Anne Frank and Me (24 page)

The state museum. An exhibition about Anne Frank. Doom with a gun. Gunshots. Terror. Panic. Bodies crushing bodies. Bodies falling. Mimi. Oh, God, Mimi—

“Nicol”

Suddenly, Mimi was flying toward her. Nicole hugged her. “I had to wait forever for the paramedics to tell me I'm fine, which I could have told them but no one would listen to me,” Mimi reported. “Are you okay?”

“Miss Baker, good to see you in one piece,” Ms. Zooms said. “Can I count on you to stay here with Miss Burns until the paramedic comes back?”

“Absolutely.”

“If Miss Burns' condition changes, scream.” Ms. Zooms gave Mimi one last look for emphasis, then hustled off.

“What happened, Mimi? The last thing I remember, we were in a crush trying to get out—”

“I hyperventilated and we fell into this mosh pit. You got slammed into the door—
bam!
You were out cold. God, it was scary. I managed to drag you out of there.”

“Thanks.”

“Anytime.”

Whup-whup.
Nicole looked up. Another helicopter, this one bearing the logo of an all-news cable network, joined the three in the skies above them.

“It's like we're in a movie,” Mimi said.

“Only we're not. It's real.” Nicole's head pounded. “How many people did Doom get?”

“I don't know.”

“Did they catch him?”

Mimi cocked her chin toward a paddy wagon surrounded by a sea of blue uniforms. “In there.”

“How does a person get that twisted?” Nicole wondered.

Mimi shrugged. “Who knows. How's your head?”

“I plan to live.”

Mimi looked at her quizzically. “Odd thing to say, but good to know”

Sam the paramedic loped back over to them. “Hey, how ya doing, Nicole? Double vision? Vomiting? Fainting?”

“None of the above.”

“Great. We're kinda shorthanded. Think we can get you into an ambulance under your own steam?”

“Sure.” Sam and Mimi helped Nicole up. For a moment she felt dizzy, but it passed. They guided her toward an ambulance as Mr. Urkin's amplified voice reverberated through the air.

“All West students not receiving medical attention are to line up by class in front of the Assembly building for a head count. Immediately.”

“That means me,” Mimi said. “I'll come to the hospital as soon as they let me.”

Nicole hugged her again. “I'm so glad you're okay.”

“Right back at‘cha.” Mimi headed for the Assembly building. Nicole saw Suzanne catch up with her, Jack at her side.

It came back to her like a sucker punch to the gut. Jack. The bus ride. He'd saved her a seat. Put his arm around her.

“Hey, you're looking a little green around the gills all of a sudden,” Sam said. “You okay?”

No. Nothing was okay. She nodded anyway, and he helped her into the ambulance.

“Mom, I'm fine,” Nicole insisted. “Can't we just go home?”

“Soon, sweetie.” She trotted along as a hospital orderly rolled Nicole into an antiseptic-looking room at Memorial Hospital. “It's just for observation.”

“Did you hear any news while you were waiting in the ER? Did anyone die?”

“I don't know. Everyone was saying it was that Hayden boy. How did he just slip through the system?”

“You need help getting into the bed?” the orderly asked Nicole.

“No, thanks. I don't even need to be here.” Nicole climbed off the gurney and got onto the bed. She eyed the TV bolted to the wall. “I've got to know what's going on. Can we turn it on?”

The orderly shook his head. “Not without a requisition.”

“Who do I have to see to do that?” Mrs. Burns asked.

“Accounting.” He hesitated. “I'm not supposed to do this, but ...” He went to the TV, punched a code into the cable box, and clicked on the power.

“Thanks.” Nicole's eyes were already glued to the screen as he wheeled the gurney out of the room. An aerial view of the state capital government plaza, still a mass of emergency vehicles, filled the screen, with the word LIVE superimposed on it.

“Recapping our top story,” said the news announcer. “At a traveling exhibit called
Anne Frank in the World,
gunfire evidently erupted while the state museum was filled with high school students. It has been confirmed that some students have been taken by ambulance to local hospitals. A male juvenile is reportedly being held by police as the suspect.”

The newscaster narrated as taped footage was shown. It was surreal. Nicole saw people she knew outside the museum, hugging and crying. At any moment, she expected to see the aerial camera zooming in on herself.

“We have a new development,” the anchorwoman cut in. “We're going live to a press conference being held by Chief of Police Shanika Brown, and the head of security for the
Anne Frank in the World
exhibition, Moshe Ben-Ami.”

The cameras cut to the steps of the museum. A crowd of reporters shouted questions.

“Chief Brown, how many dead?”

“Was this an anti-Semitic hate crime?”

“Any truth that foreign terrorists might be involved?”

Chief Brown, a petite African American woman, stepped to the mike. “I have a brief prepared statement.” She waited for the crowd to quiet, then began to read from a note card. “Today, students at the state museum were the victims of a cruel and dangerous prank. No weapons were involved, and fortunately, no one died.”

“What?” Nicole yelped. “There were shots, I heard them!”

“This morning, at approximately nine-forty-five, three students from East High School threw lit firecrackers at students from West High School. In the resulting panic, two dozen students were injured. Fifteen were treated and released at the scene, eight are hospitalized in satisfactory condition, and one student is still in surgery with a compound fracture to his right leg. Police have released a student who had been detained on suspicion of having used a weapon. I give you now Moshe Ben-Ami, chief of security for the exhibition.”

“It wasn't Doom,” Nicole said, dazed. “We were all so sure.”

On TV, a burly man stepped to the microphone. “I am Moshe Ben-Ami,” he said with a slight accent. “First let me assure you that our excellent security precluded a gun from ever entering the museum. Moreover, the entire exhibition is under video surveillance, so we were able to review the tapes and quickly identify the perpetrators. Chief Brown has informed me that they are now under arrest. Thank you.”

Chief Brown came forward to take the barrage of questions that followed. “Amazing.” Mrs. Burns clicked off the TV. “You should rest now, sweetie.”

Nicole slumped back against her pillows. One thought kept playing in her mind: Doom hadn't done anything wrong at all.

thirty-seven

Nicole? Nicole?”

Nicole opened her eyes. Little Bit stood by her bedside, looking down at her. “Why are people always calling my name?” Nicole said groggily. “What time is it?”

“Eight. Are you okay?”

“You woke me to ask if I'm okay?”

“Mom said we need to keep an eye on you in case your brain got damaged yesterday, though personally I don't think it was in such great shape before.”

“I'm going back to sleep.” She rolled over and snuggled into the pillow

“Want to know what I heard on the news just now?”

“No.”

“They released the boy with the broken leg from the hospital,” Little Bit reported. “Want to know what else?”

Nicole groaned.

“They're playing the football game. The mayor said it's important to show the world our town's spirit and it's not fair to punish everyone for what just a few kids did.”

“ ‘This is Little Bit Burns, signing off,' ” Nicole concluded for her sister.

“It's Elizabeth.”

“Lemme sleep.” Nicole pulled the blanket up to her chin and nuzzled into her pillow again. But sleep would not come. She kept seeing images from the day before in her mind: the crush of bodies, the panic, the chaos. She opened her eyes. Little Bit was at her dresser, trying on one of her bracelets. “What do you think you're doing?”

“Nothing.” Red-faced, Little Bit took it off quickly

“How many times have I told you not to touch my stuff?”

“Hey, you two.” Mrs. Burns walked in, dressed for work. “How are you feeling, sweetie?”

“Ready to become an only child,” Nicole replied.

Her mom smiled. “Feeling fine, then? No dizziness, headache, nausea?”

Nicole sat up. “I'm fine, Mom. Really.”

“Good. Because you've got a visitor for breakfast.”

Mimi appeared in the doorway, a loaded breakfast tray in her hands.
“Excusez-moi,
but is Sarah Bernhardt hungry?” She set the tray on Nicole's nightstand.

“Who's Sarah Bernhardt?” Little Bit asked.

“She was a French actress,” Mrs. Burns began, “who was famous for being so—”

“Dramatic,” Nicole finished. “A theater in Paris was named after her, but the Nazis changed its name during the war because she was Jewish.”

“What war?” Little Bit asked.

“World War Two,” Mrs. Burns replied, regarding her eldest quizzically. “How did you know that, sweetie?”

Nicole shrugged.

“Maybe by mistake she actually listened in French class one day,” Little Bit theorized. “Mom, can you give me and Britnee a ride to the game this afternoon?”

“I'm showing a house. But come downstairs and we'll discuss it with your father.” Mrs. Burns' cell phone rang just as she ushered Little Bit out of the room.

Mimi sat on Nicole's bed and pulled her legs into a lotus position. “So, Nico, how are you feeling? Really.”

“Decent.” Nicole pulled a pillow onto her lap. “Yesterday feels like some parallel universe, though. I can't get over that Doom didn't do anything.”

“Me, neither.” Mimi reached for an orange section on Nicole's breakfast tray and popped it into her mouth. “We all just assumed—”

“That was so messed up, Meem. We should apologize to im.”

“Yeah. If he'll even speak to us. So, are you up for telling me about Jack?”

When Nicole finished explaining what had happened on the bus, Mimi just sat there, staring into space.

“I say we put me up against the wall and shoot me,” Mimi finally said

“Because—”

“It's my fault. I was so sure he was into you.”

“It's okay, Meem. Jack isn't important.”

“Excuse me. Did Girl X just say
J
isn't important?”

“Weird, I know.” Nicole searched for the hurt she'd felt when Jack had told her he was crazy about Suzanne. But it was like wiggling her tongue in the hole where her wisdom tooth had been before it had been pulled. She knew she'd been in the worst pain, but now that it was gone, it was hard to remember.

“So, does Jack know how you felt about him?” Mimi asked.

“Not unless you told him. And you didn't.”

Mimi cringed. “Well, at the museum yesterday I might have said something vacuous like, ‘You and Nicole make a cute couple.' ”

Nicole groaned.

“I'm sorry, Nico.” Mimi twisted a finger into the love beads she wore. “Okay, there is only one viable course of action.”

Nicole gave her a dubious look. “Which is?”

“We go to the football game,” Mimi decreed. “You see Jack, Jack sees you, you act like he's just some guy, no biggie. Fade to black. It's the sure path to damage control. Trust me.”