Lacy's End Read Online Free PDF

students the lesson, and they were listening.
    Lacy took her seat, pulled her bangs over her right eye in an attempt to hide as much of the bruising as she could.
    Bethany Martin looked over at her, giving her the what’s wrong with you stare. Lacy turned her head away while Bethany leaned over and whispered in Chad’s ear.
    She knew what kind of things they were saying.
    “Ignore them,” a voice beside her said.
    Lacy snapped her head around, surprised to see the guy from the pond and the hospital. She looked anxiously around, trying to see if anyone else noticed him. “What are you doing here?” she whispered.
    “Lacy?” Mrs. Horton asked. “Is something wrong?”
    “Something definitely is wrong,” Bethany said, raising her eyebrows, “ with her .”
    The whole class tittered, making Lacy flush with embarrassment.
    “Let’s get out of here,” the boy beside her said.
    “I can’t just walk out of the classroom in the middle of a lesson,” she whispered.
    “Why not?”
    She gritted her teeth. “I just can’t.”
    “Lacy?” Mrs. Horton called again.
    “Come on,” the boy said.
    Lacy stood and walked to the front of the class. “Can I please use the bathroom?”
    “Well, why didn’t you just say so, instead of talking to yourself and making all that noise?”
    “But, I…” Lacy started to say, pointing beside her. She looked over, and he was gone. “I’m not feeling well,” she said. “Can I please be excused?”
    Mrs. Horton pulled a pad from her desk and wrote Lacy a hall pass. “Do you want someone to go with you?”
    Lacy looked out at the student body, who all wore the same mocking expression. Yeah right, who would that be? “No thanks, Mrs. Horton. I can handle it on my own.”
    She ripped the note from the pad and handed it to Lacy. “I hope you feel better.” As Lacy started to leave, Mrs. Horton put her hand on her arm. “I know I’m not supposed to do this but,” she gave her a business card, “if you ever need to talk…”
    Lacy looked down at the card. Printed on the card were Mrs. Horton’s name, the school’s name, address, phone number, and the school’s website address. Below her name, Mrs. Horton had written her home phone number. “Thanks,” Lacy said and walked out of the classroom, stuffing the card in the back pocket of her jeans, right on top of the social worker’s card.
    “They are such jerks.”
    She jumped at the sound of the voice. She turned to see her friend again. “Hey, where’d you go?” she asked. “One minute you were there beside me, and the next you weren’t. My teacher thinks I talk to myself.”
    “Well, don’t you?”
    She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter.”
    She started to walk. “Where are we going?” he asked.
    “I don’t know. I’m just walking.” She stopped, turned and looked at him, regarding his features. He was cute, dark hair, tall and thin. Not that she was into guys or anything. That was for other girls, ones who didn’t have sheriff daddies who toted guns on their hip. “Who are you?”
    “Just a friend. I’m here to help you through your problems.”
    “What’s your name?”
    “Jake.”
    “Jake what?”
    “Just Jake.”
    “Suit yourself,” she said. She shrugged and kept walking.
    They exited the school building and rounded the front of the school, walking intently now.
    “Do you know where we’re going yet?” he asked.
    “Under the bleachers.”
    “What’s under the bleachers?”
    She looked him in the eye, concentrating. Would he see her destination and run straight for the principal’s office? She doubted it. The vibes she got from this stranger said she could trust him, and she was good at reading vibes. She raised one eyebrow, which made him chuckle. She grinned. “It’s what’s not under the bleachers.” At his look of confusion she explained, “People. There are no people underneath the bleachers.”
    “Ah, I see.”
    They didn’t just go under the bleachers. They went all the way