“Where do you think she was?” I ask.
She taps her chin. “I don’t know.” She hesitates. “But—and I didn’t tell you this last fall, as I wasn’t sure it was relevant—but there was something off with her last summer.”
My heart skips a beat. “Off how?”
She waves her hand in the air. “Her heart, it was…somewhere else. It was disturbing her, whatever it was. Taking her away from her practice—from her family, too, apparently.”
“What? Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
She looks at me with sympathy. “I thought—because of the way she was acting then—I thought it was possible she’d taken her own life. And I know that was something you didn’t want to hear. But now, with the news of this Montgomery boy…” Her voice trails off.
There’s a knock at the door. “Come in,” Madame LeGrand says, and the front desk lady pokes her gray head in.
“Sorry to disturb you, Madame—”
“But I have a class,” Madame LeGrand finishes. “Thank you, Sandra.”
The woman nods and closes the door.
“I’m afraid I need to take my leave of you,” Madame LeGrand says. “But please do let me know if there’s anything else I can help with.” Her face softens. “I miss your sister dearly. She was a serious dancer. The passion in her, that fire…it is something you so rarely see in a town of this size. She could have gotten to where I only ever hoped to be someday.” A sad smile crosses her face. “If only.”
“Thank you again for your time,” I manage before Madame LeGrand is gone with a swish of her skirt.
I follow a moment later, nearly bumping into the doorframe on my way out of the office. I have to grab on to it to steady myself.
Fiona not only lied to me, my dad, and Davy, but she lied to Madame LeGrand, too.
Was there anyone she didn’t lie to?
Was the American Ballet Academy really worth all of that?
The lobby is empty now; even the receptionist is gone. I open the door and am about to step outside when I nearly run into someone coming the other way.
“Sorry—”
And then I look up to see Mrs. Rodriguez staring at me.
Gen’s mother. Who never liked me. Gen always said it wasn’t me, she was like that to everyone, and had been ever since Gen’s dad ran out on them. But I was never sure that was true. She was never hostile to Jeremy, only to me.
I haven’t spoken to her in almost two years. She looks the same: pale skin, bleached-blond hair, thickly applied makeup, short skirt.
What is she doing here?
“Hi, Mrs. Rodriguez,” I say uncertainly. “Um. How are you?”
She stares. “Why are you here?” She’s not even trying to be polite. Her voice is raspy, a smoker’s voice.
“I, um, just had to talk to Madame LeGrand about something.”
Her frown deepens. “Little whore. Just like your mother and sister.”
Then she practically shoves me aside to get in the door.
I can’t move. Can’t see anything. Can’t hear anything but a strange rushing noise in my ears.
Slowly, I come back to myself. The blurry form of Mrs. Rodriguez is still in the corner of my eye, her back to me. I want to ask her what she means. How she can dare say that about my family. About me.
But when I turn around to confront her, she’s gone.
23
I hurry down the street, trying to ignore the tightness in my throat. The sky above is now a dark gray, clouds rolling in from the west.
I turn the corner and the bike rack comes into view. I stop short.
And stare at the spot where my bicycle used to be.
Now it’s just a wheel.
My throat gets tighter. Not because of the bike, even though I’ve had it since I was twelve and now it’s gone, just like that. It’s Mrs. Rodriguez.
Little whore. Just like your mother and sister.
Was she just trying to hurt me? Gen and her mom are close, since they only have each other. Gen obviously told her the details of why we weren’t friends anymore. I picture her coming home to their trailer after our big fight, the day she insulted my mom and I screamed at her never to speak to me again. Mrs. Rodriguez seeing Gen all upset, dropping whatever she was doing. What’s wrong, what happened, talk to me, and Gen spilling out how I’d stolen Jeremy away and she’d lost both of us. I can see why she’d hate me.
But there are other ways to hurt me besides insulting my family.
Why did she say that?