That’s when Bel let slip that there was someone else she pined for. It slipped out, and then it was too late to take it back. Bel couldn’t tell Darcy about her Mr. Donovan obsession without getting roped into their awful contest. She had to make up another boyfriend. That’s where Zach came in, in a major miscalculation.
On the night of the opening dance, the Alumni Gym was dark, stuffy and jammed wall-to-wall with kids swaying to Rihanna. Bel was milling about with Darcy and Tessa, waiting for Brandon to text them that he’d scored weed, so they could all meet up at the lake. From the corner of her eye, Bel saw Zach Cuddy heading her way, and immediately knew that he was going to ask her to dance. He’d been harassing since the first day of class. Her first instinct was to turn away and pretend not to see him, but she saw her opportunity, and caught herself.
“Hey, here comes my crush,” Bel said to Darcy.
Darcy followed Bel’s gaze. “Him? He looks like a loser.”
Zach was tall and thin, with a shock of dark hair and mild blue eyes behind professorial-looking eyeglasses. Some people might call Zach handsome, but Bel and Darcy were not among those people.
“I think he’s cute,” Bel insisted.
“Whatever, girl. It’s your coochie. Invite him to the lake if you want.”
“Uh—”
Bel didn’t want to go as far as inviting Zach to the lake. But Darcy shot her a skeptical look, and she knew she had no choice. She stepped onto the dance floor and intercepted him.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey, I’m Zach from your Spanish class.”
“Duh, I know. Why do you think I’m talking to you?”
“Oh. Excellent. Would you do me the honor of dancing with me?”
“No.”
His face fell.
“I don’t want to dance right now,” Bel said, glancing over her shoulder to make sure Darcy was watching. “I need some air. My friends are going down to the lake. Why don’t you come?”
Zach looked over at Darcy nervously. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“Why?”
Zach hesitated, lowering his voice. “Um, when you say friends, you’re talking about Darcy Madden, right?”
“Yeah, so?”
“I’d love to hang out with you. But I’m not looking to get wasted or anything.”
“Who said anything about getting wasted?”
“It’s just, from what I hear—”
“What you hear. Do you judge people based on gossip?”
Zach looked taken aback. “No.”
“Don’t judge her, then. People just say stuff about her because they’re jealous. It’s a pretty night. Come outside with me. Please?”
Bel took Zach’s hand and gave him her sweetest smile. His eyes lit up.
The loudspeakers started making an awful screeching noise, which distracted the chaperones. Darcy and Tessa slipped out the back door, and Bel pulled Zach along, hurrying to keep up. Outside, the night was warm, lit by a fat harvest moon hanging low in the velvety sky. There was a loud sound of crickets chirping, and the smell of mulch and wet leaves, as they headed for the path into the woods. Zach’s hand trembled in hers.
“Are we seriously going to the lake? I’ve never been there at night,” he said.
“I have,” she said. “It’s gorgeous. Come on, hurry.”
Darcy and Tessa had been swallowed by the trees. Bel raced to keep up, flicking on the flashlight on her phone to light the way.
The Odell campus bordered a thousand-acre nature preserve—pristine land made up of dense forest, open fields, hilltops, valleys and babbling streams, all crisscrossed by a network of hiking trails. Lost Lake sat about a mile into the nature preserve from the border of campus. The path that led there was dark and mysterious, but with her friends in front of her and a boy by her side, Bel felt safe. More than safe, she felt happy to be alive. It was a beautiful night, and she was on a crazy adventure, with a slight edge of hysteria, as if she was high already even though she hadn’t smoked anything. That was the effect Darcy’s shenanigans had on her.
Bel stumbled on a root, giggling as Zach caught her.
“Are you okay?”
“Fine. Relax, Zach. You’re too uptight,” she said.
They didn’t talk again until they reached the wide meadow that bordered the lake. Zach caught the view across the open water, sparkling in the moonlight, and drew a sharp breath.
“See?” Bel said. “It’s worth it. C’mon.”
They headed for the wooden hikers’ lean-to that faced the lake. It had been the favorite rendezvous point for Odell kids looking to sin since time immemorial. Zach seemed to know that as well as Bel did. Or else he just smelled the pot.
“Uh, no, I can’t,” he said, stopping in his tracks.
“You don’t smoke weed?”
“Not on campus I don’t. Surest way to get caught.”
“This isn’t campus.”
“Not technically. But if you think the faculty doesn’t know about the lean-to, you’re mistaken. They raid it regularly.”
Darcy had never told Bel that, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t true. “Are you sure?” Bel asked.
“Positive. A bunch of guys from my dorm got caught drinking here last spring. They all got kicked out.”
“Wow. I had no idea.”
“Yeah, although, they were nobodies. And two of them were black. I’m not saying the school excessively punishes poor, black kids. It’s the opposite. If you’re somebody important, you get away with stuff that normal kids get punished for. Those friends of yours—I know who they are. They’re connected. Maybe you are, too. But I’m not, so I should probably go.”
Bel felt sorry for Zach. Plus, she hadn’t come this far just to turn around and leave without putting Darcy’s Brandon concerns to rest.
“We don’t have to get high,” Bel said. “Let’s just go in the woods and hook up. You can’t get expelled for that, right?”
He smiled. “I don’t know, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take.”
“Hold on. I’m just gonna let Darcy know that we’re going someplace more private.”
She did. And they did. Their make-out session, which stopped well short of actual sex and was so forgettable to Bel, was now imprinted on Zach’s brain forever, to the point where he was making her life unbearable. She had to do something to get rid of him.
Rose had promised Mrs. Donovan that she would make up with her sister. But as the days passed, she couldn’t bring herself to fulfill that promise. She was still smarting from that incident in the dining hall on the first day of class, when Bel allowed one of her new best friends to humiliate Rose, and didn’t speak up in her defense. It was on Bel to apologize to Rose for that first, and then Rose would meet her halfway. Okay, Bel had tried to apologize the day after it happened. But that was too early. Anybody could see that. The wound was too fresh; Rose had cut her off and walked away. Now that more time had passed, Bel ought to understand that it was time to apologize