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“Amanda, you must see some of what Michael is talking about,” Trix said.

Amanda shrugged, not really sure what he was talking about. “The only thing I have noticed about Terrance is that there are ‘Terrance people’ and then there’s everybody else. People who grew up in Terrance have lived there all their lives and want it to be their own little society.”

“I think that happens in any small town,” Trix said, “at least to some degree. I grew up in Nebraska, and any time I go back for class reunions there are the people who stayed and raised their families there, so they update us on the town gossip.” She pulled a coffee cake out of the oven, and Amanda wondered exactly how early Trix must have gotten up that morning. “There’s something different going on in Terrance.”

“Different how?” Amanda asked.

Jake and Trix both looked at Michael to explain. Michael sighed. “I don’t exactly know how to explain it. When I moved there, I never really got to know anyone except a couple of other kids who had recently moved there too. No one would let me in. The guys stuck in the same crowds they had been in since kindergarten, and they dated only certain girls. There was a group of about twenty jocks who moved their way through this group of girls. Each one dated a different one, then it was almost like they would yell switch and suddenly everyone had a new girlfriend.”

Amanda shrugged. “I think my high school was kind of like that. There were certain girls who wanted to date the entire football team, so they made their way through them.”

“No, this was very different.” Michael looked serious. “It was like they were a bunch of Quakers. The girls didn’t socialize with the guys. At hockey games or parties, the girls were in one group and the guys were in another, but at the end of the night everyone would pair off and disappear. And the girls wouldn’t talk to anyone other than their boyfriend. It was like they couldn’t.”

Amanda looked at Jake, who was frowning and nodding. “People in my office talk about it.”

“Talk about what,” Amanda said, still trying to understand. Amanda wasn’t alive at this time, so it was hard for her to know how guys and girls interacted in those days. Maybe this was surprising to him because he came from California where everyone was more relaxed. “What do your coworkers say?”

“A couple of the attorneys who have been around forever talk about it. With the true ‘Terrance people,’ the men are in charge of their wives. The boys are in charge of their girlfriends from an early age. And Terrance seems to have an unusually large number of girls who mysteriously move away for about nine months.”

Amanda thought back to her own high school. She was vaguely aware of rumors about a certain girl moving away, having a baby while she stayed with relatives, and then returning to school the following year with no baby. But there were two others in Amanda’s class who had their babies and came back to school, and it wasn’t a big deal. “So there are a lot of girls who get pregnant,” she said.

“A lot of pregnancies, no babies,” Trix said.

Amanda sat back, thinking about one of her social work classes that had a panel of speakers come in to talk about teen pregnancy. Two girls kept their babies, and two girls placed them for adoption. All of the girls had worked with a pregnancy counselor in a private agency who had helped them think through their options and make the decision that was right for them. All of the girls talked about why they made their decision. Amanda had written a paper about the options available to teenagers who were sexually active and got pregnant, and she found that Minnesota had more services than most states. What Michael was describing didn’t fit with what she had learned in her class. The girls on the panel were all empowered to make their choices. The girls in Terrance didn’t sound like they were empowered at all.

Chapter Seventeen

With the new year on its way, school resumed and Amanda returned to the igloo.

The class of truant kids was surprisingly upbeat, considering they had to be back in school full time. Chad and Katelyn both had new piercings. Katelyn had added several studs to the top of her left ear, and Chad had put a large expander in his ear that would stretch the hole wide open. Amanda couldn’t stand to look at his bright red ear lobe, stretched so far it looked like it would tear apart.

They were in back of the school again, and Madge had spent her Christmas holiday researching igloo building. She was full of ideas for her group, though she insisted on giving them hints and not doing their work for them.

“Hey, teacher,” Chad said, jumping up and down trying to fight the cold. “Can’t we just flunk igloo class and go inside?”

Amanda was on the ground again, this time with Matty, who shocked her by volunteering to dig a hole in the snow. Amanda ignored him, growing more frustrated by the minute. Brittany stood shivering in a short leather jacket, no hat, mittens, or boots. She put her hands on the back of Chad’s neck.

“Hey, like I’m not effing cold enough,” he yelled.

Brittany laughed and whined. “Give me your hat, Chad. I’m gonna freeze to death.”

He groaned but gave her his plain black stocking cap. She put her hands in it and held in to her face. Katelyn, who was standing on the other side of the igloo, jealous, moved over to the other side of Chad.

“What are you gonna give me?” Katelyn asked Chad.

Tyler mumbled something, and Katelyn turned around and punched Tyler in the stomach. The ensuing fight happened before Amanda could get herself off the ground. Tyler grabbed Katelyn’s arm and twisted it behind her back until she screamed. Chad grabbed Tyler, pulled him away from Katelyn, and threw him on the ground.

“You fucking puss, beatin’ up a girl?” Chad yelled in his face. Tyler, who was lying face down in the snow, pulled himself up and charged at Chad and knocked him to the ground. Chad was twice Tyler’s size, and immediately had Tyler on his back. Chad hit Tyler in the face several times before Amanda almost jumped on Chad’s back.

“Get off of him!” she yelled, holding his right arm with both of her arms. Tyler’s nose was bleeding, but he lay in the snow staring venomously up at Chad without saying a word. Still holding his arm, she made Chad stand up.

“Brittany, go get Madge. Matty, run inside and tell the secretary in the office that we need the school cop and the nurse.” Amanda tried to give Tyler her scarf for his nose, but he wouldn’t take it. He stood up and started walking toward the school.

“Hey,” Katelyn yelled at Amanda. “You gonna let him get away with attacking me just because he’s got a little bloody nose?”

“He’s not getting away with anything,” Amanda said, watching him walk away with his hands by his side, blood running down his face. “Right now that kid needs some space.”

* * *

Dealing with the aftermath of the fight took the rest of Amanda’s day. The school liaison officer called two more officers to the school. Chad was arrested and taken to a secure detention facility for adolescent males. Tyler left the building and was located by another officer, who tried to bring him back to the school. Tyler refused to get out of the squad car, so he was eventually taken to the secure detention center also. They all had to give verbal and written statements to the police officer.

When the police were done, Amanda had to try to explain herself to Madge, the school principal, and Max. The four of them met in a conference room outside of Madge’s room.

“I honestly don’t know how it got started so fast. The whole thing lasted less than sixty seconds. The kids were standing there talking one minute, and the next minute they were on the ground.”

“The girls say Tyler said something to instigate the whole thing,” Madge said. “Supposedly Tyler said something crude about Katelyn, she punched him, and then he really went after her.

The principal, a fiftyish man who was used to being the most important person in the room, questioned whether or not two women should be in charge of ten emotionally disturbed students that far away from the building with no back-up nearby. Madge was deeply offended by this. They got into an argument, and Amanda and Max could both see that the principal was not exactly a fan of Madge’s program.

The meeting finally ended with the principal telling them to stick to more traditional teaching methods until further notice. Madge was indignant but quiet, and Amanda wasn’t sure if she was angry with the principal or with her. Amanda walked with Max to the parking lot.

“I feel like I really screwed this up,” Amanda said as they passed a group of students who Amanda could hear were talking about the fight.

“No,” Max said with a deep sigh. “One of the commissioners wanted a social worker in the schools as a concession to the cops so they could have more guys on the streets. This was a tough assignment for anyone. This isn’t your fault.”

Amanda still felt horrible that she couldn’t handle a bunch of fifteen-year-olds any better than this.

Max got in his truck and went back to the office, and Amanda headed back to the classroom to collect her files. As Amanda walked by a large group of lockers, Brittany ran up to her and grabbed her arm.

“Amanda, I have to talk to you right now.” Amanda knew that Brittany was in the program for kids with behavior problems because of her history of depression and suicide attempts, and because of her ability to disrupt by creating drama where none existed.

Amanda sighed. “I really can’t right now, Brittany. I haven’t even had lunch yet.”

Brittany was still holding on to her arm. “It’s really serious, Amanda. Really serious. My cousin Jess said her friend told her what’s happening to her and it’s really bad.” Amanda barely remembered the conversation she and Brittany had before Christmas about Brittany’s cousin’s friend.

“Are you saying she wants to make a report about something?” Amanda asked. “Because if she does we need to do this in a more formal way…”

“Amanda.” Brittany looked worried and a little excited at the same time, and Amanda knew she was enjoying the drama as much as she was concerned about this girl’s welfare. “This is not a girl who’s going to sit down and do an interview with the cops. Please just come talk to her.”

Her lunch didn’t seem to be a good enough reason to put Brittany off, so she reluctantly followed her to the girls’ locker room.

“I’ll tell you right now,” Amanda said as they were walking into the locker room. “We are not doing this interview in the bathroom.”

Amanda’s irritation melted away as she entered the locker room and found three girls sitting on a bench between two rows of lockers, and another girl slumped in a corner, red faced and shaking. One of the girls stood and motioned to Amanda to talk in a private corner.

“You’re a social worker, right?” the girl asked, wiping her eyes with a soggy Kleenex.

“Yes. Are you Jess?”

The girl nodded, and Amanda could see the slight family resemblance between her and Brittany. Jess was prettier and looked less rough around the edges than Brittany.

“I’m so scared. She’s just freaking out. She won’t talk anymore. We’ve been sitting here for an hour and can’t get her to move.” Jess played with the ends of her long blonde hair, absent-mindedly stroking her face with her hair as if it was a make-up brush.

“What started all of this?” Amanda asked, looking at the girl in the corner more closely. She was curled into a ball and stared at nothing. Even though she was clearly traumatized by something, she was still beautiful with long dark hair and a perfect complexion.

“She has a bruise on her cheek by her ear. She was covering it with her hair, but I finally saw it before lunch,” Jess said. “I tried to ask her about it, and she snapped at me. I told her it looked like someone punched her, and she said, ‘I wish.’ I didn’t get what she meant by that at all, so I told her I didn’t get it. Then she just started breathing funny and said she didn’t think she could stand it any more. She came right in the locker room, and I followed her here.” Jess’s eyes filled with tears. “Then she just lost it. She started screaming and wouldn’t stop. I got so scared I just tried to grab her and make her be quiet. She was crazy. She said she couldn’t deal with anyone else touching her. Finally she just slumped in the corner and she’s been there ever since.”

Amanda looked over at the girl, who had put her head down on her knees and was gently rocking.

“What’s her name?” Amanda asked Jess.

“Rachel Thomas.” The name didn’t register to Amanda at all at that point. She crouched next to Rachel.

“Hi, Rachel. My name is Amanda.” Rachel didn’t move. “Your friends are really worried about you.” Rachel still didn’t register anything, and Amanda wasn’t sure what to say. She had never really dealt with a kid in the moment of a crisis before. “Is there anything you want to tell me?”

Rachel shifted her body slightly. It felt like she did want to tell.

“I want to help, Rachel. I want to see if we can stop whatever is happening to you so you can feel safer.” Rachel shook her head at that, seemingly saying that feeling safer was impossible. “Can you talk about who’s hurting you?”

Rachel took a big deep breath and let it out in a shudder. “I want some water,” she finally said. Brittany ran to the sink and brought back a Dixie cup of water. The girls leaned in, waiting for Rachel’s big disclosure. Rachel drank the water and sighed again.

Amanda looked up at the girls waiting expectantly. “We can talk somewhere more private if that would help,” Amanda said.

Rachel tilted her head. “Who are you?”

“I’m sorry,” Amanda said quickly. “I should have told you right away. My name is Amanda and I work at Terrance County Social Services.

Rachel suddenly sucked in and clapped her hand to her mouth in horror. “Oh, my god.”

Amanda couldn’t believe her reaction. No one ever knew who she was, but this girl recoiled as if she said her name was Lucifer.

Rachel pulled herself off the floor and started to walk toward the door.

“Hey, wait!” Amanda said. “I need to know that you’re okay.”

Rachel wheeled around and pointed at Jess with fire in her eyes. “Are you completely stupid!?” Jess shrank back as if she had been slapped.