Warped (Maurissa Guibord)

appraisal. "Why would I sit with you ?"
    Tessa's smiled faltered. She heard Opal's words, saw her icy expression, but just couldn't connect them to the person in front of her. She glanced around, looking for the joke, and then looked back at Opal. "Um. Because we're friends?"
    Opal gave a snort. "Since when?"
    A sick feeling lurched in Tessa's stomach, but she tried to smile through it. "Ever since we met, dummy. First day of second grade," she said lightly. "What's up with you?"
    "First day of second grade?" repeated Opal. "You mean the day you wet your pants on the playground? Oh yeah, I remember, Brody. You had to sit on a newspaper in the front office till your mom came and picked you up." She let out a peal of laughter that struck Tessa like shards of glass.
    "What?" Tessa gasped. "No. That's not what happened." Tessa's face reddened as she glanced around the cafe.
    "Maybe you just blocked it out," sneered the Opal-who-wasn't-Opal. "Too traumatic."
    Traumatic? Tessa remembered the day. She'd fallen off the jungle gym, and it had hurt so badly she ... Yeah, she had peed her pants a little. But Opal had walked with her to the girls' room, given her an extra set of clothes from her cubbyhole. And had never breathed a word to anybody. On a pinky swear. It wasn't traumatic. It was one of her best days ever. Until now.
    "Hi, beautiful," said a deep voice.
    Hunter Scoville walked up, holding a tray of food. He glanced at Tessa but then directed his gaze to Opal with a charming, slanted grin.
    "Where're we sitting?"
    "Far, far away," said Opal with a pointed look at Tessa. She spun on a flat-heeled shoe and sauntered toward a table in the corner, Hunter in tow. As Tessa watched, Opal put a hand on Hunter's shoulder, leaned close to him and whispered something in his ear. They both laughed.
    Tessa swallowed and approached their table. "Opal, what's wrong with you?" she said in a low voice. "Why are you acting like this?"
    Opal raised a perfectly manicured hand. "Brody, you're the one acting freaky. Why don't you just go over to your loser table and leave me alone?"
    Hunter leaned toward Opal. "I see what you mean," he murmured, raising his eyebrows. "Attack of the Living Losers."
    Tessa left and walked quickly to the bathroom. She splashed cool water on her face. What was going on? It seemed like some kind of a crazy joke. Opal could never be mean to anyone. It just wasn't in her. Something was wrong.
    No, Tessa thought. Everything was wrong. All at once she remembered the glowing image of three shrouded figures. And their words came back to her, sending a shiver down her back.
    Your world will be torn apart .
    Tessa walked home as the air grew thick and damp and the sky welled up with dark thunderclouds. The cold air was gone; the wind that flapped at her sweater and skittered loose papers across Harbor Square was warm. It almost felt tropical.
    The store was closed up and there was no sign of her father, but the phone was ringing as she went through the door of the apartment upstairs.
    "Hello?" Tessa answered.
    "Hello? This is Dr. Robard from the medical center. Is this Tessa Brody?"
    The floor dropped away beneath her. Sometimes a voice doesn't even need words to tell you something is wrong.
    "Yes?" Tessa whispered. She clutched the phone, feeling incredibly aware of it in her hand. The smooth, cool plastic seemed like a foreign object. The stranger's voice came through, distant and detached:
    "Your dad is stable right now, but he's very sick. He's going to be admitted to the hospital this afternoon."
    "What happened?" Tessa's voice was faint. "Is he okay?"
    "I'd like you to come to the hospital. Right away, if you can, please. So we can talk."

Chapter 34

The medical office building was attached to the hospital. Tessa parked the Subaru in Patients' Lot A and entered the lobby with a feeling of weird detachment, as if she were watching things happen from a great distance, or maybe even to someone else. As she rose in the cool, softly lit elevator to the third floor, she looked at the sign mounted inside. 3RD FLOOR--DR. ROBARD--ONCOLOGY ASSOCIATES.
    Dr. Robard was younger than she'd expected. He wore glasses, and a striped blue and yellow polo shirt and chinos beneath his white lab coat. His voice was calm and pleasant. He had a picture on his desk in a clear acrylic frame of two small children sitting on the edge of a sandbox. Framed diplomas hung on the wall. An ivy plant in the corner needed water. It all seemed