Side Effects May Vary

Harvey came over to my side and opened the door. “Come on,” he said. “Let me take you home. Maybe we’ll start watching a few of those movies Dennis gave me.”

He helped me out of the car and walked me to the passenger side.

“Thank you, Harvey,” I said.

“For what?”

I sat down, taking a deep breath. “For always saying yes.”

Harvey. Now.

The last day before spring break was always torture. It was even worse than the last day of school because teachers were still trying to teach. Thankfully, though, today was a half day. But that still didn’t change the fact that I was fourteen minutes into second period and my ass was already falling asleep.

Last night, I’d gone to Debora’s house to help get stuff ready for the senior luau put on by the student council every year before spring break. After making a few signs, we ran out for caffeine and that’s when I saw Alice and Eric. I thought that having a girlfriend would soften the blow of Alice not choosing me, but it didn’t work like that. Debora was great; she just wasn’t Alice. Mr. Ramirez droned on about the meaning of “full faith and credit,” putting all of us to sleep. I watched the door, ready for the bell to ring so I could escape. Dennis’s head bobbed in the window. He motioned for me and mouthed, Now.

I shrugged my shoulders.

Not kidding, mouthed Dennis, his eyes wide and his face manic.

I raised my hand.

“Something to add to the conversation, Mr. Poppovicci?”

I hated my last name. “No, sir. I need to go to the restroom.”

Ramirez thought for a moment, then held out the hall pass. “Make it quick.”

I took my backpack and ducked out the door with the hall pass in hand.

Dennis waited for me a few feet down, out of breath.

I stuffed the hall pass into my back pocket. “Dennis, what’s going on?”

“They—” He shook his head and waved his hands around, searching for words. “Outside the gym there’s this—damn it, just come with me.”

I followed him and we cut through the auditorium to the other side of the school.

“I wish you would stop and tell me what you pulled me out of class for.”

Dennis didn’t stop walking. “It’s hard to explain.” He was acting weird. Like, weird for Dennis.

“Well, try. Now,” I said.

He rubbed his hands down his face and groaned. “They made some kind of, like, shrine to Alice, like a memorial.”

I froze. “Wait. What?”

“It’s fucked up, man,” he said, his nostrils flaring, his eyes wide.

I couldn’t connect the dots. “What do you mean a memorial? Who’s they?”

“Like the type of memorial they would have given if she had, you know, died. Candles and pictures. The type of stuff you see on TV, but worse. And I don’t know who they are, but I have three people in mind.”

I stuffed my hands into my pockets to stop them from shaking. “Shit. What—”

“I couldn’t find her,” said Debora bursting through the main entrance at the top of the aisle.

I turned to Dennis. “You sent Debora after Alice?” I whispered. “Do you have dementia?”

“I had to get you out of class. I saw her in the hallway. Game-time decision,” he said, his hands held up in defense.

“Okay. Okay. Let’s go.” I turned to find Debora behind me. She nodded, her lips pressed in a thin line.

We ran out of the auditorium and into the athletics wing, trophy cases lining the walls. Dennis ran ahead, and I followed him to the farthest end of the hallway where all the old, dusty, sun-stained trophy cases sat untouched.

We stopped in front of the last case. Every surface was covered in cloth. Old, dying flowers had been thrown across the surface. There were candles; those idiots could have started a fire. And pictures of Alice. Her eyes had been crossed out and things like bitch or whore had been written across each print.

I shook my head. “No,” I said. This was too cruel. And low. My stomach twisted. I was horrified by the possibility that anyone could even be capable of something like this. This was wrong. Even by Alice’s standards.

Part of me wanted to let Alice see this and feel this, like maybe she needed to. But the other part of me—the bigger part of me—wanted to fix it all for her. And maybe if I fixed this, I could fix us.

“So sick.” My voice peaked on the word sick. “It’s just sick. I can’t believe Luke and Celeste would do this. I mean, I can, b-but . . .” My voice trailed off. I might have been mad at Alice, but I couldn’t let her see this. There was no question.

“Those assholes,” gasped Debora.

I looked at her, a little shocked. I’d never heard her swear before. It sounded awkward, almost.

“I searched everywhere,” she said, “but I couldn’t find her.”

“What do I do?” I asked. She would know what to do. She always knew what to do.

“Nothing. We get a teacher,” she said, like it was so obvious.

“No,” I said. “No. We can’t do that. If we get a teacher, then the administration will find out, and they’ll call Bernie and Martin and then Alice would really freak out.”

“Harvey, not only is getting a teacher the right thing to do, but I don’t know how else we’d get this case cleaned out. It’s locked.”