The Dead Girl's Wheel of Wish novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: She Is Not My Friend

The college called a convocation for ten that morning, and by nine-thirty the news had reached everyone.

Roxanne's mother had walked out of the ICU on her own feet.

The hospital had put out a statement calling it "a remarkable and unexplained recovery."

Somebody had already made a video of it, with a piano track.

Elias and I stood at the back of Marlow Hall with our coats still on, because neither of us had slept.

The hall held four hundred people.

At the front, on the stage, the dean of students stood behind a lectern with a banner behind her that said WEXFORD STRONG.

"This has been a painful month for our community," she said. "We lost a bright young woman. And then, in a time of grief, something beautiful happened."

A few people clapped.

"I won't pretend to understand the forum," the dean said. "But I will say that when our students come together, miracles follow."

On the screen behind her was the wheel.

The counter at the bottom read 39.

Roxanne sat in the front row with her mother's old denim jacket folded in her lap.

I stood up.

I hadn't planned it.

My legs just did it, with Elias's flannel still on my shoulders.

"I need to say something," I said, and my voice carried more than I wanted it to.

Four hundred heads turned.

"Jo Hartigan," the dean said, and her smile went flat. "This isn't a forum, dear."

"At 2:14 this morning I watched Dane Whitlow climb the fire stair of Bell Hall in his bare feet," I said. "He was asleep. He walked to the northeast corner and stood on the wall."

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