Page 57 of Bang

I did a double-take.It hadn't seemed so great to me.Other than the tense encounter with Veronica, Willow's day had been pretty standard. Or at least, she'd said nothing to indicate otherwise.

With a dubious look, Mason said, "That good, huh?"

Willow's smile only widened. "Oh, yeah. We saw Veronica."

Mason didn't smile back. "Is that so?"

"Oh, yeah." Willow's eyes brightened. "Cami slapped her. It was awesome!"

I stifled a gasp. "What? You saw that?"

Willow beamed over at me. "Oh, yeah. I was super glad."

Oh. My. God.

I wasn't glad. Far from it.And, now I felt like crawling into a hole and hiding. "I, um, didn't realize you saw that. I mean, I thought you were facing the other way." I swallowed. "Weren't you?"

"Oh, yeah," Willow repeated. "But I saw the whole thing in the mirror."

Double crud.

Obviously, she meant the rear-view mirror, which only confirmed that she'd seen the whole sorry spectacle. And now, I was so flabbergasted, I could hardly speak. Somehow, I managed to stammer, "And, um, you didn't say anything?"

Her smile faded. "You looked sad. But I wasn't sad. I was happy. I just didn't want you to cry, that's all."

Funny, Ihadfelt like crying, even if I'd been working hard not to show it.

It suddenly struck me that during the drive home from school, Willow had told me knock-knock jokes non-stop, including all of my favorites. At the time, I'd been beyond relieved, thinking it meant that she'd seen nothing of the ugly encounter.

Turns out, it meant just the opposite.

Now, I felt like crying all over again, but not because I was in trouble. "Awww…that was so nice of you."And I meant it, too.Still, I had to tell her, "But you don’t need to worry about me. I'm supposed to be looking out foryou.Remember?"

She smiled. "We can look out for each other. You know, like sisters."

As I smiled back, something squeezed at my heart.God, I loved this kid.But I needed to set a better example. "Just so you know," I said, "I never should've slapped her."

"But why?" Willow said. "She slapped you first."

Well, there was that."Yeah, well…" My words trailed off as I considered the truth. In reality, I wasn't sorry that I'd returned Veronica's slap. I was only sorry that Willow had seen it.

Still, I had to wonder, what would've been worse? For her to see me shrink away and not give as good as I got?

Even though I wasn't the type to start fights, I'd grown up in a big, noisy family. We never hit each other, but we didn't let ourselves be bullied either.

Willow said, "You're a really good slapper."

Oh, boy.I reached up to rub the back of my neck. "Um…thanks?"

From beside the table, Mason's voice cut through our conversation. "Tell me," he said, looking to Willow. "Did sheeverslapyou?"

My gaze snapped in his direction. "Hey! I would never slap a child."

This was the unvarnished truth. And I wasn't saying this only forhisbenefit. I was saying it for Willow's benefit, too. The last thing I wanted was for her to worry that I'd get all slappy with her.

In reality, Veronica had been the first person I'd ever slapped in my whole life. If I hadmyway, I'd never slap anyone again.

From beside the table, Mason turned and gave me a good, long look. Speaking very slowly and clearly, he said, "I wasn't talking aboutyou."