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happening.
    Because that was the last thing she needed. No way. No how.

4
    When they got home, Ryan’s mom convinced Justin to crash on the couch for a few hours. Ryan dragged her bones to bed. When her mom woke her up, she felt like she’d just lain down. It was time to get the two o’clock meeting over with so she could crash for a year or two.
    She wasn’t about to wait for the PC in the den like a sideshow freak. Instead, she sat halfway up the stairs. Justin sat next to her and Kelsey, Austin, and Mackenzie sat behind her. It was the perfect vantage point from which to see and hear everything happening in the den without being noticed.
    Mr. and Mrs. Brown and Macey were the first to arrive. Mrs. Brown handed Ryan’s backpack and purse to Ryan’s mom. Macey stood between her parents looking all confused and innocent. Ryan wanted to take a pad to her face—that’d take care of that look. Carle Davis and Katie McDonald showed with their moms. Christy Kaufman’s dad came with her. Jessica Stern didn’t show at all. At least the other girls had the decency to look scared.
    Jeez. Does Macey really think she’s going to get away with what she did?
    When her dad invited everybody to sit, Ryan’s stomach tightened. Her mom sat in a high-backed wing chair looking like a woman who did not want to be messed with.
    Her dad walked around the room and stopped in front of each of the girls. Even from where Ryan sat, she could feel his gaze bore into them as he asked one by one, “Do you know why you’re here?”
    They all said yes. Before he’d made it around the room, Katie McDonald spilled tears. After he asked each of the girls his question, he straightened and said, “We’re clear that the girls all know why they are here.” He paused and looked around the room again. “Your daughters assaulted Ryan and I’m here to tell you, something is going to be done about it or we will press charges.”
    Mrs. Brown smiled at Macey, sandwiched between her and her husband on the sofa. “Assault?”
    Macey managed to maintain that lying smile, but her eyes told the truth. She was scared shitless. “We didn’t mean anything. We were just having a little fun.”
    Heat rose in Ryan’s cheeks.
A little fun? Is that what you call nearly killing someone?
    Her dad stepped closer to the sofa. “You didn’t mean anything? Tell your parents what you did. Let them judge how much
fun
it was.”
    Carle sobbed. “She made us do it. It was all Macey’s fault.”
    Mrs. Brown’s lips twitched. “My daughter does not control anybody.”
    Mr. Kaufman leaned forward in his chair and steepled his fingers. “What exactly are you accusing the girls of doing?”
    Ryan waited for her dad to tell them, but he paused. Tension built in the room. He looked at the floor and cleared his throat before looking Mr. Kaufman in the eyes. “They held her down in the courthouse fountain and scrubbed her skin raw with scouring pads.”
    Mrs. Brown stood and faced Ryan’s dad. “Raw? Really, Tom, they were just having fun. We’ve all had club initiations. They didn’t intend to hurt anyone.” It was all Ryan could do to keep from running down the stairs. But her dad was handling it. Then Mrs. Brown turned toward her mom and worked her neck as though she were scolding her. “You should know that your daughter left the fountain with a boy. She left with Justin Hayes.”
    Ryan’s mom barely acknowledged the comment. “We’re hear to discuss the assault on my daughter.”
    Mrs. Brown huffed and looked down at Macey. “Did you assault Ryan?”
    “It was an initiation.”
    Mrs. Brown turned dramatically around the room. “See. There was no assault. Macey wouldn’t lie. Our family is built on God’s word.”
    Anger flooded Ryan. “That’s it.” She bolted downstairs. As soon as she entered the room, everybody stood. She strode up to Mrs. Brown and pulled the sleeves of her shirt up. She tilted her face toward her and said, “This is what they