Page 54

I nodded.

"If I can walk, I will probably have a bad limp. My dancing days were short-lived," I added.

She looked very unhappy for me. She and Bobby had been in one of the cars behind us, so they had seen the accident or come upon it first. I had also heard that they were the ones to get to a home and get the police and ambulance on its way.

"Nearly the entire senior high school attended Craig's funeral," she said. "The baseball team attended in uniform. Bobby and Mickey and two others were the pallbearers."

I didn't say anything. My grandparents-- actually my grandfather--had decided not to attend. My grandfather was afraid of a scene between Craig's mother and my grandmother. He didn't come right out and say that, but I knew it was what he was thinking.

"It's been horrible at school," Charlene continued. "Girls break out in tears constantly. Bobby's so depressed. Everyone's depressed."

I pressed my lips together hard to keep myself from crying.

"I suppose you heard that there was a police investigation and they had found the pot in the car."

"Yes, I heard," I said.

"Most of us know, of course, that Craig had it. This wasn't the first time, but his mother . .."

"I know. She's telling everyone I brought it along, right?"

Charlene nodded.

"Jennifer Todd's mother is one of Craig's mother's best friends. She said Craig's mother had discovered a lot of stuff about the murder your mother committed. She said she had found it in the desk in his room and she says you brought it to Craig to convince him your mother didn't do it just so you could get him to be your boyfriend."

"That's not true! He had it all there and showed it to me. She knew that he had it before he even had spoken to me. She knew!"

"She's telling her friends that you got him crazy with it. She's making it sound like you put a spell on him. Some of the girls, well, a few like Mindy and Peggy, are telling people they saw you do witchcraft stuff. Remember that day at the baseball practice when you were kidding about it? I shouldn't have, but

I mentioned it. It gave them something else to make up about you. I'm sorry," she added quickly. "But it didn't really matter what 1 said and didn't say. You know how some people are. They enjoy listening to and telling stories about other people. It makes them feel popular."

"Why did you come here to tell me all this, Charlene?" I asked, my eyes narrow with suspicion.

She looked down and then up at me.

"I felt sorry for you, Alice. I know the accident wasn't your fault. Bobby was screaming at how crazy Craig was driving, and I don't believe any of that junk about witchcraft, of course. I just came here to make sure you knew about it."

"To warn me?"

"Yes," Charlene said.

"Don't worry about it. Tell everyone I'm not going back to school. They don't have to keep gossiping about me anymore. They've won. I'm gone," I said.

She looked surprised. "What do you mean? Where will you go?"

"Anywhere," I said, and I meant it. Then I turned back to her. "I wish you had been the one chosen prom queen. Craig might not have been so reckless, so swollen up with it all."

"You can't blame it all on that," she said, smiling.

"No? Did anyone, even Bobby, ever know that Craig's parents forbid him from taking me, that they had taken away his allowance and they had taken away his car?"

"They had?"

"He didn't rent that car to be a big deal, although it made him feel like one. He had to rent a car or join in with the limousine some were renting, and he didn't want to do that."

"I didn't know. No one did, I think."

"Yeah, well take that back to the gossip mill and have them churn it into something."