-11-
Julian noted that Laura was missing for all her classes, the following day. No, more than noted; he was consciously aware that the spot beside him was empty. even though he'd never been aware before.
He didn't know what to think. Of all the children here, Laura seemed to have the darkest past, whatever it was; the only other person to kill that he knew was Kevin, who had killed his father by accident.
Had Laura's been an accident?
…
"Questions, kid?" Mr. Logan asked, seeing that the boy that Laura had trouble with a while ago was lingering on the side, seemingly waiting for the other students to leave.
"Yes, sir," the boy said.
"Let me finish puttin' stuff away, and we'll talk."
Logan collected the cushions used for practicing side-kicks, and stored them in the locker. He wiped his hands, then remembered the boy was waiting—it had been about five minutes.
"Kay," he said.
The boy swallowed. "I was wondering—sir—about your clone."
Logan raised his eyebrow.
"She's on my squad…" the boy seemed to be trying to explain his question. "…she goes to a lot of my classes, and, um…"
"My clone is none of your business, Keller. If she hasn't told you nothin', I sure as hell ain't goin' to."
"She won't talk to me," the boy said.
"Well, then, kinda indicates what she wants, don't it?"
"Sir—" the boy seemed to have been saving this. "Something weird happened the other night. I was—I was in the kitchen, before lights out, and Kinney came in. She was
sleep-walking, and she said some things…"
"Oh yeah?" Logan was amused. "So, Laura was sleep-walkin' at eleven PM, huh? Funny, 'coz far as I know, sleepwalking happens about two to three hours after the
person falls asleep…and that would have her going to bed at eight."
The boy paused. "Fine…it was two. It was still really…weird. She started talking about her mother…and then—"
"She mentioned her mother?" Logan bristled slightly.
"She said 'I'm sorry, please come back…I didn't mean it'. Like she killed her or something." The boy paused. "Did she?"
Silence. They could hear the clock on the wall ticking.
"Kid…don't ever tell anyone what you heard, or you'll be sorry," Logan said.
"Are you threatening me?" the boy asked immediately.
"Yep," Logan said. "Laura's had a hard enough life without you makin' it harder for her. Nuff said. Now get out of my face."
"Well…I wasn't going to tell," the boy said, folding his arms. "I want to know…exactly who I'm sharing the school with. And…"
Logan raised his eyebrows. "You have a thing for my clone, don'cha?"
"No!" the boy said angrily. "I just want to know. That's it." He paused. "I'm her friend, and I'm worried about her."
"Awful nice of you, kid, but I ain't spilling any beans. You go ask Laura, and try being nice…maybe she'll tell you, maybe she won't. Maybe you'll have to spend your life minding
your own business, and if you're lucky, you'll get to know her a bit. But that ain't gonna happen if you're talking about her, and not to her."
Logan didn't care about what went on at the school; he barely knew the gossip concerning his own team members. However, he did care about Laura—whom he knew, aside
from her miserable history, was a good person—and, subsequently, had made an effort to become involved in her life.
Somewhat.
The boy sighed and left, looking disappointed, but Logan was absolutely confident that he'd done the right thing.
…
Laura made her way to class at the last minute, determined. She had disclosed nothing to the boy; there was no reason to be afraid.
She reached the door fifteen minutes late and entered, Dr. McCoy pausing in his lecture to nod his acknowledgement to her. Laura headed to the table she shared and placed her bag
on the floor as silently as possible, retrieved her calculator and writing tools, then sat down carefully, her chin in the air and her back ramrod straight.
She was aware of the boy's glances out of the corner of her eye, but she did not respond. Let him look. She owed him nothing. She opened her notebook and picked up her pencil,
staring straight at the teacher.
The rest of her day was similarly uneventful; she had biology, and English, and art, all of which she took with Sofia. The boy took the easel next to her friend during the latter class,
but he was silent (except for a few comments to Sofia), and did not try to glance at her painting.
At lunch, she sat with Sofia, enjoying once again the interaction between the other students, occasionally adding a small comment to the conversation. She did not often have much
to add, but she did enjoy listening to Sofia's stories, and David's thoughts. He still seemed to be wary of Laura, but she was used to this, and as he did not say anything, she decided
he had accepted her presence.