Page 14 of The Executioners Three
“Simmer down,” said Tamura, grabbing Freddie’s shoulders. A dejected Divya stood three feet away.
“What’s going on?” Freddie asked Tamura, who was—as usual—dressed way too well for Berm High in her tailored pinstripe suit and fire-engine-red lipstick.
“Follow me,” Tamura responded. “Both of you. You’ll be meeting with a counselor in my office right now.”
“Right now?”Freddie squawked.
“That is literally what I just said.”
“But… I can’t.” Freddie flung a wild look at Divya. “I’m meeting Kyle Friedman at my locker.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Tamura said. “You’re meeting a boy? Why, that changes everything.”
“Really?” Freddie’s lips began to quirk.
“Of course not.” Tamura thrust a pointed finger down the hall. “Walk, Gellar. Now. The nice gentleman is waiting.”
“But we don’t need counseling,” Divya moaned, as Freddie fell into shambling steps beside her bestie. “I didn’t evenseethe dead body.”
“And I only saw his shoes.” Freddie gazed, grief-stricken, behind her. Students flooded the hallway, but she couldn’t see Kyle. She hugged his letterman jacket more tightly to her. It smelled like manly man soap, but how long would that last?
“Your parents both think you’d benefit from talking to someone.” Tamura strode ahead, and upon reaching her office door, she shoved it wide. “Now go on in and be good, okay? Show the nice man what our Lumberjack spirit is all about.”
The girls shuffled in. Freddie glowered at Divya and Divya glowered right back until they were in the office and facing a handsome man with gray hair and dark brown eyes. Like an older, less goofy Ross fromFriends—but with a silver beard added.
“Hello, girls,” he said with a smile. “I’m Dr. Born.”
“Hi,” they mumbled in unison.
“Thank you, Principal.” He nodded toward Tamura at the door. “We won’t be more than an hour.”
“An hour?”Freddie turned to Divya with horror.
“Kill me now.” Divya buried her face in her hands.
“I can hear you, you know.” Dr. Born circled behind Tamura’s desk while the door clicked shut and cut off sounds of free students who weren’t trapped in purgatory.Theygot to meet their crushes at their lockers.Theygot to live happily ever after.
Dr. Born sat at Tamura’s desk and waved for the girls to sit too. So Freddie and Divya complied, dropping stiffly onto matching black armchairs. Tamura’s office was as sleek as she was. Freddie had no idea where she’d gotten the modern-style furniture, but it definitely wasn’t from anywhere in Berm. And it definitely didn’t match the rest of the ancient school.
“So,” Freddie began at the same time Dr. Born said, “I want to begin…” He trailed off, smiling once more. “Go ahead, Freddie.”
“Thank you.” She sat taller. “Who hired you? My parents or Divya’s?”
“Both.”
This surprised Freddie. For years now, she’d heard Steve nudging Mom to go into therapy and finally reckon with her grief over Frank Carter’s death. Now Mom was essentially forcing her own daughter to do what she wouldn’t?
Pot, meet kettle.
Also, pot, meet stubborn daughter who wasn’t about to take this lying down.
“And who found you?” Freddie continued. “You’re obviously not local, or we’d know you.”
“I live an hour away, but I practice here once a week.”
“Is this normal?” Divya inserted, donning her sharpest glare. “Interrogating two people at once?”
“Well, we don’t call it ‘interrogating,’ but yes. Sometimes when people have witnessed something traumatizing together, it’s helpful to work through it together as well.”
