Chapter 3

I trudged towards the classroom- yeah, that's right, the one I was meant to be sitting in, listening to the Sister lecture us about how sucky our essays had turned out- still contemplating Father D's comment. Sister Barbara raised a bushy eyebrow as I slowly turned the corner into her English class. 'Do you have a pass, Miss Simon?' She asked me, narrowing her wrinkly eyes. 'Sure do.' I assured her, handing over my pass from Father D, and squeezing past the desks to the one nearest Cee Cee. Sister Barbara smiled, coldly, nodded her head once, and then she returned to her lecture.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Cee Cee scribble on a piece of paper, then scrunch it into a ball, and toss it towards my feet. I kicked it to where I could reach it, and when I unfolded it, I read "Suze, where'd you go?" I looked at Cee Cee, watching me, and then scribbled a message of my own on the back, and tossed it towards her. I wrote "Just to help Father Dominic with some stuff. So, where's Adam?"

I thought it might be a little awkward bringing Adam's situation up right then to Cee Cee, after the whole episode in the bathroom, so I planned on talking to Adam himself about it later on. Cee Cee didn't bother writing back because the big hand was about to hit the twelve, and at The Mission, when the big hand hits the twelve, it's time for your next class or lunch. Everyone grabbed their books and headed for the door in a huge stampede of teenagers. Cee Cee and I met, and then started towards our lockers to put our books away for lunch.

'So uh…Why did you ask where Adam is?' Cee Cee asked me, curiously, 'Because, uh, I'm not so sure you should say anything to him about what I told you. It was kind of meant to be a secret- Not a lot of people know, actually.' Ah! I was so hurt! Adam had known me for a long time now, and I still wasn't on his tell-them-my-parents-got-a-divorce list! 'Um…Cee Cee, I won't tell anyone, I just want to know where he is.' I declared, a little testy, I must admit-Hey, I just found out that one of my best friends couldn't trust me, or at least that's how it seemed. 'He's at home today. There's tons of stuff they-the family, I mean- have to work out before they can move and stuff.' Cee Cee explained. 'Oh yea, that makes sense.' I said as I sat down at our normal eating-lunch spot, and took a bite of my baloney and cheese sandwich.

After school I found Dopey consumed by a crowd of Kelly Prescott and Paul Slater clones-not literally, of course. Wow, if there were really that many Paul Slaters the world would definitely be in for it. OK, so, back to the point. Dopey was doing his usual, trying to impress the junior girls of The Mission Academy, with his buddies cheering him on, with every mindless comment. It's actually those comments that get the girls drooling all over him, surprisingly enough. I pushed through the group, then to Dopey, said, 'Hey, I need you to take me somewhere after school.' The crowd had started to get smaller, but because there were still a few of Dopey's more loyal fans lingering, Dopey felt the need to say, 'Are you kidding me? I'd die before I let you get in a car with me.' Then he smiled at one of his buddy's, who, of course, was laughing at this not so intelligent remark. I shot his buddy, Jared Morris, a sarcastic glare, then looked back at Dopey, 'Shut up, Brad, if that were at all true, you would be dead already. Give me the keys and walk home, or come now.' 'Calm down, I'm coming. Just give me a sec,' he said. Then he turned to Jared, saying something-probably something nasty about me, I suspect-then he turned toward the Land Rover and pulled the keys from his pocket.

Dopey took me to Adam's, with no little amount of arguing and complaining, then sped down the street as soon as I'd slammed the car door shut. I went straight up to Adam's door and was surprised to see through the living room window that there were already boxes scattered across the floor, ready to be filled. I knocked hard, to be sure they heard me, then stepped back a few steps, holding my hands together a little nervously. At first no one answered the door, but the second time I knocked, Adam's mother came to the door, 'Oh, hello. You must be a friend of Adam's. Come on in.' she said pleasantly, making me wonder how 'tragic' the situation really was. I nodded my head and stepped through the door. 'Yeah, that's me. I just thought I'd swing by after school to talk to Adam for a few minutes, is that OK?' I said, nodding. 'Oh yeah, honey, that's fine. Adam!' She called, loudly up the stairs.

I was totally starting to think that maybe this was not such a good idea, when Adam came down the stairs, slowly, with an almost surprised look on his face. 'Suze- What are you doing here?' Adam asked, obviously a little confused. 'Uh, yeah, Adam, do you think we could talk in private? I mean, is that cool?' I asked, looking down at my pointed, black shoes peeking from underneath my jeans. 'Yeah, that's cool.' Adam said, taking me into his kitchen. Wow, Adam and Paul sure are different from each other. Paul would have taken me to his bedroom and milked the situation for all it was worth. This is different. 'Adam, I know that I'm not supposed to know about any of this-' I said, slowly. 'Any of what?' Adam cut me off. 'Well, your parents and stuff, I just heard from Cee Cee and I thought I would come over to see if you wanted to talk or anything.' I lied. I didn't actually go over to talk with him; I just needed to see what Father Dom had been talking about. 'Oh yeah, I thought she might…Tell you, I mean. I think I'm OK, though. I wasn't too close to my dad. I'll really miss you guys when I change schools, though.' He said to me, smiling half-heartedly. 'Yeah, we'll miss you too. We should get together sometime this week, as kind of a going away thing-not that you're going away, but, you know. Um. I should go; I have a lot of…homework to get to.' I said a little awkwardly. 'We should do something. It would probably be fun. Yeah, well, I guess I'll talk to you later then, huh, Suze?' Adam raised his eyebrows, and pursed his lips. He stood up and began walking up the stairs, then turned around one last time to nod, kind of as a goodbye.

I stood up to go to the door, when Adam's mother caught me and said casually, 'You must be Suze, Adam never really introduced us. Please call me Karen.' Then she stuck out her hand, to shake mine. I shook her hand and smiled. 'Yeah, that's me.' I said in my most polite voice, and then reached for the handle to let myself out. 'You're going already?' She said, surprised, 'Because, I-I just thought that maybe you could get Adam to open up to you a little bit. He hasn't said a lot since we told him-his father and I, I mean. Adam's a great kid; I really didn't mean to hurt him like this.' Adam's mom, Karen, said with a worried look strewn across her face. Water was slowly filling her hazel eyes. 'Are you OK, Mrs. - I mean, Karen?' I asked, trying to sound sympathetic. 'Oh, I'm sorry, honey. I should let you go, don't worry about me.' I could see the tears starting to stream down her face, 'I- I just needed to be wanted, and he wasn't wanting me.'

I didn't know what to do but stand there, blankly, listening to her. I was caught completely off guard, even though it was the second time that day someone had come to me to cry on my shoulder-not literally, of course. But I had to cut her a little slack; she probably hadn't gotten to vent to anyone, with Adam being so, well normal for a kid in his situation, he probably wasn't the first person she'd want to go to, of course, I don't see how I was, but whatever. Hmmm… But what was she talking about, being wanted?

'Mark, he just couldn't with all the work and business trips he had to go on. I couldn't help it, Susan.' Karen looked up into my face, trying to convince me that whatever she 'couldn't help' was OK for her to do. She got my name wrong, too. 'Look, I-' I tried to say, but was interrupted by her distressed voice. 'And Susan, Ben wanted me, which does not happen often for a woman my age.' Adam's mother was finally calming down a little, and was wiping her eyes with a tissue she'd pulled from her pocket.

Wow. She had totally just spilled all kinds of information to me, and I didn't even have to make two trips. I felt so bad, though. Poor Adam; he probably was completely humiliated. I mean, if my mom cheated on my dad-or Andy, even, I would be totally shamed out. I mean, the only thing I really comprehended that came out of her mouth was something about cheating, and a guy named Ben, so I just assumed- And then, almost as randomly as Adam's mother's little episode, I was swept with a terrible feeling of guilt. I had been prying into Adam's life and it totally wasn't my business. I mean, mediating is my business. Jesse is my business. Cee Cee and Adam are my business, but not their parents. Darn you, Suze. You sure can screw things over, can't you? I squeezed in a few words of comfort, and then slipped out the door, leaving Adam's mother feeling guilty and completely worked up, thanks to me.

After I'd walked home from Adam's-not such a pleasant walk, believe me- I was sitting on my bed, flipping through a magazine anddiscussing the Prom and how it had gone with Kelly Prescott, one of my least favorite people at the Mission Academy. Then, my mother-what a life saver- called from down stairs, 'Suze, honey, Andy needs a hand with setting the table! Can you come down for a minute?' I tried to regain focus on Kelly's high-pitched voice blabbering on at a mile a minute. 'OK, so Suze, we have GOT to get together with a few of the people on the committee to, you know, celebrate the Prom's success! What do you say?' Kelly paused, only briefly to hear my answer, and then started up again, 'Because, if you can't do it, I'll just arrange something on my own- But I thought you might want to help me out a little with the planning, and all.' I totally did not want to help her out with the planning 'and all,' but I said it would be OK, just to get her off my back. Ugh…All the stuff with Adam's parents, plus this.