation started to lull, he dropped in an opinion about video games, sparking Mitch and Kelsey back into a roaring argument yet again. He did it so smoothly Natalie felt like laughing. She wished she was that clever. She wished the conversation would just keep going, that Mitch and Kelsey would keep arguing and Tyler would be split between laughing at their insults and trying to get them to stop, while she and Steven would egg them on from the sidelines.

Unfortunately for them both, the diversions didn't last. No matter how many fun arguments they could incite, Kelsey and Mitch would always fall silent the moment their leader showed up. As Quinn weaved through the cafeteria, Tyler was the first to spot him. He waved exuberantly, like he were bringing Quinn in for a landing.

Quinn's glasses flashed in the light reflecting from the windows as he strolled up, casual as could be. Natalie winced as he took the seat right next to her. She didn't move a muscle, even though he'd sat uncomfortably close. She could tell herself that he probably didn't realize what he was doing to her. He'd been sitting next to her for a while, even before the accident in the library. It wasn't new—and for a while, Natalie had felt a little thrill rush through her every time he sat close by—but it had taken on a much more uncomfortable meaning lately.

"Hey guys."

"Hi Quinn," said Tyler. "Why'd you take so long to get to lunch?"

"Did you get yelled at by Coach again?" asked Mitch, grinning.

Quinn shook his head. "Nah. I had to go to the principal's office after gym. She wanted to talk to me about something."

"Ooooh, Quinn's in trouuuble."

"Why's Quinn in trouble but Jenny was totally fine?" asked Tyler.

"'Cause Jenny's a good person and Quinn's a troublemaker, duh."

"Quinn's not a troublemaker!"

"It's cool, Tyler, I wasn't in trouble." Quinn shrugged. He started to eat, but (unlike Tyler) made sure to clear his mouth before talking. "I dunno why she wanted to see me. We just kinda talked for a bit." Natalie dreaded what might have been in that talk, but didn't dare ask while the rest of the group was around. Quinn nudged her from the side, startling her. "You got called up too?"

"Yeah, last period." Natalie tried to play it as casually as he did. "Just a form for Lily when I get home."

"Did I mention how cool you sound when you call your mom Lily?" interjected Mitch excitedly. "My mom would beat me up if I ever tried that."

"I didn't realize that was such a big deal," said Steven.

"Oh man, you do not call my mom anything other than 'Yes ma'am' at our place."

Kelsey grinned. "How many times you get smacked when you were tiny?"

"I got scars on my ass."

"Don't be gross, dude!" said Tyler.

"What, did you wanna see 'em?"

"Eww."

Natalie grimaced too. She tried not to think about it and focused on finishing her lunch instead. Of course, Quinn wasn't about to let her get distracted. He had bigger things on his mind, and he was about to drop a new bombshell she definitely didn't expect.

"So Jenny," he started, as casually as always, "when are we gonna finish our game?"

"What?" Natalie looked up, genuinely surprised. They'd never actually started a game. She'd always just watched. What was he talking about?

"You know. The game we started at the library."

She still didn't know where he was going with this, but she didn't dare contradict him. "I… dunno. When did you want to?"

"Today after school sound good?"

Natalie desperately wracked her brain for any excuse she might have, but nothing came to mind. They all already knew she didn't really have anything on Fridays. She'd even told them it was the best day to hang out, after she'd realized how little attention Kendra and Lily paid her on Friday since there was no school the next day. Anything she might make up wouldn't be convincing at all, and might just make them more suspicious, or set Quinn off somehow.

"...Sure. Today sounds good."