Chapter 14

On Thursday night before Homecoming, only a dozen seniors remain on Gilley Field struggling to salvage an overcomplicated “Escape from Buckley High” float. Bret stays largely because Robert Mallory is there, resentful that Matt Kellner’s death has already been forgotten. Debbie arrives late and clings to Bret, while he privately fixates on a secret Sunday meeting with her father.

A confrontation erupts across the field: Susan Reynolds refuses to be Homecoming Queen, enraging Thom Wright. After Susan slaps Thom, Debbie brings Bret to the girls’ restroom, where Susan insists she won’t do the pageantry. Debbie presses her to “play it a certain way,” hinting at unspoken issues Bret isn’t privy to. Bret lashes out; Susan coolly reminds him her “one more year” advice was about him, not her.

Back on the field, Robert consoles Thom. Guided by Debbie’s pragmatism, Susan apologizes and agrees to go through with Homecoming. Classmates applaud the reconciliation as Angelo shuts the night down. The next morning at assembly, Susan and Thom are announced King and Queen; Thom basks, while Susan seems numb. Bret notices Robert’s dark, delayed reaction.

Saturday, Bret resolves to perform the role of boyfriend. At the game, he braces for halftime: the repaired senior float carries smiling Thom and Susan, diffusing Bret’s dread. The Griffins win. At the carnival and later the Pavilion dinner, Bret scans for Robert, who never appears. At Anthony Matthews’s mellow party, Bret broods over Matt’s absence and the secret Debbie and Susan share.

Near midnight, Debbie drives Bret home; he avoids sex and, restless, drives to Benedict Canyon. Parked below the house Robert had visited, Bret sees a faint second-floor glow like candlelight. As if alerted to his presence, the lights go out. He speeds away, more certain the house is central to the hidden danger.