Testify Read online

  “Without asking?”

  That seems like a pretty dumb question. It’s obvious that I did it without asking. I hang my head and try to look contrite. Mom doesn’t buy it.

  “You know, Shana, your father and I try to treat you like a responsible young adult,” she says. It’s the beginning of a lecture I’ve heard a hundred times. I tune her out, and think about some songs I want to put on my iPod. When the lecture is over I go to my room and call Carrie with the bad news.

  “I got busted for ditching school,” I tell her. “So now I’m grounded for a week.”

  “Maybe you could sneak out and come over, anyway. Just for a little while,” she says.

  I think about it for a few seconds. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve crawled out my window. Not when I’ve been grounded, though.

  “I can’t,” I tell her. “If I get caught I’ll be killed.”

  “Well, okay,” Carrie says with a sigh. “I’ll see what Krysti is doing. I just need someone here!”

  Krysti Walton is one of the girls in our circle of friends. I’m surprised that Carrie is calling her, instead of Jen or Hayley or Lori. After all, Krysti is the newest one in the group. She just moved to Halifax a few months ago. I forget exactly how she got to be part of the group, but she’s definitely one of us now. Not that I don’t like her — I do. I’m just surprised at Carrie’s choice.

  “Sorry you got in trouble,” she tells me. “But I’m glad you were there.”

  “So am I. And I wish I could be there again tomorrow, but there’s no way,” I say. “Are you coming to school afterward?”

  “Maybe. It depends what time the jury comes back with a verdict,” Carrie says.

  There doesn’t seem to be much else to say then. I let her go and flip open my laptop to check my Facebook. That leads to some YouTube videos and then a couple of clips on Vimeo.

  A while later Dad taps on my door. He tells me it would be nice if I gave my mother a hand with dinner once in a while. It sounds like a suggestion, but I know better. I head to the kitchen.

  CHAPTER

  FOUR

  The next morning drags by at school. I check for text messages between every class, but there’s no news.

  My stomach is actually hurting by lunchtime. Hayley, Jen, and Krysti are at our usual table when I get to the cafeteria. I grab today’s combo — a salad with a slice of vegetarian pizza — and join them.

  “I’m going nuts waiting to hear from Carrie,” Krysti says. “Has she texted you yet, Shana?”

  “Not yet,” I say. I have to admit, I’m just a bit relieved that she hasn’t sent anyone else a message, either. Not that I really thought she would.

  “What’s taking them so long?” Jen wonders out loud.

  I wish she hadn’t said that. I’ve spent the morning trying to remember which side it’s usually good for when the jury takes a long time to reach a verdict.

  It looks like Hayley is worried, too. She’s silent, and her face is grim as she bites into her sandwich. I look down at the lunch I just bought. I pick up my fork and spear a tiny tomato from my salad, but it doesn’t quite make it to my mouth. I’m not sure if eating will help, or make me feel worse. I’m staring at the food on my tray, trying to make up my mind, when all of a sudden Carrie appears beside us.

  There’s a huge smile on her face.

  “They found him guilty,” she says as she hugs me. While she’s hugging me she whispers, “Thank you so much, Shana! I couldn’t have made it through this without your help.”

  Relief rushes through me. I hug her back, but my throat is too tight to speak. It’s over. It’s really over.

  “He got three years,” she tell us. “Not long enough if you ask me, but by the time he gets out of prison I’ll have graduated and moved on. I’ll make sure he can’t find me.”

  It hadn’t occurred to me that Carrie might be worried that Kelward would come after her some day. I wonder if she’s counting on him serving his whole sentence. From the things I’ve heard from my crime-fan mother, I know that isn’t likely.

  “He probably won’t show his face around here again, anyway,” I say. I decide not to mention that he could be out in a year or so, if he keeps out of trouble in prison. There’s no point in her worrying about something that might not happen.

  “So, good. That’s over with,” Hayley says. She looks down at the table as she speaks. “Can we just drop it now? It feels like this is all we’ve talked about for months.”

  A strange feeling runs through me. There’s something wrong about Hayley’s reaction. Carrie must think so, too, because I see a flash of anger in her eyes. I can’t blame her for that. She needs her friends’ support right now, and Hayley’s comment wasn’t exactly sympathetic.

  What bothers me right away is the fact that it’s not like Hayley to be uncaring. She’s always the first one to help out when anyone in the group has a problem.

  Hayley glances up and around the table. She sees that we’re all looking at her. Almost at once, her eyes drop back. For a few long seconds she stares at the rest of the sandwich in her hand. Then she leans forward and takes a tiny nibble. She chews it slowly, like she’s a judge at a taste contest of some sort.

  I’m searching my brain for something to say — anything that will ease the sudden tension at the table. But I’m not fast enough. The next thing I know, Carrie is on her feet. Her eyes are brimming with tears. She looks like she’s about to speak, but then she turns and hurries away instead.

  “I’ll go,” Krysti says to me as I start to get up. “You haven’t eaten your lunch yet.”

  To be honest, I’m too stunned by what has just happened to know what to say to Carrie, anyway. It’s a relief to let Krysti go after her while I try to sort out the jumble of thoughts that are racing through my head.

  Hayley lifts her eyes again. There’s a haunted look on her face. It’s like she’s pleading with me to understand and not be angry with her.

  “What’s going on?” I ask as gently as I can.

  She shakes her head.

  A suspicion is growing in me. Is it possible that Hayley has also been a victim of sexual abuse? Why else would she be so uncomfortable with the subject? Maybe something happened to her in the past and she’s pushed it down. Or maybe something is happening in her life right now — something she can’t bring herself to talk about.

  I swallow hard. I want to ask her, but I’m not sure what to say. If she’s uneasy talking about it, saying the wrong thing might make it worse. And what if I’m wrong and I just embarrass her for nothing?

  Finally, I find some words. “I don’t know what just happened here, Hayley, but it makes me think something is wrong. If there’s ever anything you want to talk about, I hope you know I’m here for you. Anytime.”

  Hayley’s mouth opens and closes a few times. She clears her throat and glances around nervously.

  “Thanks, Shana,” she whispers. “But I don’t know who I can trust.”

  Once again, I have no idea what to say. We pick at our food in silence for the next few minutes and then Hayley says she needs something from her locker and leaves.

  I want to talk to Carrie before classes start, but when I find Krysti a bit later she tells me Carrie went home.

  “She’s so hurt by the way Hayley treated her,” Krysti says. “She had been planning to stay this afternoon, but after that she just couldn’t face anything else.”

  “Carrie isn’t usually that sensitive,” I say. “I’m sure it’s just all the emotion of the whole court thing and having to tell strangers what happened to her.”

  “Probably,” Krysti agrees. “But it wasn’t very nice of Hayley to talk to her like that, either.”

  I say nothing to that. I want to defend Hayley, but that would feel like betraying Carrie. And, in any case, I have no
proof of why Hayley acted the way she did.

  What I mostly want is for everything to be back to normal. It bothers me any time there’s conflict in the group. I’ve always been the type to try to keep peace. If something needs to be smoothed over, I’m right there.

  And, of course, since I’m grounded, I can’t go to Carrie’s after school. I try Skyping her when I get home, but there’s no answer on her computer. She also hasn’t answered the two text messages I sent between afternoon classes. It’s not until later in the evening that I finally get a call from her.

  “We need to do something fun!” she says as soon as I’ve answered. Her voice is happy and excited. “Let’s have a party this weekend!”

  “I’m grounded,” I remind her.

  “Yeah, but your mom usually lets you have friends over even if you’re not allowed out,” she says.

  “True. But she’s not about to let me have a party.”

  Carrie giggles. “That’s the fun part. What if we do it on the sly? Like, a secret party going on without your mom or dad even realizing it’s happening?”

  I have my doubts that a crazy idea like that will work, but I can’t help getting caught up in her enthusiasm.

  “And just who would come to this secret party?” I ask. I can picture one of those out-of-control scenes with a guest list that reads like Who’s Who? As in, Seriously, Who ARE these People?

  “That’s why it will work!” she says. “It will just be the six of us — you, me, Krysti, Jen, Hayley, and Lori.”

  I’m super relieved to hear Carrie include Hayley. That must mean she has decided not to make a big deal over what happened at lunch. I listen with increasing interest as she outlines her plan for the party on the weekend. She suggests that we do it in the afternoon. We can do makeovers and then just hang out. It’s not as great as most of her ideas, but it sounds better than kicking around the house by myself!

  CHAPTER

  FIVE

  Saturday rolls around and I spend the morning helping Mom out with some chores. I try to keep it from being obvious that I’m trying to get on her good side. It makes her nervous when she gets the idea that I’m up to something. That happens quite easily, what, with all of the exposure she’s had to true crime. Not to mention her suspicious nature. And the fact that this isn’t the first time I’ve tried to do something sneaky behind her back.

  My dad is so much easier. You could practically shout, “We’re having a secret party here later,” right in front of him and there’s still a pretty good chance that it wouldn’t register in his brain.

  The girls arrive one at a time. Carrie is first and she comes in through the back door like she owns the place. I hear her chatting with my dad. He’s not saying much, and I find out why when I get there. Dad is standing in front of the open fridge. He’s eating cold meatballs out of some leftover spaghetti.

  “Here comes Mom,” I tell him in a loud whisper.

  Dad slaps the lid on the container and shoves it back into the fridge. He turns, ready to face the music, but smiles when he realizes Mom is nowhere in sight. “You got me,” he says, reaching for the dish again.

  “Your dad is so nice,” Carrie says after he’s left the room. Her face is sad and I know she’s probably thinking about her own dad. She hoped her parents would get back together for a long time after they split up. I guess that’s common, but I don’t think it happens very often. And the strange thing is, Carrie was always telling me how terrible things were before the divorce. Doors slamming, yelling, meals eaten in tense silence. Why would you want that back?

  Then her mom got remarried, and you know what happened after that. No wonder she feels sad when she sees her friends’ dads. Not that we all have our fathers at home. In our group, Jen and I do, but Krysti’s and Lori’s parents are also divorced. Hayley’s parents and an older brother died in a boating accident when she was three. She lives with her grandparents. So, Carrie isn’t the only one who doesn’t have two parents at home.

  I’m distracted from these thoughts by the sound of knocking at the door. It’s Jen. She’s barely inside when I see Krysti heading toward the house. Lori and Hayley arrive about ten minutes apart over the next half-hour.

  Now that everyone is here, we head to my room. It’s a bit crowded, but Carrie wants to show us a couple of YouTube clips. I’ve suggested taking my laptop downstairs to the TV room, but Carrie thinks that’s a bad idea.

  “We’d have to be careful about what we watched in case your mom or dad came along,” she points out. “Remember that time your mom totally freaked over that video of that kid who broke his collarbone?”

  “That was so gross,” Jen says. She turns to Krysti, who wasn’t yet part of the group back then. “The bone was sticking right out of his neck.”

  Krysti makes a suitably disgusted face. It reminds me of how my mom looked when she walked into the room and saw what we were watching. She didn’t exactly freak, as Carrie put it, but she launched into a big lecture about the things we were filling our heads with. I have to admit that it was pretty annoying. Not to mention embarrassing.

  So, we watch videos for a while. Each of us remembers something we’ve seen lately that we want to show the others. We’re laughing over a cat playing piano when Mom taps on my door. I open it expecting her to be angry, but she surprises me.

  “You can’t be very comfortable, all squashed in here,” she says.

  “It’s a bit crowded,” I admit.

  “Well, if you’re interested, I’ve put out some snacks downstairs,” Mom tells me. She arches an eyebrow and adds, “After all, you can’t have a party without something to munch on.”

  My mouth is still open as she smiles, turns, and disappears down the hall and around the corner. I’ve stopped asking how she knows things at times like this. When I do, she tries to look mysterious and says she’ll never tell.

  We head down to the TV room where Mom has put out a bowls of pretzels and popcorn, some veggies and dip, and a herbed cheese ball with crackers. She’s also made a pitcher of iced tea.

  “When I get grounded, I have extra chores,” Jen grumbles. “Shana gets to have friends over and her mom makes a buffet of snacks for them.”

  “Yeah, she sure has it rough,” Lori says, smiling.

  I’m about to answer when my eye is caught by the sight of Carrie wiping her eyes. Her head is down and I can see that she’s trying to hide tears from the rest of us. Krysti has noticed too. She hurries to Carrie’s side and slips an arm around her shoulders.

  “You’ve been through some rough things,” Krysti says quietly, “but it’s all over now. You’re safe.”

  Carrie’s head comes up slowly. Her eyes are still wet and sad, but a smile trembles on her mouth as she looks around at each of us. She hugs Krysti and then moves to her left, hugging Jen and Lori and me. She reaches Hayley last, but once again, something isn’t right. Hayley stands stiff and stone-faced. She doesn’t react as Carrie hugs her and then turns to speak to all of us.

  “I couldn’t have made it through without you guys,” she says. She pauses and glances doubtfully at Hayley before adding, “I have the best friends in the world.”

  It was a warm, sweet moment.

  And then everything turned ugly.

  CHAPTER

  SIX

  “Poor Carrie,” Hayley says. Her voice is thick with sarcasm.

  We all turn at the same time. We stare in shock, hardly able to believe what we’ve just heard.

  “Seriously, am I the only one getting tired of the drama?”

  “The drama?” Krysti echoes. “Is that what you call it, Hayley?”

  “Wait,” Carrie says suddenly. “I think I know what’s going on here.”

  There are a few seconds of silence and then she takes a deep breath. In a few quick steps she’s moved over to Hayley. Carrie’s
hand reaches up and touches Hayley’s arm ever so gently. Her voice is soft and caring as she says, “I think something else is bothering Hayley. And it’s okay, Hayley. You’re with friends. We’ll do our best to understand and support you if you just open up and tell us.”

  It looks like Carrie has figured out what I suspected. I’m hardly breathing as I wait to see what will happen next.

  “Look, Carrie, I don’t know what you’re trying to —” Hayley begins.

  “I’m trying to help you, Hayley. I know about your problem. I’ve known for a while, but I haven’t wanted to say anything to the others.”

  “What problem?” Lori blurts.

  “Stealing,” Carrie says.

  “Stealing?” I repeat before I can stop myself. Not quite what I was expecting. “What are you talking about, Carrie?”

  “I noticed a few of my things had gone missing after Hayley was over,” Carrie said. Her voice is sad and low; her eyes are downcast. “I didn’t want to believe it at first, but I started watching her. Today, I caught her in the act.”

  “You LIAR!” Hayley shouts. Her face is flushed and furious.

  “Am I?” Carrie asks gently. “Then I didn’t see you taking something from Shana’s jewellery box a little while ago?”

  “That’s ridiculous,” Hayley snaps. “I’ve never stolen anything in my life.”

  “Stop!” Lori says. She swallows hard. “I’ve had some things disappear, too. Including the sapphire ring my dad gave me last September — for my birthday. It disappeared about a month ago.”

  “I don’t know anything about your ring, or anything else,” Hayley insists. She’s looking around at us. I can tell that she’s hoping to see signs that someone is on her side, but we’re all too stunned to react.

  “Well, it should be easy enough to prove,” Jen says, finally breaking the silence. “Carrie says she saw you take something today. So, just turn your pockets inside out and empty your bag. If she’s made a mistake, we’ll soon know it.”