Echo Bridge

by Kristen O'Toole

  “Sure. I’ll just tell my parents I’m staying at Melissa’s.” I was relieved. Rivalry Revelry was a week away; if I couldn’t work through my issues by then, I’d hold my nose and jump.

  “But that’s so far away.” Ted gave me a squeeze and pouted like a little kid. I knew it was a result of being the baby of his family, but it got me every time. He was adorable. I wanted so badly to be able to take his hand and walk down those steps, to put my arms around his neck and hear the river lap at the stone pilasters. In that moment, pressed against Ted’s wool coat, I would have given anything I had to be innocent again—to not know the feel of Hugh Marsden’s hands, the secrets in Lexi’s wide hazel eyes, the things Mr. Grieves was capable of with a keyboard. To be able to cut out the past few weeks like old film on the editing room floor, and go back to being the girl I was before.

  But there are no retakes in real life, so the reel just kept rolling, and I couldn’t have sex with Ted any more than I could erase the things I knew. So I said, “You know what they say: the best things come to those who wait,” like I was delivering a line in a trashy teen sex comedy, and kissed him deep and soft. Then I made him walk me home.

  Chapter 9

  The Rivalry Revelry dance was held in the conservatory that extended off of the science wing of the schoolhouse. Every plant in the conservatory was decked out in tiny white lights, and banners in navy and red—the school colors—hung from the ceiling. When Ted and I arrived, all my nerve endings were electrified. It was like every opening night I’d ever experienced rolled into one ball of emotion. I was anticipating two things: First, Lexi dosing Hugh’s bottle of whiskey. I had no idea how she was going to manage it, let alone what might happen once the stuff kicked in. Second, sleeping with Ted again for the first time since Hugh had attacked me. I wasn’t sure I was ready, but I also knew I couldn’t put Ted off any longer without a reason, and I felt more confused than ever about telling him that his best friend was a psycho.

  Before the dance, Ted took me to our reservation, at a sleek French restaurant in the Financial District. I ordered escargot and tried to look sexy licking garlic butter off my lips, while Ted teased me for eating snails. We hadn’t even had our salads yet when Ted’s cell phone rang. He pulled it out and looked at the screen.

  “You’re kidding me.” I stared in disbelief as Ted looked at me and shrugged, holding up his phone like he couldn’t help it.

  “Just one sec, babe,” he said, standing up as he answered the call. “Dude,” he said into the phone, walking toward the door of the restaurant. I narrowed my eyes at him through the plate glass window, but Ted wasn’t looking at me. I felt like everyone else was, though, like I was the girl who gets dumped spectacularly and publicly at the start of a romantic comedy. I pushed the last snail around on my plate.

  “I’m so sorry,” Ted said, when he slid back into his chair a minute later.

  “I can’t believe you did that.” I picked up my Pellegrino and tried to look as icy as the glass felt.

  “Babe, Hugh got pulled over by the cops on his way to dinner. With Molly in the car and everything. Don’t tell me if it was Melissa, you wouldn’t have picked up.”

  “If it was Melissa, I wouldn’t know, because I wouldn’t have picked up when she called me in the middle of our date.” I grit my teeth. “Wait. So what happened?”

  Ted chuckled to himself and tore a roll in half. “You can’t ask me for the story and still be mad that I took the call.”

  “Just tell me.” My pulse pounded in my ears. Grieves had said something about getting Hugh pulled over, but what if he’d lost his license? If he didn’t make it to Revelry, Lexi would miss her chance to set him up.

  “The truck has a taillight out from when he backed into that stone wall in the parking lot last week. And you know how Belknap is; the cops didn’t have anything better to do, so one of them pulled him over.”

  “So what?” I masked my relief with boredom. “You came back in here like it was some kind of emergency.”

  “When the cop ran his license, a DUI popped up.” Ted leaned toward me, getting into his story. “But Hugh’s never been busted driving drunk. I don’t even know if he’s ever driven drunk.”

  “Oh, come on,” I said. “He’s hardly a paragon of sobriety.”

  “Yeah, but he usually just passes out on the nearest couch. He doesn’t go careening around. He loves that truck too much.”

  “A Lexus SUV is not a truck,” I muttered. I was worried that “the guys” Grieves had referred to had done their job too well. “Did he get arrested?” Maybe that would give the college athletic recruiters pause, anyway.

  “Nope,” Ted grinned. “He had two center court tickets to the Celtics game next week in his glove compartment. He gave them to the officer, and the officer told him and Molly to have a good night.”

  “That’s disgusting,” I said. The waiter set a plate of coq au vin in front of me, but I didn’t think I could eat. It was like the whole town was in on protecting Hugh.

  “What are you talking about?” Ted waved his fork at me. “You want Hugh locked up for the night instead of at the dance with all our friends?”

  Yes, I thought, staring at Ted a moment. “I just think it’s creepy that a cop can be bought so easily, I guess.”

  “Well, maybe the guy knew it was a computer error, or, like, a different Hugh Marsden or something. He probably just wanted to go to the Celts game. Aren’t you going to eat your cock…au vin?” He gave me a lewd grin.

  I glared at him. “I can’t take you anywhere.”

  “You love me.” Ted leaned over the table and kissed my nose.

  When we arrived at the dance, Ted and I greeted our friends and accepted their compliments. Ted might not have been able to handle a classy dinner, but he did look damn good in a tux. I was wearing a silver-sequined sheath, very clingy, very Marilyn. Ted stood with the guys in one corner while I joined Mel, Hil, and a few other girls on the dance floor. We usually only danced with our dates during slow songs. No one went to BCD dances stag; even if you were single, you always paired up with a friend. Hugh was standing with Molly when we came in, but after a few minutes he wandered over to Ted and his boys. Molly joined a couple of other sophomores by the chocolate fountain. Rivalry Revelry, like all formals at Country Day, was strictly an upperclassmen affair. Freshmen and sophomores were only allowed in as dates. It was a huge deal to be invited to a formal as an underclassman.

  Selena Mitchell and Lindsay Stevens came in with Jake and Benji and joined our group, giggling. From a distance they just looked giddy, like they were having a good time, but up close they were obviously stoned.

  “We ate at IHOP. You know, ironically.” Lindsay giggled. “We took pictures with the waitresses.”

  “How counter-culture,” Melissa snarked. “Will took me to Sonsie on Newbury.” Melissa was wearing the Phillip Lim she’d tried on the night of her party and an ugly architectural corsage of white orchids. She had a very hot-and-cold thing going with a boy at Brown who had graduated from Country Day two years earlier, but that fall she had recruited Will McKinley as her surrogate boyfriend. Though she swore they were only friends, he had been spending a lot of time at her house. Will had a narrow, foxlike face, with high cheekbones, bright blue eyes, and a charm that had a cutting edge to it—the kind of guy who thinks that pushing your buttons and giving you crap counts as foreplay. He was considered quite the catch, and more than one girl was giving Melissa the side-eye—including Hilary, who had an enormous crush on Will and a bad boyfriend in Gavin Purcell. Gavin was just then chatting up a couple of medium-popular junior girls under an enormous fichus, which meant he and Hilary were fighting. Gavin’s cheating was indiscriminate, but he only did it out in the open when he was angry with Hilary.

  “Sonsie,” said Hilary. “That’s awfully romantic for two friends.”

  Melissa Lewis was one of my best friends, but I was a little afraid of her. She could look at you with knives in her eyes, and yo
u were as good as bleeding.

  “Will’s sister is the hostess,” she said. “By the way, Hil, we drove past Tetrazzini on our way out, and I saw Gavin’s car. Was that you he was helping out of the passenger seat? Or was it Wendy Fitzgerald?”

  Tetrazzini was the Italian restaurant in Belknap. It was where you went to dinner with your parents on a Sunday night, not where you wanted to be seen with your Revelry date. Wendy Fitzgerald was a particularly slutty junior amongst the flock Gavin had gathered by the fichus. She and Hilary were wearing unfortunately similar long dresses of bronze silk.

  “I only ask because last week you said Gavin was totally beneath you, so I assume you can’t possibly have come with him,” Melissa went on sweetly. “But you and Wendy are the only girls here in orange.”

  Hilary turned an odd shade of purple that clashed with both her dress and her hair.

  “I’m going to the bathroom,” I said quietly to Selena, and slipped outside for a cigarette.

  * * *

  According to Mr. Grieves, 2C-I was a white, crystalline powder invented by some mad chemist who’d become interested in cleansing the doors of his perception in the 1960s and had begun studying psychoactive substances (I imagined him as William Hurt in Altered States). He’d synthesized dozens of compounds, most of which were readily available online for totally legal purchase, in spite of the fact that most of them had zero practical applications. Grieves had stolen a vial from one of the pharmaceutical companies where he worked and given it to Farah. She taken the train into Cambridge to see him, and when she talked about hanging out with him, it was all coding languages and equations while Lexi and I stared dumbly. Farah had given the vial to Lexi, who was going to find some way to give it to Hugh without his knowledge.

  The night air outside the dance was cool, and though it raised goose bumps on my arms, I was glad for it. Inside, everything felt too bright, too loud, and too fast. The dark stillness was a relief. From outside, the glass conservatory blazed in the night like a giant multifaceted gem. The Top 40 beat coming through the walls sounded small and lonely echoing off the trees. I stood out of sight, near the corner where the glass room met the stone wall of the main school building, which was covered in long strands of ivy. I watched my hands shake as I lit my cigarette, then dropped the still-burning match as a shadow detached from the waving ivy and resolved itself to my left. Elaine Winslow. She wore a long dress of baby blue satin with a halter neckline. The ties of the halter hung down her back, weighted with cubic zirconia stars. The color emphasized her blue eyes, and her light blond hair hung loose to her toned shoulders.

  “Hi,” she said.

  “Hi,” I said back. I looked down to make sure the match I’d dropped hadn’t ignited any dry, dead ivy. Not that the idea of burning Belknap Country Day to the ground didn’t hold some appeal at that moment.

  “I didn’t know you smoked,” Elaine said.

  “I kind of just started,” I said. “I didn’t know you smoked either.”

  “No one does,” she said, “because I’d be totally dead if they did. My sisters, my coach, Marshall—they’d all kill me if they knew.”

  “Oh,” I said. I guessed this was an athlete thing; aside from Ted, I didn’t think Melissa or Hilary or anyone else would care if I smoked. They didn’t know, though; cigarettes were my excuse to sneak away from everybody when I needed to.

  “So please don’t tell anyone. Especially Molly. She’d go nuts.”

  “Trust me,” I said. “I can keep a secret.”

  “Molly said you apologized for warning her away from Hugh,” Elaine said. I could hear the question in her voice: why?

  “You asked me to look out for her,” I said. “I thought that would be easier if we were friendly.”

  Elaine sighed. “That’s a good idea. I can’t pretend I like Hugh, though. We’re still fighting about it. She refused to do the whole picture-posing thing with Marshall and me tonight. My mom was disappointed.”

  “Can I ask why you hate Hugh so much?” I asked.

  Elaine very deliberately pulled another cigarette out of her purse without looking at me. “He’s a jerk,” she said simply. “Hey, come here, check this out.”

  I followed her a few steps down the rise along the wall, and she lifted a few strands of ivy, exposing a small window. We had a clear view of a single bathroom—of the sink and mirror, but thankfully not the toilet.

  “Just wait,” said Elaine, but we didn’t have to wait long. Marian Hayward stepped into the bathroom, and we stepped back a bit so she wouldn’t see us if she looked out the window. “Don’t worry,” Elaine whispered. “No one’s caught me yet.” Marian stepped out of view, presumably to the toilet, and then reappeared to wash her hands. She adjusted her strapless bra, and then began violently dusting her eyelids, cheeks, and collarbone with more glitter powder. I laughed quietly. It was just so Marian—exactly what you’d expect her to do in the bathroom at a dance.

  Elaine and I watched a few more of our classmates and their private rituals. Guys sniffed their armpits and girls tried to see their asses in the mirror, checking for panty lines. Jake Hobart scooped cocaine out of a tiny bag with his car key. We had to cover our mouths to keep from laughing too loudly while watching Aaron Winthrop, who was our top squash player, a lock for valedictorian, and notoriously tightly wound. He was also universally loathed for having put a Yale sticker on his Grand Cherokee, even though the early decision deadline was more than a month off. In the mirror, he beat his short dark hair into place with startling concentration, and for much longer than I’d ever imagined a boy would spend on his hair.

  Farah entered the bathroom and I bit the inside of my cheek, but all she did was stand up on her tiptoes to get close to the mirror and arrange her short, choppy black hair with her fingers. Horse Riley followed, and Elaine stepped further back.

  “Aw, Horse,” she said. “He’s so sweet. I don’t know if I want to see him do anything embarrassing.”

  Neither of us looked away, but we were rewarded when Horse rinsed his hands, looked in the mirror, shot himself finger guns, and did a little shimmy before bopping back out the door. “Awesome!” breathed Elaine. We were bent over laughing as quietly as possible when the next person walked into the bathroom, but we both immediately stopped and stood up. It was Hugh. He slipped a pint of Jack Daniels from inside his suit and swigged. I drew in a breath. That one sip could be the action that put everything in motion.

  “I’m going in,” Elaine said abruptly. “Marshall’s going to wonder where I am. Do you want some Scope and Altoids? I’ve got perfume, too.”

  * * *

  Inside, smelling like Elaine’s Clinique Happy perfume, I found Ted standing with Benji and Lindsay under a huge potted palm. Everyone else was scattered across the room, whispering in corners or paired up on the dance floor. Elaine and Marshall, Jake and Selena, Hilary and Gavin, Melissa and Will. Farah was dancing with Horse. And then there was Molly and Hugh. She was gazing up at him with her whole face aglow. My stomach twisted.

  “There you are,” said Ted. “Want to dance?” I took his hand and pulled him out among the swaying couples.

  I leaned against Ted the way I had a million times before, my arms locked around his neck, feeling the solid, comforting bulk of him with my whole body. His big hands wrapped around my waist.

  “You really look incredible tonight, Courtney,” he breathed into my hair. “Sometimes I don’t know what a girl like you sees in me.”

  “Don’t be silly,” I told him. “You’re the sexiest guy here.” Over his shoulder, I glimpsed Lexi among the ferns. She was the only person at the dance without a date. Not that she didn’t look great—totally Edie Sedgwick with black tights, short dress, and chandelier earrings. It was just like Lexi to come alone. “And,” I said to Ted, rubbing his arm with my eyes still on Lexi. “You scored three goals against Green Hill Prep today. You’re a Rivalry Revelry hero.”

  Lexi stood perfectly still, watching the couples pressed
together on the dance floor. I couldn’t tell if she saw me until her left eyelid dropped in a single, perfect wink. The rest of her face didn’t stir. Then she turned and was gone.

  “Don’t tease me.” Ted’s lips brushed my cheek. “I know you don’t care about that stuff.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of teasing you, Ted Parker.”

  “Good.” He bent his head and kissed me, one of those long, intense kisses that makes the whole world drop away. “I can’t wait to get you all to myself later.”

  Any nerves about having sex with Ted that might have flared up at that moment were chased away by a shriek from the far side of the dance floor. Ted and I both turned toward the sound.

  Across the room, Hugh Marsden sat in his suit on the tiled floor, eating handfuls of dirt from a large potted African violet. Molly Winslow stood next to him with a look of terror on her face. There were streaks of dirt on her cheeks, and when Hugh reached out one finger as if to draw another on her dress, she hopped backwards. He giggled and drooled mud down his chin.

  “What the hell?”

  All the couples on the floor had stopped dancing and were staring at Hugh and Molly. A guitar solo poured from the sound system. Suits and dresses shifted in discomfort all around us.

  “Hugh.” Ted said, loud and sharp, as he cut through the crowd, squatting down next to Hugh and resting his elbows on his knees. “You take something, dude?”

  “Lemur,” said Hugh. His eyes were huge and black. “Lemurrrrrrrrrrr.” He reached up to finger the starry white lights on a low-hanging branch.

  “Hugh, look at me,” Ted shook him. “Hugh!”

  “Lemurrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.”

  “Yeah, guy,” Ted muttered to himself. He snapped his fingers in Hugh’s face, but Hugh didn’t flinch.

  Ted looked up at the gathering crowd. “Who has a cell phone? Somebody call an ambulance. Now.” He knelt and carefully drew Hugh’s hand out of the pot of dirt.

  Headmaster Farnsworth and Coach Jessup appeared, briskly nudging students out of the way.