Page 112 of For Your Own Good

“Plenty of time for boyfriends later,” her mom said.

Wrong. Her mother was so wrong about that. Nobody wanted a loser like her now.

Fallon arrives at her apartment building, her mind shifting from Jeremy back to Teddy. Three people are dead, Belmont is still shut down, and yet it feels like she is no closer to getting him fired. Far from it, in fact. He’s practically a media darling now.

With a sigh, she pulls into the parking lot of her building. A car passes by behind her.

The taillights look just like Zach’s.

THE NEXT MORNING,Titus shows up at 9a.m.sharp. He’s so punctual that Zach is convinced he watches the seconds count down on his phone so that he can knock at exactly nine o’clock.

“You know I cut you some slack last week,” Titus says, walking past Zach and into the kitchen. “But only because of that thing at Belmont. I’m not going to do it again.”

Zach smiles, his face turned so Titus doesn’t see it. Sure he won’t do it again. Not the first time he’s heard that.

“Thanks,” Zach says. “I really appreciate you taking it easy on me.” No sarcasm. He prefers to stay on Titus’s good side.

“Cool. Now let’s talk about the Peloponnesian War.”

Zach has already finished his assignments. He can talk about the war all day if he has to.

Ninety minutes later, they take a break. Zach uses the opportunity to talk about the recent Belmont events, eventually getting to what he really wants to talk about.

Fallon Knight.

He knows a lot more about her now, starting with that run-down apartment building she lives in. And where her parents live. Everybody knows the big house at the end of Canary Lane.

So what went wrong there?

And why did a rich Belmont girl go to State?

It wasn’t hard to find the basics on the internet, but what he couldn’t find is what happened next. She moved away, went to college, and dropped off the radar until she showed up here, as Mrs.B’s replacement.

Something wasn’t right.

Does he have too much time on his hands? Yes. Zach knows he does. Ever since he switched to homeschooling, he’s had a lot more time. And, yes, he did feel a little bit stalkery when he followed Fallon home last night. But it was just so weird seeing her sitting outside Crutcher’s house. Likeshewas stalkinghim.

“Did you hear Fallon Knight was one of the victims at Belmont?” Zach says to Titus.

“Seriously? I had no idea.”

“Oh, I thought you kept in touch with her or something.”

“Nah. For a while, our class had an online group, but eventually people dropped off,” Titus says. “I haven’t really talked to her in a couple of years. She went off to State.”

“State? I didn’t know anyone from Belmont went to a state school.”

“Yeah, that was weird. She didn’t get in anywhere she applied. That happened when we were still at Belmont. Later on, she blamed Crutcher for it.”

Zach nods and keeps his mouth shut, hoping Titus will keep talking. Sometimes shutting up is all it takes. He learned that from his mom, not his dad. It was a tactic she used with witnesses.

“I never really understood it,” Titus says, picking up another veggie chip. “Something to do with getting into college, but I didn’t get the whole story.”

Again, Zach waits. But Titus digs into the veggie chips and shrugs, saying nothing further.

“Weird. Don’t colleges need three reference letters?” Zach says.

“Yep.”