“Thank you for the mixtape,” Jane said, wrapping her arms around Nathan’s neck and pecking his cheek. “Did you put that one Chicago song on there? Love Me Tomorrow?”
Nathan nodded and they walked silently from her locker until they reached her next class. Jane sensed he was a million miles away and she wanted to understand. She knew what he was thinking about because it was all he had thought about since it happened.
The girl from the woods.
“Have you heard anything else about her?” she asked Nathan. I heard she ran away because she thought she was pregnant.”
“I don’t think that’s it,” he said. “She said she had been taken and that whoever took her was still in the woods.”
“Maybe whoever took her got her pregnant,” she said, proud of her counterpoint.
“I don’t think she’s pregnant,” Nathan said. “I gotta get to class. I’ll see you at lunch.”
“Me, too.” She held up her English notebook. “Stupid essay on new word we learned.”
“Good luck with it,” he said and kissed Jane gently.
“Hey,” she said. “Whatever happened to her, I’m sure it was serendipity.”
“What?”
“That’s my new word. Serendipity. It means something random that happens that ends up being something good or beneficial. So, whatever happened to this girl, maybe it was serendipity.”
Nathan studied his girlfriend’s earnest face and while he appreciated her attempt to view the glass half full, he couldn’t possibly agree that what had happened to Susan Carpenter was good.
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