Stunned, I looked over at the huge, fallen pillar three feet away from me. That thing could have killed me. But that wasn't the only thing causing shock and confusion to reverberate through my brain. I was amazed at how quickly I had been able to get out of the way. It was as if something had grabbed a hold of my feet and forced me to move. I glanced around at what it might have been, but all I saw was the trash I had spilled and some kid's toy car.
I got myself off the ground and noticed that people were gathering, gawking at me. Great, I thought. Another unintentional spectacle. I saw Mr. Woodworth and Mr. Zonkowski rushing toward me.
"Vonnegan! What have you done now?" Mr. Woodworth yelled.
His accusation was so ridiculous I almost laughed.
"What's going on?" Mr. Zonkowski asked. "How did this happen?"
I put my hands up. "I have no idea. I was just sweeping up trash and suddenly this thing was falling on me."
"You must have knocked it over!" Mr. Woodworth exclaimed.
"How could I have knocked it over?" I asked, eyeing the massive pillar.
"How could anyone knock it over?" Mr. Zonkowski muttered, walking over to inspect the damage. He bent over to study the bottom of the of the pillar. "Looks like someone sawed it off at the base," he reported. "After that, it'd be fairly easy to make it fall."
Mr. Woodworth glared at me. "So, trying to disrupt the game, were you, Vonnegan? You could get expelled for this!"
For a moment I considered that expulsion actually sounded pretty good, but I knew my mom would be so disappointed. Just then, Kayla Morrison came running into the crowd.
"He didn't do it," she announced, giving me a fleeting glance.
Mr. Woodworth and Mr. Zonkowski turned and looked at her expectantly.
"I saw some guy at the top of the bleachers pushing it over," she explained.
Mr. Woodworth almost looked disappointed. "Well, I guess that changes things," he said. "But you're still not off the hook, Vonnegan."
"Could you give us a description of the man?" Mr. Zonkowski asked Kayla.
"Yeah, but could we do it over at the debate booth? I have to get back."
The two men complied and followed Kayla to the other side of the bleachers, leaving me alone to sort through my confusion. Was someone trying to kill me, or was it just someone randomly wreaking havoc? There had also been that mysterious dart in the weight room the other day that I may or may not have imagined. It was starting to seem like more than a coincidence.
And then there was Kayla. She had saved me twice in two days. On one hand, that made me feel kind of lame, but on the other hand, I was glad she was paying attention. The whole situation was baffling and it was starting to make my head hurt. I decided to leave early. I was sure Mr. Zonkowski would understand. I swept up a few more pieces of trash, then put my equipment away, left a note for Mr. Zonkowski and headed home.
*****
"Oh, you're home early," my mom said, turning off the vacuum.
"Yeah," I responded vaguely, collapsing onto the couch.
"How did the game go? Did they win?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know?"
"I left before it ended."
My mom furrowed her eyebrows. "Alright. Well, I'm glad you're here, I had a question for you." She grabbed a piece of paper from the side table. "I found this under the couch while I was cleaning. Do you know what it is?"
I glanced at the paper she was holding up and had a vague recollection of where it came from. "I think that was from a solicitor. He measured the windows or something."
She frowned. "You let him in?"
"He was really pushy so I just let him do his thing, and then he left. He said he had a nephew that takes the same pills I do.
The color drained from my mother's face. "He knew what your pills were?"
"Yeah," I said, sitting up a little at my mom's strange reaction. "I thought it was kind of weird, but I guess I can't be the only one with this liver disease."
My mom looked like she was going to vomit. "Right," she whispered.
"Mom, are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she replied, but everything in her expression said otherwise. I decided not to tell her about the pillar almost falling on me at the game. I didn't want to upset her even more.
She stared at the wall for a few seconds and then snapped back to me. "I have to go out of town tomorrow," she said quickly.
"On a weekend?" I asked incredulously.
"Yes. Something just came up. It's really important. I'm sorry." Then she stood and ran upstairs to her room.
I shook my head. It was really unusual for my mom to act so stressed. Maybe her work was getting to be too much for her. I figured I'd tell her about the pillar and the dart in the weight room when she got back. I stretched out on the couch and looked forward to a weekend of doing absolutely nothing.
*****
I sat next to Milo in his car and watched all the couples entering the school dressed in their formal wear. My plans for doing nothing all weekend were thwarted when Milo convinced me to go along with him to the homecoming dance. The only reason he was going was because his parents had told him they'd pay him $500 if he went. It was something about how he needed to have these "memorable high school experiences."
"How long do we have to stay?" I asked, looking at the school with a growing sense of dread.
"Just an hour," responded Milo. "I need to send my parents a picture of me in there every 15 minutes, and then we can go."
I blew out a breath. "I should have asked for more than 25 percent," I muttered.
We watched people stream into the school for a while longer until there were only a few people lingering outside.
"Let's get this over with," I grumbled.
We got out of his car and I did my best to straighten my wrinkled dress shirt. It had been difficult for me to find anything presentable to wear to the dance, but I had finally unearthed one of my dad's old shirts from a box in my mom's room. It was way too big for me, but after tucking it into my pants I looked halfway decent. Plus, it seemed like the green soap from the other day had managed to clear up some of my acne. My mom had left for her last minute business trip that morning, telling me to call her if anything fishy happened. I didn't have time to ask her what she meant by fishy.
We walked quickly inside, passed a few people that snickered at us, then went to the least crowded corner of the gym and sat down. I took a picture of Milo with his phone and then tried to make myself invisible. Surprisingly, it seemed to work. Every once in a while people would look over at us, but for the most part, they stayed focused on dancing with their dates or in their groups.
The gym was decorated with thousands of little white lights, and there were renderings of several different city skylines along the walls. The music was pretty good, and I was almost tempted to get up and dance, but I knew that would probably draw too much unwanted attention.
I was actually starting to have a good time and then I saw them. Kayla and Wyatt were in the middle of the gym and were dancing extremely close to one another. Kayla was wearing a beautiful silver dress and her hair was all done up. I didn't think it was possible for anyone to look that beautiful. It was almost criminal. While I watched, Wyatt dipped his head down and kissed her neck. Every muscle in my body tensed and I had to hold on to the sides of my chair to keep myself from charging him. I wanted to look away, but I couldn't. It was torture.
"This isn't so bad," Milo commented cheerfully. "I think I'm going to go get some food."
He stood and headed to the refreshment tables, while I sat there wishing I could be anywhere else. I just wanted this night to end.