Page 12 of The Design of Goodbye
“He’s seventeen,” said Jules. “Seventeen-year-old boys are always hungry.”
“Always,” agreed Claire. “Alex just ate four pieces of pizza in less than ten minutes.”
“Hey!” said Alex. “I’m stillgrowing.”
Claire looked at me while gesturing to Alex. “My point exactly.”
“I don’t know why Liam’s not eating,” I said, putting the lid on my half-eaten salad. “I don’t know him.”
“But you can,” said Jules.
“What do you mean?” asked Claire.
“Now that he’s Madison’s math tutor, she can befriend him and get him to talk,” replied Jules. “It’s the perfect way for us to find out where he was.”
“I don’t know...”I trailed off.
A smirk graced Jules’s face as she stared over my shoulder. I turned around. Tanner had walked into the lunchroom and was heading toward Liam’s table. Liam didn’t hear him approach, and when Tanner slammed his fists loudly on the table, Liam jumped so violently his milk fell over.
Everyone laughed. Except me.
“Who jumps like that?” asked Claire. She was laughing through her tears. If she didn’t stop laughing soon, she was going to ruin her makeup.
Claire was right. The slam had been startling, but it hadn’t beenthatstartling. While everyone else seemed uninterested in Liam now, I couldn’t stop staring. He cleaned the spill and then took something out of his backpack and popped it in his mouth.
Maybe Jules was right.
“Think about it,” said Jules.
I snapped back to face her as Tanner flopped into a chair next to her, his letterman jacket consuming him—just how he liked it. “Think about what?” he asked.
Tanner looked more awake and less hungover than Alex did, but it was rare to see Tanner not put together. I couldn’t remember a time when a strand of his blond hair had been out of place. Even after football games.
“I want Madison to find out why Roo missed all that school,” said Jules, sliding a plate with three pieces of pizza and a pair of cupcakes in front of Tanner.
“Thanks, babe.” Tanner pulled Jules in for a kiss. They kissed forwaytoo long. Watching them kiss was incredibly awkward and something I tried to avoid.
“He’s Madison’s tutor now,” Jules continued once she pulled away, “so it should be easy.”
“I always knew my girl was smart.” Tanner took a huge bite of pizza and didn’t bother to finish chewing before saying, “Roo won’t tell any of us why he missed so much school. He’s determined to keep it a secret.”
“Yeah,” said Alex. “Tan and I did a quick search of him online, and all that came up were articles about nerdy math competitions he’d won.”
“He’ll probably be ecstatic you care enough to talk to him,” mentioned Claire, picking up a watermelon Jolly Rancher that was still on the table. “Lonely people open up more easily because they crave connection, so he’s bound to open up toyou.”
“I don’t know.” I bit my lip. I thought I tasted blood. “If people have asked him, and he won’t tell them, don’t you think that means he doesn’t want anyone to know?”
The fact that I evenslightlycared about Liam Strom’s side of things surprised me. I wasn’t supposed to care about a boy I didn’t know and most of the school didn’t like. Maybe it had nothing to do with Liam. Maybe it was because I related to his situation. I had a secret of my own. I couldn’t imagine how I’d feel if someone—especially thewhole school—discovered it.
“Who cares what he wants? I need to know.” A devious smile graced Jules’s face. “Remember that party in July?”
I suddenly felt hot.
“The one on my parents’ yacht?” asked Tanner. “On Lake Michigan?”
“Oh shit,” said Alex, cackling. “I’ll never forget that night. Good times.”
“That was the night,” started Claire, looking as pleased with the direction the conversation was going as Jules, “we all learned Madison’s a lightweight.”
