"Well, then," said Meredith, lifting her eyebrows. "No wonder you and Stefan were in such a hurry to leave the party."
Caroline gave Elena a vicious smirk as Elena walked into the cafeteria. But Elena was almost beyond noticing.
One thing she noticed right away, though. Vickie Bennett was there.
Vickie hadn't been to school since the night Matt and Bonnie and Meredith had found her wandering on the road, raving about mist and eyes and something terrible in the graveyard. The doctors who checked her afterward said there was nothing much wrong with her physically, but she still hadn't returned to Robert E. Lee. People whispered about psychologists and the drug treatments they were trying.
She didn't look crazy, though, Elena thought. She looked pale and subdued and sort of crumpled into her clothing. And when Elena passed her and she looked up, her eyes were like a startled fawn's.
It was strange to sit at a half-empty table with only Bonnie and Meredith for company. Usually people were crowding to get seats around the three of them.
"We didn't finish talking this morning," Meredith said. "Get something to eat, and then we'll figure out what to do about those notes."
"I'm not hungry," said Elena flatly. "And whatcan we do? If it's Damon, there's no way we can stop him. Trust me, it's not a matter for the police. That's why I haven't told them he's the killer. There isn't any proof, and besides, they would never... Bonnie, you're not listening."
"Sorry," said Bonnie, who was staring past Elena's left ear. "But something weird is going on up there."
Elena turned. Vickie Bennett was standing at the front of the cafeteria, but she no longer seemed crumpled and subdued. She was looking around the room in a sly and assessing manner, smiling.
"Well, she doesn't look normal, but I wouldn't say she was beingweird , exactly," Meredith said. Then she added, "Wait a minute."
Vickie was unbuttoning her cardigan. But it was theway she was doing it - with deliberate little flicks of her fingers, all the while looking around with that secretive smile - that was odd. When the last button was undone, she took the sweater daintily between forefinger and thumb and slid it down over first one arm and then the other. She dropped the sweater on the floor.
"Weird is the word," confirmed Meredith.
Students crossing in front of Vickie with laden trays glanced at her curiously and then looked back over their shoulders when they had passed. They didn't actually stop walking, though, until she took off her
She did it gracefully, catching the heel of one pump on the toe of the other and pushing it off. Then she kicked off the second pump.
"She can't keep going," murmured Bonnie, as Vickie's fingers moved to the simulated pearl buttons on her white silk blouse.
Heads were turning; people were poking one another and gesturing. Around Vickie a small group had gathered, standing far enough back that they didn't interfere with everyone else's view.
The white silk blouse rippled off, fluttering like a wounded ghost to the floor. Vickie was wearing a lacy off-white slip underneath.
There was no longer any sound in the cafeteria except the sibilance of whispers. No one was eating. The group around Vickie had gotten larger.
Vickie smiled demurely and began to unfasten clasps at her waist. Her pleated skirt fell to the floor. She stepped out of it and pushed it to one side with her foot.
Somebody stood up at the back of the cafeteria and chanted, "Take itoff! Take itoff!" Other voices joined in.
"Isn't anybody going to stop her?" fumed Bonnie.
Elena got up. The last time she'd gone near Vickie the other girl had screamed and struck out at her. But now, as she got close, Vickie gave her the smile of a conspirator. Her lips moved, but Elena couldn't make out what she was saying over the chanting.
"Come on, Vickie. Let's go," she said.
Vickie's light brown hair tossed and she plucked at the strap of her slip.
Elena stooped to pick up the cardigan and wrap it around the girl's slender shou lders. As she did, as she touched Vickie, those half-closed eyes opened wide like a startled fawn's again. Vickie stared about her wildly, as if she'd just been awakened from a dream. She looked down at herself and her expression turned to disbelief. Pulling the cardigan around her more tightly, she backed away, shivering.
The room was quiet again.
"It's okay," said Elena soothingly. "Come on."
At the sound of her voice, Vickie jumped as if touched by a live wire. She stared at Elena, and then she exploded into action.
"You're one of them! I saw you! You're evil!"
She turned and ran barefoot out of the cafeteria, leaving Elena stunned.
Chapter Eight
"What?" said Elena dully.
"Well, the way she ended up, in her slip. She looked just like she did when we found her on the road, only then she was all scratched up, too."
"Cat scratches, we thought," said Meredith, finishing the last bite of her cake. She seemed to be in one of her quiet, thoughtful moods; right now she was watching Elena closely. "But that doesn't seem very likely."
Elena looked straight back at her. "Maybe she fell in some brambles," she said. "Now, if you guys are finished eating, do you want to see that first note?"
They left their dishes in the sink and climbed the stairs to Elena's room. Elena felt herself flush as the other girls read the note. Bonnie and Meredith were her best friends, maybe her only friends now. She'd read them passages from her diary before. But this was different. It was the most humiliating feeling she'd ever had. "Well?" she said to Meredith.
"The person who wrote this is five feet eleven inches tall, walks with a slight limp, and wears a false mustache," Meredith intoned. "Sorry," she added, seeing Elena's face. "Not funny. Actually, there's not much to go on, is there? The writing looks like a guy's, but the paper looks feminine."