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  “This is JD everyone. I invited him to share lunch with us.” Em smiled, a few others did also, while some scowled. She slid in next to Max.

  And the crickets began chirping. At least it seemed like that to Max. No one spoke to him, and those that did speak to each other used hushed tones as they glanced sideways at the invader. Max couldn’t remember ever feeling so unwanted before. He didn’t like it. He also sensed the feeling was all too familiar to JD.

  “Hey, how goes it Emmers?” Jeff plopped down onto the table top next to Em.

  “Hey, Jeff. You know JD, right?”

  “Yeah, we have PE together. How’s it goin,’ man?” Jeff smiled at Max, a real, genuine smile.

  Feelings of confusion and mistrust flooded Max. JD didn’t trust what was unfolding here at all. Before he could respond to Jeff, a loud whack cut the air. Max turned to see Leo, eyes enraged, his books now scattered across the table.

  “What the freak is he doing here?” Without waiting for an answer he continued in his outrage. “You’re not welcome here, Ten, got it? So get the—”

  “I invited him,” Em interrupted Leo’s rant. “He’s my friend. So if you can’t be nice, you’ll have to sit somewhere else.”

  “You’re kidding, right?” Leo glared at Emma as if she’d lost her mind. “Max is dead, or have you already forgotten about him? In fact, the way I hear it, old Jeff’s been at your beck and call day and night, offering you all kinds of comfort.”

  Max jumped up to punch Leo; Jeff got there first. Jeff’s fist landed squarely on Leo’s jaw, sending him sprawling onto his back. Lisa jumped to his side. Lisa. Max had no doubt that she was Leo’s source of information regarding Jeff and Em. The girl loved to cause trouble, especially for Em.

  Before any more punches could be thrown, Mrs. Volkel, wearing a disgusting orange suit, walked over to Leo. “This has all the markings of a fight.” She glanced around as Leo stood, waiting for a response to her statement. Lisa opened her mouth to say something, but Leo nudged her arm.

  “Nope. Just tripped.” Leo tucked his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

  “Hmm, is that right, Mr. Leonardo?” Mrs. Volkel folder her arms. “You’d better go see the nurse about that bruised jaw. It’s going to need some ice.” She turned to the crowd that had now gathered. “So, whose hand do you think needs ice, Leo?” she asked, clearly fishing for the one who’d punched him.

  “I told you, I fell.” Leo and Lisa left, heading for the nurse’s office. Mrs. Volkel shook her head and went inside the cafeteria as Emma’s tears streaked down her face.

  Jeff stepped toward her, but she took off for the bathroom. Several of the girls followed. Max quietly slipped his backpack up onto his shoulder as JD lectured himself. I told you so, you big stupid cow. I should have eaten alone.

  Max avoided his old friends the rest of the day. After school, he stopped by his locker before heading to the bus. Leo appeared out of nowhere.

  “Listen up, Lumpy. I don’t care who caused the accident. I care that my best friend and his family are dead and you’re not.” Spit flew out of Leo’s mouth as he spoke, hitting Max in the face. “Max is worth ten of you. You’re nothing but a fat lump. I’ll never understand why you were spared and not him. It sickens me. Got it?”

  Max thought to argue with him and point out how rude his words were, but the sorrow that haunted Leo’s eye was too much. He loved Leo like a brother. They’d been friends forever. Max could only imagine his pain.

  He nodded, saying nothing. Leo shook his head in disgust and turned to leave. “Oh, and one more thing, I’m not joining Emma’s little ‘Everyone befriend JD’ game either. I know she thinks that’s what Max would have wanted. But I just don’t freakin’ care.”

  Max wiped his eyes as he watched his oldest and dearest friend stomp across the parking lot toward his vintage 1950’s pickup. Lisa stood there next to it, arms folded, waiting for him. The love and devotions Max’s friends had for him touched him. It also angered him that he’d no longer be around them, laughing, joking, and just plain having fun. But a larger part of him felt terrible that JD had to pay for something that wasn’t his fault.

  Chapter 14

  “Where were you? I waited for twenty minutes.” Izzy’s eyes welled with tears.

  Max felt terrible. So caught up in the idea of eating lunch with Em, he’d forgotten their lunch plans. “Emma McKay invited me to sit with her and her friends today. I think she wants to be my friend.” Max settled into the front row of the bus, but Izzy headed for the back. “Izzy, please don’t be mad. I’m really sorry.”

  Izzy turned back and, with an angry shake of her head, came over next to him and plopped down hard, snapping her arms across her stomach.

  “Are you going to speak to me again, or do I have to cut out my tongue and offer it up as a sacrifice?” He’d used the line on Em whenever they had an argument and she always smiled. But not Izzy.

  “How about I cut it out for you?” she snapped. Max didn’t speak to her again until they got off the bus.

  “C’mon, Izzy. I really am sorry.” He tugged playfully on her backpack.

  “Move out of the way, Lumpy.” Greg gave Max a shove from behind, sending him sprawling onto his hands and knees. Max noted that he didn’t shove him until the bus pulled away. Greg and another kid Max didn’t know laughed and footed away.

  Izzy stomped back over and helped him up. “Come on. My dad’s not home. We can watch a movie or something.” Max brushed the gravel embedded in his palms off. Not knowing where Izzy lived, Max followed slightly behind her.

  Only after she rounded the corner did he realize where they were. He lived, or used to live, three streets over from where they were. Izzy crossed a well-manicured lawn and walked to the garage. Izzy was rich. Well, maybe not rich, but her family certainly didn’t hurt for money. She punched the code into the keypad and they went inside. The door leading into the house was unlocked. She went in, Max followed. She carefully placed her backpack on a hook by the back door, and removed Max’s from his back and did the same to his. She took off her shoes and put on a pair of slippers that sat by the door.

  “You can wear my dad’s slippers again. He’ll never know.” Max watched a wicked grin cross her face. Clearly she liked the idea of deceiving her father. Max took off his shoes and put on the slippers. They were too small, pinching his toes as he walked.

  “Hungry?” she asked, leading them into a large, pristine kitchen. White cabinets, white counter tops, even the appliances glowed white. It reminded him of the white rooms of the holding cells he’d been in after the accident. She opened a cupboard and grabbed a box of Oreos, setting them on the counter, but didn’t take any. Max grabbed a handful of the chocolate cookies. They were his favorite. JD’s mom always bought the knock off brand from Wal-Mart, but these were the real deal. He popped one into his mouth and groaned. As he bit into a second one, he realized, I think I like the knockoff ones better. But he wasn’t a fool. The knockoff may have been marginally better, but these were still terrific. He slipped another one into his mouth as Izzy laughed, setting a glass of milk down in front of him on the counter.

  “Aren’t you going to have any?” he asked, downing the milk.

  “Ha-ha. You know I can’t have chocolate. Or milk.” She shook her head as if he were dumber than a stick.

  Max put the last of his cookies back in the package. Crohns. He’d forgotten all about her Crohns. He felt like a jerk for inhaling Oreos in front of her. “What can you eat?”

  “Not much anymore. Bread’s not so bad, as long as it’s not whole wheat. Ground beef and rice are okay, too,” she explained, pulling a loaf of bread from the pantry. “I eat a lot of jelly sandwiches nowadays.”

  As she made the boring sandwich, Max noted how pale she’d grown in just the past week. The bones of her wrists protruded sharply and her translucent, blanched skin looked even waxier. He stood in silence as she sat at the bar, devouring the sandwich. It broke his heart to watch.
She was literally starving to death.

  “I’m guessing the doctors haven’t helped you get your Crohns under control?” he asked, sitting on a bar stool next to her.

  “Nope. But if you listen to my mom it’s because I’m faking it.” Izzy went to the sink and poured herself a tall glass of water and sat back down next to him.

  “If I could change anything in my life, well, besides having Crohns, and of course, my father molesting me, it would be the lies I used to tell.” She shook her head. “Never thought I’d pay for those for the rest of my life.”

  “What?” Shock ran through Max at her words. Her father molested her? Why didn’t someone do something? Did JD know? Where was her mother? Queasy, he leaned against the counter.

  “Let me guess, you can’t remember, right?” She shook her head. “I’ll be glad when you get your memory back, JD. I’m feeling pretty lonely nowadays.”

  “I’m sorry,” Max said quietly.

  “It’s okay.” She patted his arm. “I’ll give you the short version of my days as a liar and see if we can spark those memories.

  “When I turned thirteen, I started getting these painful stomachaches. My mom who, as you know, is not the loving doter like some moms . . . You remember my mom, right?” The painful expression on her face that JD might not remember even the basic things in her life left him feeling like he had no option. He nodded. Her sigh of relief assured him he’d made the right choice.

  “Anyway, my mom turned into June Cleaver, you know what I mean? She got all loving and sweet. She made me peppermint tea and she watched DVD’s with me.” Izzy grabbed another slice of bread and ate it dry as she continued.

  “It was nice. Instead of going off with her friends to play tennis, or luncheons with a bunch of stuffed shirts, she spent time with me. Only it didn’t last. After two weeks, the pains stopped as mysteriously as they came, and she went back to her friends.

  “I started lying, telling her I was still in pain, hoping she’d pay attention to me again. Eventually, the doctor told her there was nothing wrong with me that a good shrink couldn’t fix. When I really did get sick with Crohns, she didn’t believe me, neither did the shrink, at first, anyway.

  “And when my dad started molesting me a year-and-a-half ago, they both accused me of lying again. She and my dad were having marital problems at the time and when they got divorced six months later, she took my sister and moved to California. My mom said she couldn’t deal with my neediness, so she left me here.” Izzy shrugged a shoulder. Max could see the pain on her pale features. “That’s my life in a nutshell. Did it spark your memory at all?”

  Max reluctantly shook his head. “Izzy, no one believes you about your dad?” Max struggled to understand.

  “When my mom didn’t believe me, I sort of shut down, you know. After your own mother tells you she doesn’t want you around because you’re too needy, it does something to you, JD.” She turned to face him. “Besides, the kids at school already think I’m a freak. I certainly didn’t want to be known as the freak whose father is a pervert, too.

  “The code: Trust only each other, ‘cuz no one else cares. You came up with the idea when one of your mom’s lovers tried to molest you when you were fourteen. Remember? You told her how her boyfriend Eddy asked you to take a shower with him while she was at work. And what did she say?” Izzy tossed her hands in the air, mimicking his mother’s voice, “‘You misunderstood what he was saying, sweetie.’” Izzy stood and jerked the bread off the counter and shoved it forcefully back into the pantry, misshaping the loaf. “Yeah, right. Tell me, JD, what exactly did she think he meant?”

  Max stared at her, trying to take in everything she’d told him. This whole situation was nuts. Her father needed to be arrested. And JD’s mother. What was wrong with that woman?

  “Izzy, you need to tell someone. I was wrong about the stupid code. You need—”

  “Wrong? JD, what happened when you told the principal about the guys who beat you up after school in seventh grade?” She glared at him incredulously before proceeding to answer her own question. “They got two more guys to join them and they beat you up again. It didn’t stop them. Remember in tenth grade during gym class when Nate and Jared shoved you under the bleachers and tried to close them on you? They were suspended and you mysteriously showed up at school two days later with a broken arm. I’m the only one who knows it was Nate that broke it.”

  Max’s mind reeled the longer she talked. How did these two function? It was pathetic what had been going on and yet no one helped? They’ve lived an entire lifetime in just seventeen years. “Maybe we’re not asking the right people, Izzy.”

  Frustrated, she tossed her head back and let out a rush of air. “Who, JD, are the right people? Because I haven’t found any yet.”

  Emma. She’d help. Before the accident changed everything, wasn’t it her plan to befriend JD and Izzy? But lunch had been a disaster. Maybe she’d give up now.

  No, not Em. Quitting was not in her dictionary.

  “Emma McKay has been really nice lately. And Jeff Morgan from the baseball team apologized for hitting me in the face with the basketball,” Max pointed out.

  “Emma McKay? JD, you killed her boyfriend and his family. She’s probably pretending to be your friend so she can set you up for some horrible payback.”

  Max’s head started aching as, yet again, JD tried to remember what happened that night. Izzy’s accusation hurt JD, and Max felt bad for his new friend. “I didn’t kill them. Max’s dad hit a deer and he veered off the road before hitting a sign that flipped the car. Emma’s the one that told me about the report.

  “I’m just saying that maybe I’m wrong about the whole keeping to the code thingy. There are good people, people like Em, who want to be our friend. I know she’d help us. Her dad’s a cop. Maybe you could talk to him about what your dad’s been doing to you.”

  “My father’s a lawyer, JD. He knows all the tricks. After I told my mom about him, he said I wouldn’t stand a chance against him so I’d better just keep my mouth shut.” She leaned against the counter and crossed her arms. Max got the impression she wasn’t feeling so good. “Actually, he hasn’t touched me since he started dating his new legal assistant, Wanda, six months ago. Thankfully, she keeps him occupied.” She smiled weakly. “It’s almost over, anyways. Soon no one will hurt us again.”

  Max shook his head, confused. How could he possibly get through to her? She and JD were a lethal combination with their doom and gloom philosophy, yet they were all the other had.

  “So let me guess. Now that you and Em are BFF’s, you want nothing to do with the pact?” she asked, rubbing her lower abdomen.

  The pact. Max had completely forgotten about the pact. However, before he could press her about it, JD directed his thoughts to something else. Izzy was in pain. “What’s wrong?” Max hurried to her side.

  “Pain. What’s always wrong?” She grimaced, bending over slightly.

  “I think you should lie down.” He slipped his arm around her waist and guided her to the couch he’d seen when he first came in. Izzy immediately collapsed onto it, groaning slightly. Max tugged a white throw from the corner of the couch and draped it over her.

  “Thanks, JD. You always take such good care of me.” She smiled and touched his cheek.

  “Do you want something for the pain? Aspirin, ibuprofen?” he asked, tucking the blanket around her legs.

  “No. The only thing that helps is the Percs. And I’m saving those for the pact.” She grimaced, rubbing harder on her stomach.

  “Okay, Izzy. Don’t get mad, but,” Max took a deep breath, “remind me about the pact.”

  Izzy exploded. “JD! Are you serious?” She crawled off the couch, the throw tumbling to the floor. “Are you sure you don’t have brain damage from that stupid accident?” Before Max could react, she doubled over in pain. “Why is this happening to me? Now I can’t even eat jelly sandwiches?”

  Max stooped down next to her, shoc
ked to see beads of sweat forming on her forehead. “Pact or no pact, Izzy, you have to take a pain pill.”

  She nodded, making a bee-line for the bathroom. Max went into the kitchen and wiped down the counters from lunch to allow her more privacy in the bathroom. He remembered when his aunt had her episodes, his mom would shoo everyone away from the bathroom so as not to embarrass her. Izzy returned looking exhausted and paler than usual as he finished sweeping the floor.

  “Thanks. I really don’t have the energy to clean this up and you know how fussy my dad is.” She slowly lowered herself onto the bar stool she’d sat on during lunch.

  “Please take some pain meds, Izzy.” Max filled a glass with ice water and set it in front of her.

  “I did. I haven’t been this bad in months.” With a shaky hand, she took a long draw of the water. “I’m sorry for yelling at you, JD. You know how I get when the pains kick in.”

  “No harm, no foul.”

  “Yes, it is harm. You’re my best friend. We are all we have. We must stick together.” She feebly held up her index finger. Max reluctantly wrapped his around hers.

  “Keep to the code,” they both said, though Max’s voice was barely audible. He decided now wasn’t the time to argue with her over the stupid code.

  “Okay, the pact.” Izzy leaned back in the stool, still looking like the living dead.

  “No. Not today. You need to rest, and I should be going.” Max removed the slippers and put his shoes back on. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Izzy opened the door for him. Max looked at her again. “I really want to talk about the pact, Izzy. Maybe tomorrow at lunch?” She nodded soberly as he stepped off the porch. “Get some rest.”

  Chapter 15

  Max strode down the curved driveway of Izzy’s house, but instead of turning left toward JD’s, he turned right.