Chapter 8: Questions Answered, Questions Not Answered

I ran faster than the other girls. April ran too, but she fell behind quickly. I dashed down the trail through the trees, out onto the open field to the waiting ambulance with its bright, flashing lights, and to the medics who would have never found us in the woods.

"She's back up this way!" I shouted.

One of them shined a flashlight along the edge of the woods to the entrance of the narrow trail.

"We'll never get the stretcher up there," he said.

The other replied, "Fine. I guess we carry her."

"Hurry. When I left her, she was hardly breathing."

By the time they got Renee down, the dean was waiting by the ambulance with Ms. Dunn and several other adults. She stopped April.

"April? What is going on? What happened?"

"Renee got hit by lighting."

"Yeah, the paramedics told us that. I mean, what were you doing in the woods past curfew? Why were you in the woods at all?"

Then the dean noticed that I was standing by Hannah. She gave us a dim look.

April said, "Just – you know – talking and stuff – like, we're just friends."

"Oh my god!" the dean said, "You weren't ... my god! ... I can't even say it!"

The medics got Renee up on a stretcher and lifted her into the ambulance. One got in back and pulled the door closed. The other jogged to the front of the vehicle and hopped in.

"Ms. Gilbert," I said.

"Yes, Tyballa?"

"What we were doing doesn't matter, not right now. We can talk about it tomorrow. All that matters is Renee. Will you take us to the hospital?"

"Tyballa!"

"Please. What if she dies?"

The dean turned white.

"Oh, I'm sure she won't die. The doctors will take good care of her."

But she seemed to stumble a bit, as if my words had taken away her strength.

"Please Ms. Gilbert, please take us to the hospital, or have Ms. Dunn drive us. She's our friend and we should be there. We'll come to your office tomorrow and explain what we were doing, and accept our punishment."

The ambulance made a very loud noise and its lights flashed to a different pulse than before. Then it began to drive away. Hannah took one of my hands and Kathy the other as we watched it go. When it got past the hockey field, it pulled onto the pavement and sped away. I noticed that Shelly was holding April's hand, and that they were watching too. Dean Gilbert, however, watched us, her eyes filled with hate.

Ms. Dunn spoke, "Cynthia, let me take the girls to the hospital to see their friend. Otherwise, they'll be up all night worrying."

"Fine. Keep an eye on them. Make sure they don't – do anything."

They wouldn't let us see her. Only family could come in, they said. And they couldn't give us any information either, so we waited in a crowded room with ratty chairs and a blaring television.

"They said her father is on his way," Ms Dunn said after she found someone in charge and talked to him. "I'm sure when he gets here he'll talk to us."

"Does anyone want some snacks?" April asked. We did, and she went and brought back some chips and juice. Then we waited, nibbling and sipping.

After a while a man came in. He was tall and dressed in a gray jacket and slacks. He seemed solid. Everything about him was angular. Even the hair on his neck was trimmed to a straight line. He strode to the counter and spoke to the woman.

"I'm here to see Renee Woodhouse. I'm her father."

She motioned for him to go to a security door. I stood and rushed to him, calling out, "Mr. Woodhouse!" – he turned to me – "Hello, sir, I'm Tyballa. I'm – we all, I mean – we're Renee's friends." I motioned to the group.

I guess he knew April, for he said, "Hello April, so this is Renee's little gang, eh?"

"Yes sir," she replied.

"They won't tell us anything," I said, "if she's alright or not. When you find out, please tell us."

He looked at the woman, who was now holding the security door open. "They can't come in and see their friend?"

"Maybe tomorrow, when she's moved to a normal room, but we can't let that many people into the emergency room. Two people maximum. You can bring one, if you want."

He looked back at us. "Pick one," he said.

"Me!" I said. April popped up too, but I was right there. I grabbed Mr. Woodhouse's hand and gave him a wide-eyed look.

"Fine," he said. I glanced at April as he led me in. She frowned.

The nurse led us down several corridors to a windowed area with chairs. "Wait here, and Dr. Evans will be over to see you."

"When can we see Renee?" I asked.

"Just wait for the doctor," she said. She left us there.

Mr. Woodhouse sat down. "Why don't you sit – Tyballa, was it?"

"Yes sir."

"That's an odd name, if that isn't rude to say" – he smiled – "Tyballa what?"

"Just Tyballa."

"Oh?"

I sat in a chair across from him, and he peeked at me under his narrow eyebrows, as if waiting for me to say something, to offer more. His eyes were green, just like Renee's

"So, you're the mysterious type," he finally said.

"I guess."

"Hmm. Yes indeed, you do seem Renee's type. I bet she was enthralled by you."

I felt uncomfortable. He kept looking.

A man came in and introduced himself as Dr. Evans. "Hello Doctor," Mr. Woodhouse said.

"Hello, Mr. Woodhouse, I presume?"

"Indeed. How is Renee? Can I see her?"

"You can, but I'd like to speak with you first."

Dr. Evans seemed very serious. He sat next to Mr. Woodhouse.

"Renee has not yet awoken, and she has shown no response to pain or other stimuli. This concerns us quite a bit."

"I see." Mr. Woodhouse sat up straight and seemed very severe.

"So, I guess that witnesses said she'd been struck by lightning."

"I heard as much."

"However, that doesn't appear to be true. Usually, with lightning, there are certain obvious burns. She shows nothing of the sort, nor does she show any cardiac abnormalities such as would concern us with a lightning injury."

"Ah. So, Doctor, what is wrong with her?"

"Frankly, we don't know. I'm ordering an MRI, which should happen tonight, and she'll go to neuro tomorrow."

They both sat quietly, the doctor just waiting, and Mr. Woodhouse seeming to let the knowledge sink in. He swallowed and cast me a sharp stare. "Well, Tyballa, shall we go see her?"

Mr. Woodhouse and I stood on opposite sides of the bed gazing down on the girl – she didn't look like Renee. She was a pale, broken thing with tubes and wires coming from her and running to a strange beeping machine by her bed. A nurse entered and checked the readings on the machine. Then she jotted something down on a clipboard and left.

"So, Tyballa, you told the paramedics it was lightning."

"Yes."

"But I guess it wasn't."

"There was a flash. I don't know what it was."

"I see. Tyballa, I'm going to talk to each of you one at a time and get everyone's story. Do you want to tell me now exactly why you girls were in the woods, what you were doing, and what exactly put Renee in this state?"

I looked at Renee. She had said her father was a magician, but she had also said that he didn't know that she was a lesbian, or of The Daughters of Sappho.

"We're all friends, and we have a little club."

"Yes?"

"I was joining that club, and we were in the woods for my initiation ritual."

"Oh? What sort of ritual?"

"Just some chanting, and I had to take an oath to be loyal to Renee."

"I see."

He peered at me. "There's nothing else you want to tell me?"

"No, just that there was a flash, and she fell down."

"Alright, Tyballa, that's fine. We'll see what the doctors find, but there's more to this, isn't there?"

I said nothing.

"Fine. I'll talk to Dean Gilbert, and we'll all talk more tomorrow.

He turned to leave.

"Come along, Tyballa."

I gave Renee a goodbye glance and followed him from the room.

The girls cried the entire drive back. Except April. She sat up front and watched the lights whip past the car, her face a frozen mask. And except me. I sat next to Hannah, holding her hand and letting her nuzzle into my shoulder, but I felt – something – that these girls had put all their faith in Renee, and if she was gone, they were lost. April wouldn't be enough. I had to be strong – so the rest could fall to pieces.

When we arrived at the school, Ms. Dunn said, "You girls try to sleep. I think you should all sleep in tomorrow morning. I'm sure the dean will want to talk to you, but I think you'll be allowed to skip your classes."

We entered the dormitory and filtered off to our rooms. I said goodnight to Hannah and gave her a small smile. That just made her cry harder, and she rushed off.

No one woke me in the morning, and the sun had crawled well up the morning sky by the time I rolled out of bed. I showered and dressed, and it was lunchtime, so I wandered over to the student lounge to see who was there. April was sitting in Renee's red chair. The other girls were on the couch, and when I entered Hannah and Kathy moved apart to give me room. I squeezed between them and looked over at April.

"So, you're in charge now?"

"I guess."

She seemed small in the chair. She kept shifting, as if she wasn't comfortable.

Madison Shelton, the girl who had fought Chloe Sommers, came into the lounge with two other girls. She looked at us.

"Oh look, it's the dyke club."

Hannah squirmed next to me. Her face was very sad, so I took her hand and gave a gentle squeeze. But none of us said anything. We all looked over at April, who sat frozen, looking away from Madison.

Madison advanced. Her friends followed.

"Ha! Just as I thought! Your precious Renee is gone, and now you're all as meek as little puppies."

She reached and touched April, rubbing her cheek and brushing aside her hair. It was in no way tender.

"What will you do now, now that Renee is gone? I guess you'll have to get the ugly ones" – she motioned to us – "to eat your pussy."

April grabbed Madison's wrist and wrenched her arm. Madison staggered, but didn't fall.

"Ha! When they get pissed off, you know you've found the truth."

"Madison," I said, "please leave us alone. Our friend is hurt very bad, and she might die."

She spun around and sneered at me.

"You know what, Tyballa – that's your name, right? – you know what! I hope she dies. She pulled so much hard shit on girls, and fucked up so many reputations that she deserves it."

She paused, then went on.

"And you know what else! When she's gone – well, even before – I'm not waiting – the rest of you are fucked. Every bitch in this place who walked around afraid of Renee Woodhouse is gonna want revenge, and they're gonna get it on you."

She leaned over me and got very close – too close. I popped up from the couch, slipped by her hip, and got behind her. She turned to me and tried to push me, but I grabbed her arm and twisted. She crashed to the floor with me on top of her. Then, shifting my hips and grabbing her arms, I ended up straddling her. She struggled, but I was so much stronger. She didn't have a chance. Everyone began to shout.

My skirt had bunched up. Her blouse had bunched up too, and my panties rubbed against her bare tummy. I discovered that, if I shifted down, my panties rubbed against her soft skirt. That felt very nice, and I shifted back and forth between her tummy and skirt, rubbing my pussy against her.

"Oh my god! She's fucking her!" someone shouted out.

She struggled and squirmed. That felt very good.

"Keep doing that," I said. She stared at me, her eyes terrified.

I kept grinding my hips, and she kept struggling. Girls were laughing and cheering, except her friends, who were shouting for me to stop. They tried to come at me, but other girls held them back. I heard April shout, "Rape that bitch!"

It seemed that lots of girls hated Madison Shelton even more than they hated us.

Hannah came to me. "Tyballa, don't do this." I looked, and she wasn't smiling or laughing. She wasn't cheering. She looked frightened. Kathy and Shelly did too. Of our group, only April seemed happy with what I was doing.

I ground my hips a few more times, closing my eyes and cooing from the tingly bliss. Then I released Madison and got up.