Chapter 2

During the first hour of the Social Silence Protocol, I felt reasonably fine. At least the PA system still talked to me.

"All eleventh-grade students attending the annual leadership retreat should meet outside the gym by three p.m."

I looked up at the speaker. "Copy that. Thank you. You're the only voice on campus that has spoken to me today."

Several students lowered their heads, their shoulders shaking as they tried not to laugh. No one dared make a sound.

During the second hour, I started a conversation with a vending machine. I fed it five dollars. It gave me one bottle of water and no change.

"Five dollars for one bottle?" I patted the glass. "Very Moretti of you."

The machine remained silent.

"You're the shy type. I understand."

During the third hour, Luca confiscated my phone because I had sent the same message to more than nine hundred contacts.

[Hey, are you there?]

"This is your idea of cooperation?" he asked.

He slipped the phone into his pocket, his face like a storm cloud.

I watched him hopefully. "You could reply with no. I'm not picky."

He walked away. I followed him for two steps before forcing myself to stop.

Mom had promised that if I completed the three days without causing trouble, she would not send me away again. I had to behave.

That afternoon, we gathered for the leadership retreat at the Morettis' private mountain property. Colored tags divided us among the trails leading to a campground halfway up the mountain. Our advisory teacher, Ms. Carter, handed them out. The active routes were red, yellow, and green.

I received a red tag, which placed me in Bianca's group. When she saw it, she smiled at me. It was the first time all day she had looked directly at me.

I hurried over. "You're finally speaking to me again? I knew sisters couldn't stay angry overnight. Apparently we can only manage until the end of lunch."

She did not answer. She took the red tag from my hand and pinned it to the outside of my backpack herself. Even without a word, the gesture was enough to make me happy again.

I followed her, whispering questions. "Do you want chips? I brought iced coffee too. Does Luca look strange to you lately? He has the face of a man who lost three poker games in a row."

Bianca stopped so abruptly that I almost walked into her. She turned and lowered her voice.

"Why do you have to cling to everyone, Poppy? Can't you spend any time by yourself?"

I considered the question. "I can be by myself. But when people suddenly stop answering me, I think they're discussing when to send me away."

She hesitated. For a moment, something almost like sympathy appeared in her eyes. I immediately pointed at a nearby bench.

"Do you want to sit down and talk about it? It's a long story. I can start with my first foster family."

Her sympathy vanished. "Never mind."

She walked faster and left me behind.

Before departure, Luca arrived with a waterproof jacket for Bianca. The Morettis funded the retreat, and the event took place on their property, so the school allowed him to attend as the family's board representative.

I took out my friend notebook to show him the safety guide I had prepared. He snatched it from my hand.

The pages were filled with details about the people I had met at St. Augustine.

[Frank: Old back injury. Do not let him carry heavy boxes. Pain medication is in the second drawer of the gatehouse desk.]

[Maria: Asthma. Her inhaler is usually in the left pocket of her backpack.]

[Ethan: Severe peanut allergy. His EpiPen is in the outer compartment of his bag.]

[Walter: Lower-back problems. Do not let him move student luggage alone. He counts everyone three times after an off-campus event.]

Luca's expression darkened with every page.

"You record people's medical information? What are you planning to do with this?"

"Be their friend," I said. "They told me these things. If someone gets hurt, I want to know how to help."

Bianca's eyes filled again. "She even wrote down details about my friends' families. That isn't friendship, Luca. She's collecting their weaknesses."

"They aren't weaknesses," I said. "They're things someone should remember."

The Morettis treated every fact as leverage. They could not imagine remembering something simply because you cared. Luca tore the notebook in half. Pages scattered across the pavement.

I stared for a moment, then crouched and gathered the pieces.

"You can tear up anything about me. Just don't lose Ethan's page. He really can't have peanuts. He could stop breathing."

Luca gave a cold laugh. "They survived perfectly well before you arrived. Stop pretending you're that important, Poppy."

I stuffed the torn pages into my backpack and said nothing.

Maybe he was right. All seven foster families had probably lived perfectly well after sending me away. I was the only one who chased their cars, crying as if I alone had lost a family.

When we boarded the bus for the mountain, Luca finally returned my phone. Every app was unnaturally quiet. I took a picture from my seat and sent it to Mom. A red exclamation point appeared beneath it.

[Not Delivered.]

She had blocked me too. I stared at the notice for a long time.

When my fifth foster family decided they no longer wanted me, my foster mother said her phone was broken and that was why she never received my messages. I learned later that her phone had been fine. It only stopped receiving messages from me.

Clouds had gathered by the time the bus reached the Moretti Mountain Estate. Ms. Carter stood at the trailhead and separated us by tag.

"Red group to the left. Green group goes right with Mr. Hayes. Yellow group stays with me."

I looked down at my backpack. The red tag Bianca had pinned there was gone. In its place hung a faded blue tag.

I looked up to ask her what had happened, but she had linked her arm through Ms. Carter's and was following the red group toward the left trail.

"Bianca."

She did not look back. Everyone around me acted as if they had heard nothing. I saw a faded blue trail marker at the edge of the trees and followed it into the forest alone.