Chapter 2
Zachary entered the drama room twenty minutes early, and he wasn’t even the first one there. Everyone was excited to be back—maybe not to school in general, but to Ms. Haverstam’s class, certainly.
His classmates were hanging out in two distinct groups—one by the window, the other around the piano. Pepe played while a bunch of them belted out show tunes. Usually, Zachary would have joined in, but he was having trouble feeling joyous. Every time he started to smile, his mind went back to what happened on Friday. The vision of Melinda lying dead beside the pool had branded itself on his brain. The bloody scene was like a movie projected on the insides of his eyelids. Every time he blinked, he saw it again. He couldn’t escape the terrible memory.
So much had happened over t
