Read Going Under for Free Online Page B

said, jabbing a thumb towards the back of the room.
    The girl turned around in the direction of
the laughter, her smile fading instantly, and I watched as her face
filled with something unsettling. I wasn’t absolutely sure, but I
thought it was fear. She whipped her head back around.
    “Don’t worry about them,” she said quietly,
fidgeting with her pen.
    “I’m not,” I replied, a little offended that
she assumed I’d cared so much what those students thought about
me.
    I turned around to look at them. I’ve no
idea when Cal walked into the room, but I felt my face go instantly
hot. He grinned at me and waved. I placed my hand back over my
forehead and shrugged, rolling my eyes. He shrugged back, the
friendly gesture unnerving me. I didn’t want him to be so damn
nice, but wasn’t that the way of predators? If they came across
intimidating or frightening, they’d never have the opportunity to
attack.
    I turned back around. My forehead still
throbbed. “I’m Brooke, by the way,” I said, addressing the
girl.
    “Lucy.”
    “Nice to meet you.”
    Lucy smiled but said nothing. She was a
pretty, petite blonde with large hazel eyes. She reminded me of a
bird—small bones, fragile body. I thought she could stand to eat
more, but then maybe she ate like a horse and never packed on
weight. I watched her open her notebook when she heard the
classroom door open. The teacher entered, and I tried to pay
attention, though it was hard with Funeral Guy to my right and Cal
to my back. The idea of Cal sitting behind me, watching me when I
was powerless to move, really pissed me off. I’m sure he enjoyed
it. I’m sure he would enjoy all fifty-one minutes of it, and I
closed my eyes again, trying to conjure the field.
    ***
    I had to be at work in an hour, giving me
just enough time to do a little investigating.
    Lucy.
    Something didn’t sit right with me about
her, not because she seemed like a bad person, but because she
seemed genuinely frightened of Cal and his cronies in class this
morning. I wanted to know who she was. A tiny part of me suspected
the worst, but I didn’t want to jump to any conclusions. I wanted
my intuition to be wrong as I tore open Beth’s freshman yearbook
which her mother had given me.
    I found Lucy on the third
page—Homecoming—and she was the freshmen princess. I studied her.
She was posed in a wave, acknowledging the cheers erupting from the
stadium bleachers. She looked happy grasping her escort’s arm. I
flipped through several more pages before I spotted her on the
varsity cheerleading spread. There she was, smiling brightly,
suspended in the air in a cheerleading move called the Liberty. I
knew the move because I used to be tossed in the air to do the same
thing. Her form was perfect, and I felt a tiny bit of jealousy. It
was stupid, but it was there all the same.
    I continued scanning, finding her on a host
of other pages: yearbook club, chorus, volleyball. I froze when I
landed on the prom page. Lucy was there, dancing with Cal, his arms
wrapped tightly around her small waist, holding her protectively.
No, possessively. My mind started racing. Was Cal her date? Did he
take her home? Did he rape her before he took her home?
    I tore open Beth’s sophomore yearbook. I
scanned all the sports and social activities pages, but found no
pictures of Lucy. She was featured only on the sophomore class
spread. I stared at her picture, but I didn’t see anything in her
eyes or the way she smiled that evoked the happy, social freshman.
There was something empty about that smile, like she didn’t believe
it and didn’t expect anyone else to.
    I flipped through Beth’s junior yearbook. No
Lucy. Anywhere. Even her picture on the junior class spread was
missing, a “No Photo Available” in place of it.
    My heart clenched, and I wondered how I
could ache for a person I didn’t know. I suspected other victims,
but I didn’t want to discover them. It would complicate my plan. I
wanted justice