The Stepsister (13 page)

“I know she did.”

“But you have no proof,” Nancy said.

“Proof?” Emily jerked her hand out of Nancy's. “What proof do I need? My dead body?”

Emily realized she shouldn't be yelling at her sister. “I'm sorry. I guess I'm more upset than I thought. I
mean, I almost
died
in there, Nancy. Jessie almost got her wish.”

Nancy didn't say anything. She stared down at the steering wheel, seemingly lost in thought.

“You do believe me, don't you?” Emily asked. “About Jessie?”

Nancy thought for a long moment. Then she turned to her sister. “Yes. Yes, I do. From what you told me about Jessie's diary, and from the little bit that Mom let slip about her, I think Jessie is definitely dangerous. I believe you, Em.”

“So what are we going to do?” Emily asked.

“I'm going to help you get the proof you need so we can convince Mom and Hugh,” Nancy said.

“You mean—”

“From now on, I'm going to keep my eye on Jessie. I'm going to make it my business to know every move Jessie makes. I'm going to stick to her like glue. I want you to just lay off, to just cool it. Just avoid her as much as you can. Let me handle this.”

“But, Nancy—”

“She hasn't given me any trouble—right? So she won't suspect that I'm going to be the one to expose her. When I have the proof we need, then you and I will sit down quietly with Mom and Hugh and tell them everything.”

Emily leaned her head back against the car seat. She still felt trembly all over. But she also felt relieved that Nancy believed her, that Nancy was going to help her.

“Come on. Let's go inside.” Nancy pushed open the door and climbed out of the car. She came around to the other side and held the door open for Emily.
“How do you feel?” She helped Emily up from the low car seat.

“Better. Really. You don't have to help me up. I'm just a little jumpy, that's all.”

Nancy took her arm and led her up the flagstone walk to the front door. “It's not going to be easy,” Emily said, surprised at how dizzy she still felt.

“What isn't?”

“Convincing Mom and Hugh that their golden girl has been trying to kill me.”

“Just let me worry about that,” Nancy said, unlocking the door and following Emily into the house. She was about to go make Emily some hot tea when the door burst open and Jessie came rushing in.

“Emily—I heard what happened!” Jessie cried, her face filled with emotion. She lunged across the room and threw her arms around Emily, drawing her into a tight hug. “Oh, Emily—are you okay? Are you okay?”

She pressed her face against Emily's and wouldn't let go. Her face was burning hot.

“Oh, let's be friends—okay?” Jessie cried, her arms still around Emily. “Let's start all over again. Okay? Please?”

Emily was too shaken to speak.

Despite the heat radiating off Jessie, Jessie's impassioned hug made Emily feel cold all over.

Colder than she had ever felt.

Struggling to free herself from Jessie's emotional grip, Emily realized that she had never been so afraid in her life.

Rocking
—
and Rolling

N
ancy lifted her foot off the brake and eased the car forward a few feet, then quickly braked again. “We'll never get there,” Emily whined. “The concert will be over, and we'll still be trying to get into the parking lot.”

“I can't even see Vets Auditorium from here!” Jessie complained.

“Give me a break,” Nancy said softly, waiting for the car in front of her to move. “We still have half an hour. That should be enough time. Besides, there's always a warm-up band.”

“But the warm-up band is the Deltoids,” Emily said, rolling down her window and trying to get some fresh air, but inhaling only car exhaust fumes. “Kathy saw them at a little club the last time they were in Waynesbridge, and she said they were awesome.”

“Awesome?” Jessie laughed. “Emily, I never knew you to be such a
teenager
!”

Emily didn't return the laugh. And she didn't turn around to acknowledge her stepsister's presence in the back seat.

Ever since the fire, Jessie had been extra nice to Emily. Much
too
nice, in Emily's opinion. She didn't want Jessie helping out with her chores and offering to run errands for her.

She wanted Jessie to leave her alone.

Emily knew that Jessie had tried to kill her. She was just waiting until Nancy had gotten the proof they needed. Then they would show Hugh and her mother. Then they would make sure that Jessie got the treatment she needed. And make sure that Jessie was safely out of Emily's life.

In the meantime Emily had been trying to stay as far away from Jessie as possible. Having to share the same car with her made Emily very nervous.

She hadn't wanted Jessie to come to the rock concert with them. Emily had three tickets to the huge auditorium in Waynesbridge, the next town. One for herself, one for Nancy, and one for Josh. But at the last minute, Josh had had to help out at his father's store.

“Who should I invite?” Emily had asked Nancy. She didn't know that Jessie was eavesdropping.

“Oh, please, please, please,” Jessie started to beg. “Let me come with you. I'll even pay you for the ticket.”

Emily looked at Nancy, as if to say, Get me out of this fix. I don't want to give the ticket to Jessie.

Nancy just shrugged.

Jessie pleaded some more.

Emily was about to tell Jessie “no way” when her mother entered the room. “Why is Jessie down on her knees begging like that?” she asked.

Emily had to tell her. “Well, of
course
Jessie can go,” Mrs. Wallner said, oblivious to the looks Emily was giving her.

Jessie jumped up and down happily.

“Of course,” Emily said, trying to sound gracious about it, even though she was furious. The concert was ruined for her. Maybe I'll just get sick and skip it, she thought.

Why couldn't her mother mind her own business? And why was she always sticking up for Jessie, always on Jessie's side? Was she really blind to everything that Jessie was doing?

The answer to that question, Emily knew, was yes.

So here they were, just outside the Vets Auditorium parking lot on a Saturday night, creeping forward an inch at a time, nervously glancing at their watches, wondering if they'd get inside before the concert started.

“Oh, turn up the radio. I love this song!” Jessie cried, leaning over into the front, trying to reach the radio.

“Ugh.” Nancy made a face. “How can you listen to that? He has such a whiny voice. He sings everything through his nose.”

“I think that's sexy,” Jessie said.

Nancy turned up the radio until the car windows vibrated. At least it drowns out all the honking horns, Emily thought.

A white Honda Civic roared past them, at least six
boys crammed in like sardines. “Where do they think they're going? They're trying to ditch ahead of everyone,” Nancy said angrily.

“No one will let them back in line,” Jessie said. “Did you see the driver? He was kinda cute.”

“
Now
who's being the teenager?” Emily said, laughing.

“Well, I
am
a teenager,” Jessie replied. “What's wrong with acting like one?”

“Hey—we're moving now!” Nancy exclaimed. She eased the car forward two entire car lengths.

“Only twenty minutes until eight,” Jessie said, looking at her watch for the two thousandth time.

“They never start on time,” Emily said.

They pulled the car into a parking place at about eight-fifteen. It was a warm, windless night, so they pulled off their down jackets and locked them in the car. Then all three of them went tearing at full speed in their jeans and sweatshirts across the vast, nearly filled parking lot.

“I don't hear any music,” Jessie said as they crowded through the enormous marble lobby of the old theater and made their way up to the row of ticket-takers at the theater entrance.

“It probably won't start for another hour,” Nancy said, shouting over the laughter and loud voices. “These bands never show up on time. And then they warm up for two hours.”

The uniformed ticket-taker, a thin-faced young man with a complexion that resembled the surface of the moon, reached a hand up to Emily for the tickets, but his gaze was toward the parking lot. “You're about the
last ones,” he said, shaking his head. He tore the three tickets in half, then glanced down at them. “Stairway to your left. All the way to the top.”

“Top?” Emily repeated, looking at her stubs.

“Yeah. You're way up on top. Hope you don't get a nosebleed!” he said, and laughed a high-pitched laugh, as if he'd never made that joke before.

Emily followed Nancy and Jessie into the auditorium and looked to the stage. The lights were up, but the stage was bare, except for a few roadies in jeans and T-shirts, scrambling about, fiddling with the microphones and giant amps.

“Good. We haven't missed anything,” Emily said.

“Told you,” Nancy called back. She stopped at the bottom step to the balcony and looked up. It looked like a steep, dark, concrete mountain.

“That guy wasn't kidding about nosebleeds!” Jessie complained.

They started up the stairs. It actually feels good to climb after being cooped up in the car, Emily thought.

A short while later they stepped out into the balcony and looked around. The steep aisle was empty. Everyone was seated, waiting for the show to start. “We still have more to climb,” Jessie said, pointing up. They had come out in the middle of the top balcony. A narrow stairway led up to the top seats.

“Finally!” Jessie cried, out of breath, when they found their row and slid into their seats. “Hey, look—I can almost see the stage from up here!”

All she does is complain, Emily thought. Nobody asked her to come, after all.

“Hey, we're not in the last row,” Nancy said,
turning to look behind them. “There are three more rows and—Hey, Carla! Carla!” Nancy recognized someone from school. “Hey, I'll be right back.” She climbed out of the row and went up to talk to her friend.

A few seconds later the warm-up band, the Deltoids, sauntered out and started to tune up. Emily suddenly realized she was dying of thirst and then saw a vendor on the lower balcony carrying a large basket of sodas on his head.

“I'm going to get a drink. Want anything?” Emily asked Jessie.

Jessie shook her head. Emily climbed over her and stepped out into the empty aisle. She looked for the soda vendor, spotted him about two miles down, and started to make her way down the steep, narrow steps.

She had only taken two or three steps when the Deltoids let loose with a loud piercing chord. The lights went out and the crowd exploded with cheers and clapping. Emily tried to figure out whether to continue down or turn around and go back up when someone shoved her—a hard deliberate shove high on her back—and she started to fall.

An Accident

“O
h!”

She tried to catch her balance, but she was falling forward and there was nothing to grab on to.

Her shoulder hit the concrete stair, sending pain up her arm like a powerful shock of electricity. She cried out again, and realized she was going to roll down all the stairs unless something—or someone—blocked her path.

“Ow!” Her head hit the concrete. She heard alarmed screams. Hands reached out for her from the seats on both sides. But they were too late to catch her or slow her fall.

“No!”

Looking up as she fell, she saw Jessie standing at the top of the empty aisle, staring down at her, hands on her hips, as if satisfied with a job well done.

“No! No! No!”

She banged her knee, rolled over again—and finally someone grabbed her, stopping her fall.