The Girl in Acid Park by Lauren Harris

opened his hands. "I prayed the two of you might be a blessing for him during this time. You have the unique opportunity to offer him the support and love he needs, to encourage him to seek out comfort in the Lord." He waved his hands. "Now I know, that's not the cool thing, and he's told me himself that he's havin' a hard time finding comfort in God. He's havin' a hard time in general."
    My heart hammered against the inside of my throat. Hiroki and I...we weren't Catholic. He'd been raised Shinto and me? In a little Methodist church that had more bake sales than bible studies. Jamie was the only one of the three of us raised Catholic, and the only one without doubts.
    Hiroki and I were not the type to encourage someone to seek out God for comfort. Actually, the two of us were sort of crap at the whole comfort thing in general.
    Which, now I thought of it, might be Brother What-a-waste's point.
    "What do you mean, having a hard time?" Hiroki said. "He's still doing alright in school, and I know he hasn't been in JUG."
    JUG was what Millroad Academy called detention, and Hiroki--despite having one of the highest GPAs in school--constantly ended up there for smoking between classes.
    Brother What-a-waste shook his head. "His academic performance is not the issue, and if anything, his classroom behavior has improved. It's his private behavior that has both myself and his parents worried."
    I pressed my lips and looked down at my hands. "The...the pot was because we were trying to see-"
    "I know why you did it, Miss Collins. And I know Mr. Grant had it for the same reason. That doesn't make it right. God did not see fit to give either of you Mr. Satou's Sight--did you not stop to think perhaps He knew you couldn't bear that burden?"
    I shook my head, at last finding myself too annoyed. "I can handle being a stairway to heaven, but not seeing who's using me to get there? Jamie has to go back to his room every single day and look at a stripped-down mattress where his murdered best friend used to sleep. He's just trying to cope."
    "Miss Collins, I know you care about Mr. Grant. Have you not noticed his behavior growing more and more reckless? He's never been above breaking some rules, now, but...I've been given permission to tell you that his psychiatrist diagnosed him with acute depression. He's displaying symptoms of PTSD, and his behavior has become increasingly reckless. Speeding tickets. Skipping meals. Some evidence of self-harm."
    I jerked upright, my fingers closing around my wrist.
    "Ask yourself--is it healthy for him to dwell on death? If not, how can the two of you support him?"
    It was hard to breathe. Beside me, Hiroki watched Brother What-a-waste over crossed arms, his head cocked.
    "I don't think it's healthy for anyone," Hiroki said. Brother What-a-waste's neck flexed. "Sometimes, we don't get a choice."
    "Then you know how much he needs to be relieved of that burden right now."
    I swallowed again, thumb rubbing along the scar on my wrist. Old, thin, still somehow a little painful. If Jamie was starting to show symptoms... No. We couldn't let him keep going. Not if he was going to hurt himself.
    "Okay," I said. "We'll...we'll do our best to support him. I'm sorry I didn't--I mean, I knew he was sad--obviously, but I didn't think he was..."
    "Miss Collins, I'm not asking you two to support him." Brother What-a-waste said. "You've already proved you can't do that. We're asking you to leave him alone."

CHAPTER NINE
    Good Vibrations

    By the time Jamie returned that night, there were news vans parked across from the school's driveway. A perimeter of reporters kept us on lockdown, but law enforcement didn't get involved until Benny Eagle found a photographer in the deer stand. Apparently, it's totally within the law to photograph minors as long as no trespassing is involved, but one toe over the line and you get chauffeured from the premises in the back of a patrol car.
    Jamie found us at Higher Grounds. The place gets