Chapter 41

I had a hard time falling asleep that night. Part of it was the cramps from my period, but it was mostly because of what had happened outside the school. Mr. Roman could have been hurt by those guys in the Bel Air. Even killed. They were horrible people. Look what they had done to Gina. If I caused Mr. Roman to be hurt, I would never forgive myself. Was he in danger? What had he said to the boys in the car to make them speed away? Would they be back? Mr. Roman had told me that he’d take care of it. What did that mean?

The next day I was eager to get to school. I would find the time to speak to Mr. Roman before my home room class. Everyone had a home room class before our regular classes began. That’s where they took care of administrative stuff. But I didn’t care about that. Mr. Roman’s safety was all that mattered to me. When I had seen the Bel Air yesterday, I wasn’t thinking. I had panicked after seeing the people who killed Gina and ran to get help. I hadn’t planned on it being Mr. Roman. I automatically went to him. When I saw the car, I was furious because of what they had done to Gina. Those boys had caused her death the same as if they had pointed a gun to her head and pulled the trigger. I remembered Gina’s eyes full of despair. They had destroyed her to the point she preferred to be dead than alive. But she was dead. Mr. Roman was still alive. I couldn’t live without him.

I went to school early and, before home room began, trotted through the empty hallways to Mr. Roman’s classroom. It was located in an isolated part of the school. I guess because of the noise our instruments made. It had a small soundproof room, but the classroom wasn’t soundproof. I opened the door and peeked inside. The classroom was dark and empty. I waited outside the door for him to arrive. Maybe he didn’t start that early. The Band teacher wasn’t like other teachers. Mr. Roman probably didn’t have a home room. I knew the gym teachers didn’t.

Where was Mr. Roman? I kept checking my watch. I had to leave or else I’d be late for home room. A knot formed in my gut as I walked to my home room. I was trembling. Was Mr. Roman okay? Had those monsters followed him after school and attacked him? Why had I told him about the car?

I went into my home room and was halfway into my chair when my teacher said, “Julie, they want you in the principal’s office.”

“Now?”

“Yes, right away. Go.”

Mr. Roman was dead. They were going to tell me that. That’s all I could think of as I raced through the hallways to the principal’s office, sidestepping students who were late getting to their home rooms, colliding with others. But it made no sense for them to tell me. That is, unless they knew about my relationship with Mr. Roman.

When I arrived at the principal’s outer office, Mrs. Walters looked up from her desk. Her gray hair was pulled into a tight bun and her glasses sat on the tip of her nose. All the kids assumed she had been there since the school was built during the Great Depression. Her pale hazel eyes stared at me over the glasses.

“They’re waiting for you inside,” Mrs. Walters said. “Go right in.”

I stood with my hand on the doorknob to Mrs. Jacob’s private office. My heart raced. My stomach churned. I turned the knob and opened the door. I gasped. Mrs. Jacob was sitting behind her desk and Mr. Roman was standing next to it. I almost ran up to Mr. Roman to throw my arms around him. He was alive! What stopped me was seeing the two police officers sitting in the chairs in front of the principal’s desk. Thank goodness for that.

“Julie, come in,” the principal said.

“Did I do something wrong, Mrs. Jacob?”

“No, of course not. The police simply want to talk to you about the men in the car you told Mr. Roman about.”

My eyes shot to Mr. Roman. He gave me a half smile and nodded.

“Miss,” the taller policeman said, “Mr. Roman told us about a car hanging around the school. You seem to know something about that so we’d like you to tell us what you know.”

“They try to pick up girls.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that. Isn’t that what boys do?”

I was getting furious and clenched my hands into fists. “One of them pretended to be a student here and took me to a college party where he got me drunk and they tried to rape me.”

Mrs. Jacob gasped. The two policemen leaned forward. The short one took out a pad and pencil and began writing.

“Did you report it?” the short policeman asked.

“I told Mr. Roman.”

“You told Mr. Roman?” a startled Mrs. Jacob said as a question. “Why him?”

The principal’s eyes darted between me and Mr. Roman. Both policemen stared at my Band teacher. I didn’t know what to say. The inside of my mouth was a desert and my palms a swamp.

“I can answer that,” Mr. Roman said to my relief. “Julie had a problem playing her clarinet in my class. When I scolded her for not practicing, she explained it was because of a cut lip. When I asked her how she got the split lip she said a boy hit her.”

“You see,” I said, finally able to speak again, “when the boy hit me I kicked him in the ba—” I slapped my hand over my mouth and my eyes shot to Mrs. Jacob. “Between the legs,” I said. “And then I ran out of there. Since nothing happened, I didn’t report it. I was too ashamed.”

Mrs. Jacob clucked her tongue. “Ronny, you should have reported it,” she said.

“I made him promise not to!” I shouted. “It wasn’t his fault. But he did check and found out the boy didn’t go to this school. It wasn’t until later that I found out he was one of the boys in the car.”

“How’d you find that out?” the policeman asked.

I was silent for a long time with my eyes lowered. I looked up to see everyone staring at me. Waiting. This time Mr. Roman didn’t bail me out.