Mei Lee was so shaken that even walking from class to class seemed like a struggle. And trying to concentrate on the smart boards, or what her teachers were saying, was hopeless. She had never been so happy to hear the final tone of the day at the end of her last class.
But when Anna approached her in the hall as Mei Lee stopped at her locker, she could see that the day was not over.
"We need to talk about what happened at lunch," Anna whispered urgently and dramatically.
Mei Lee cringed inwardly. But outwardly she shrugged, trying to act unconcerned while she worked the combination on her locker. "It was no big deal."
"Yes it was. You held my hand, and wham!"
Exasperated, Mei Lee gave up on the combination and leaned against the locker.
"It was a total coincidence. It took me so long to find that stupid pen that the reaction was already over. Who knows? Maybe you're outgrowing your allergies."
"Mei Lee, that's not what happened. I didn't even need my medicine. It was—"
"If you start insisting it was something, you know, weird, everybody's going to think you're crazy. And they'll think I'm — I don't know what."
Mei Lee had been so upset that she momentarily forgotten to keep her voice down and keep an eye on her surroundings. And at just that moment, she smelled Lenora's awful perfume. Just the slightest whiff always turned her stomach.
Lenora strolled right past Mei Lee and Anna toward her own locker. Had she heard any of what they said?
Mei Lee grinned at Lenora, hoping that might confuse her. Lenora had dark hair and slightly heavy eyebrows — which, to be fair, some of the boys thought were pretty — and when she glared back at Mei Lee those eyebrows formed a downward arrow that made it easy to believe that she was actually a demon trapped in a mortal body.
She and Mei Lee had once been good friends. Their mothers had been close, too. Lenora would come over to Mei Lee's house for play dates while their moms talked in the kitchen and drank coffee or wine. Sometimes Mei Lee went to Lenora's house, too, but Lenora had moved a couple of times since then. Her father was a realtor and they would buy houses and flip them every couple of years.
But all of that seemed like centuries ago. Something happened to Lenora and she had turned evil. At least, that was how Mei Lee's explained it. The big break came in the third grade, when Lenora had been picking on a second-grade boy during recess and Mei Lee slugged her and they were both sent home. The boy Lenora was harassing had a speech impediment, along with other issues, and had long since left St. Lucy to go to a special school. Mei Lee felt she was justified in applying corrective action to Lenora. But her parents, not to mention the school principal, had disagreed.
She could see Lenora was about to say something. Then suddenly Lenora looked past Mei Lee and flashed a broad suck-up smile.
"Good afternoon, Father Leo."
Father Leo? Their parish priest?
Mei Lee felt a lightning bolt zap her body. Instead of turning around, she refocused her attention on her locker combination, grabbing it as if she intended to strangle it. Her knuckles glowed like little white Christmas tree lights from gripping it so tightly.
With the slightest possible turn of her head, Mei Lee tried to catch a glimpse of Father Leo. He was looking right at her.
"Good afternoon, ladies," he said cheerily. "Mei Lee, you're just the person I was looking for."
Those were words no student wanted to hear. Father Leo almost never walked around school during the day unless there was an assembly, and never talked to the students. Could her day get any better?
But then Father Leo surprised her. "I heard about what happened with Anna and I wanted to say well done. Very proud of you."
Mei Lee forced a little nervous smile and struggled against the urge to glance at Anna or Lenora. "Thank you, Father Leo."
"Anna, you're lucky to have such a good friend."
Mei Lee held her breath, waiting to see how Anna would respond.
"I know. She knew just what to do."
Mei Lee exhaled silently. I could kiss you, Anna!
There was a loud cough. It was Lenora. Mei Lee knew what that meant. She was letting Mei Lee that she didn't believe it.
"Ah, Lenora," said Father Leo. "What do you think of your classmate?"
Lenora's eyebrows lifted up like a drawbridge. "She's . . . something else."
"She certainly is," Father Leo agreed. "Well, I'd best not keep you. I'm sure you're all eager to get home."
"My mom's probably wondering where I am," said Anna, who walked away quickly, abandoning Mei Lee. Father Leo watched her go, hovered for a few seconds, then slowly strolled down the hall in the opposite direction.
Mei Lee finally got her locker open. She banged her hand on the frame because she was trying to grab things so fast and get away from Lenora.
"So . . ." Lenora said.
"So?"
Before Lenora could say anything else, Father Leo called to them from halfway down the hall. "By the way, I'm glad to see the two of you getting along better." Then he continued on his way.
Huh?
Mei Lee saw by the blank expression on her face that Lenora was just as startled as she was. She took advantage of the interruption to grab her last book and slam her locker shut.
"Gotta go, pal."
Without looking back she race-walked down the hall and took the steps two at a time. Instead of going to the back doors where most kids went for carpool, Mei Lee usually exited school through the front doors. Her house was only a few blocks from St. Lucy, so most days she walked home.
She cut quickly across in front of the church, glancing at the old bell tower as she passed. Then she noticed Father Leo standing in front of the church, watching her.
First in the hall, and now outside. He seemed to have his eye on her. When he smiled, a nervous tingle spread over Mei Lee's body and she waved weakly.
When she got home, Mei Lee lay down on her bed waiting for her parents. She held up her hands and looked at them. They looked the same as they'd always looked. But after all, what was she expecting? Sparks? A faint glow? Just to humor herself, she went into the bathroom and turned out the light. No glowing.
Maybe the whole episode with Anna really was just a bizarre coincidence.
She plopped back down on her bed. She wasn't in the mood to do homework. And she definitely wasn't in the mood to answer Anna's texts — all two dozen of them.
But try as she might, she could not make the cafeteria incident go away. Images kept swarming around her head like wasps; whenever her brain relaxed for a few seconds they would sting her and start the whole cycle of replaying what had happened — or what seemed to have happened.
Mei Lee didn't believe in miracles. She wasn't even sure she believed in God. (Though it wasn't advisable to mention that if you were attending a Catholic school.)
But it wasn't a miracle, it was just a coincidence.
That was probably what most miracles were, she told herself.
Unconsciously, she began to fiddle with the metal chain and pendant that the orphanage in China had said was from her birth mother. Mei lee wore it every day under her top. It had an unusual pink crystal in the middle that was almost hypnotic if you looked at it long enough.
She held it out and spun it around in her fingers and looked for the one-millionth time at the strange markings on the back of pendant. They didn't look Chinese to her.
Holding it up to the light from her window, Mei Lee thought she caught a glimmer of something inside the crystal.
It must have been a trick of the light.