Carter’s eyebrows went up.

“I’ll stop now,” I said, feeling more than a little dumb.

“No,” he said softly, shaking his head. “It’s fascinating. It’s cool that you have this secret side.”

“It’s not a secret,” I said. “And no offense, but why do you even care?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, haven’t you heard about me? I’m rude. I’m always in trouble. I skip classes and none of the teachers like me. Why are we even doing this? Why do you care about any of it?”

He laughed again, a real, honest laugh. “Believe it or not, I care about it because of those things.”

“Oh, right. Opposites attract.” I looked around. “That’s easy to say sitting alone in the library. Or in a car.”

“What do you mean?”

Truth be told, I really didn’t know what I meant. “I mean…we get along great when nobody else is around…but I just can’t imagine hanging out in front of other people.”

He shook his head. “Are you kidding? I’m not afraid to been seen with you public.”

I widened my eyes and tried to sound solemn. “Well, maybe it’s the world that isn’t ready for our friendship.”

He caught my mocking tone and sat back, shaking his head. Suddenly he brightened and leaned forward. “Then let’s show the world” he said. It was like a challenge.

“I don’t understand,” I said.

His eyes flashed. “Come to the dance with me Friday.”

The library floor could have dropped out from under my feet and I could not possibly have been more surprised than I was at that moment.

“That is…unless you’re the one who’s afraid to be seen with me,” he said.

“I’m not afraid,” I said.

“Then say yes. Come to the dance with me.”

My brain was absolutely no help to me at this point. So my gut spoke instead. “Okay, fine.” I shrugged. “If that will make you happy.”

He looked straight into my eyes, and I noticed that our heads were so close I could smell his shampoo.

The bell rang.

Carter moved away quickly and glanced at his watch. “I’ll walk you to class?” he asked.

I hesitated. We’d have to walk right past the Doom Squad.

“I don’t want to cost you any friendships or anything,” Carter said smoothly, but his cool voice sounded a little cooler than usual.

“No, it’s fine,” I said. I straightened my shoulders. What could they do, throw their leather bracelets at us? “I’ll protect you if they attack.”

He gave a wary smile.

We started across the courtyard. I was ready to face the hostile stares, but I wasn’t prepared for what happened as soon as I stepped foot on the bricks. Lydia came tearing up to us, looking dismayed. I braced myself for an idiotic comment, but tried to put enough warning in my glare that she wouldn’t bother.

She didn’t notice.

“Alexis!” she said breathlessly. “Everyone’s looking for you!”

My heart jumped to my throat.

“It’s your dad,” she said. “There was an accident.”

12

I felt like time had hiccupped forward two seconds and left me behind. Carter grabbed my hand, and I vaguely noticed that he pulled me through the courtyard. Lydia was on the other side of me like a yappy dog nipping at my heels.

“Don’t you know anything else?” he asked her, sounding irritated.

“They just told me to find Alexis!” she protested. “They kept paging her, but she didn’t answer.”

“The PA system in the library must be broken,” Carter said. “We didn’t hear.”

In the front office, Mrs. Ames came forward to meet us. She did a double take when she saw Carter holding my hand, but then she put her hand on my shoulder.

“Your father is okay,” she said. “He’s at St. Margaret’s hospital, and he’s going to be all right.”

Hearing that melted the steel rod that had been holding me up. I felt my legs go weak. If Carter hadn’t chosen that exact moment to squeeze my hand, I might have passed out.

“Where’s my mom?” I asked. “What about my little sister?”

“Your mother is at the hospital already, and your neighbor Mary Fuller is picking you and your sister up to drive you over there,” Mrs. Ames said.

“I can drive her to the hospital,” Carter offered.

“I’m afraid that’s not permissible, Carter,” she replied. “But thank you for offering. Alexis, come and sit down for a minute.”

Sit down? Who could sit down at a time like this? I know this is weird, but I felt like if I stopped panicking or worrying for a second, something terrible would happen—and it would be my fault.

I looked up at Carter, my brain loading up another round of frantic questions.

“You really should sit down,” he said.

I was outnumbered.

We followed Mrs. Ames into her office and I sank onto my usual spot on her sofa.

“What happened?” I asked. “Who called? Tell me what happened.”

Mrs. Ames looked directly into my eyes. “Your mother called. Your father was in an automobile accident, and he’s in the hospital, but he’s okay. It’s important that you go and be with your family, but it’s not because this is a life-or-death situation, do you understand?”

So that meant I should act like a grown-up, right?

“You don’t need to worry,” she repeated in her principal voice. She sat down at her desk. Her brown hair fell to her shoulders in soft waves that began together but went in all directions as they brushed her Surrey Eagles sweatshirt. It was the hair of a woman with no time to blow-dry. Mom would cut off a toe before she left the house with hair like that.

“It’s okay,” Carter said. “Your dad will be fine.”

I nodded. Nodding was easy. Things on the outside were easy. But inside I was a complete wreck. I didn’t know what to feel. I mean, I didn’t even really like my dad. But I didn’t want him dead…or even hurt.

I felt something in me slide, slide, slide. Like I’d been standing on a hill watching all of this happening to someone else, and slowly the ground was coming out from underneath me. The air seemed stuffy and unbearably hot.

“Can we go outside?” I asked.

“Mrs. Fuller will need to come into the office and sign you out,” Mrs. Ames said. “But we can wait for the car out front, if you want to.”

“She does,” Carter said, standing.

He did everything. He told Lydia, who’d been growing restless in the corner, to go back to class. He had the secretary bring me a glass of water. He carried my bag and made sure there were no ants on the bench where we sat down, and when we sat, he didn’t say anything, just looked for the car.

I was so glad he was there.

A car finally pulled up. It was our busybody kindly-old-lady neighbor from across the street, Mary. She went inside with Mrs. Ames. Carter opened the door for me and handed me my bag. He leaned down and looked at Kasey, who was slouched against the back driver’s side window, looking at us with wide eyes. Her arm was wrapped around her schoolbag as if it were a life preserver.

“Hi there,” he said, and she raised her hand and waved weakly.

“Kase, this is Carter,” I said. “Carter, this is Kasey, my little sister. She goes to Surrey Middle.”

“Nice to meet you,” he said. Kasey nodded, staring up at him a little dumbly. I hoped he didn’t think she was slow or something. She was just in shock.

Mary came back out to the car, mercifully silent. She’s usually one of those people who can talk until you want to toss yourself off a bridge.

“Thanks,” I told Carter. “Thanks for—”

He shook his head. For a moment I thought he might kiss me, but he just touched my forehead with his hand. It was the softest gesture, like a feather brushing over my skin. “Call me,” he said, scribbling his phone number on a torn-out page of his spiral notebook and thrusting it into my hand. “Especially if you need anything.”

“Okay,” I said, still reeling from his touch. Carter closed the door and the car pulled away.

“He’s nice,” Kasey said at last.