Gracie Read Online Free PDF Page B

still wasn’t able to fly. I’d let him out of the cage, but he only hopped around. In my secret opinion, he wasn’t going to fly again. But I knew Johnny had thought he would, so I never said it out loud.
    Time seemed to pass in its everyday sort of way, but I drifted through most of it in a haze. I remember one day sitting in class, staring out the window while Mr. Clark, my history teacher, rattled on about Lincoln or someone, and I was surprised to realize that there were buds on the trees. Spring was coming. It sort of took me by surprise.
    The bell for the end of class rang and I was preparing to bolt, but Mr. Clark caught my eye. “Ms. Bowen, a moment, please.”
    This couldn’t be good.
    â€œYour exam surprised me,” he said. “It was blank.”

    What could I say? My mind had been blank when I took the exam. Blank was my new favorite state of mind. I knew he expected some kind of explanation but once again I was… blank .
    â€œWhat do you think I should do? Fail you?” he pressed.
    He was a nice man and probably not a bad teacher, if I ever bothered to listen in class. He was the assistant soccer coach, and Johnny had always said he was cool. In some faraway part of my mind, I longed to tell him how cut off I felt, how I just couldn’t seem to care about anything. But I couldn’t reach that part of me, couldn’t make it speak—so I just stood there, staring, not knowing what to say or even able to try very hard.
    â€œGracie, I’ll overlook this—but you’ll need to step up for the next one,” he said.
    He expected me to promise I would try. I didn’t want to make him a promise I had no intention of keeping. “I’ve got to get going,” I said instead.
    His frustration was written all over his face. “Do you want to talk to someone, maybe the nurse?” he suggested.
    â€œMy mother is the nurse,” I reminded him flatly.
    â€œI knew your brother…you could talk to me,” he said kindly. I really wished I could, but I couldn’t talk to anyone.
    Jena was waiting for me outside the door. There were some things I could talk to her about, not the things deep inside like the blank thing, but lighter stuff like school and guys. She was always interested in talking about guys.
    I had pretty big news so, with a jerk of my head, I indicated that we should go to our special spot behind the bleachers. It was where we went to talk about things we didn’t want anyone to overhear.
    â€œKyle’s going to be captain next year,” I told her when we got there. It wasn’t my really big news. I was holding back on that.
    â€œHe told you that?” she asked, impressed.
    â€œYeah, when I told him I’d go out with him.” It had happened just two days earlier. He had cornered me on my way out of gym and told me he had big news that he’d reveal only if I agreed to go out with him. It surprised me because I thought he’d forgotten about me. To be honest, I’d forgotten about him, but I remembered how hot I always thought he was as he stood there with that confident look on his face. So I agreed. “He’s going to pick me up tonight at seven.”
    â€œWhat are you going to do?” Jena asked.
    I shrugged. “He didn’t say.”
    She gave me a look and I shot one back to her. We both knew Kyle was the make-out king of Columbia High. I could handle him, keep him at bay, but maybe I didn’t want to. I hadn’t made up my mind yet.
    In the distance, we heard the bell for the next class. “I can’t miss bio again,” she said, picking up her books to go.
    â€œI can,” I said, sitting on the grass as Jena headed back to the school building. Skipping class had become one of my favorite pastimes. Besides, I wanted to think about Kyle and our date that night.

    Getting Mom and Dad to agree to let me go wasn’t going to be easy. Dad never spoke