The One That Got Away Read Online Free PDF Page A

deafening silence eating into my soul.
    We reached his truck and he suddenly halted before he glanced at the sky. He did that before he made any decisions. I used to think he searched for god’s guidance. It took me a few years to realize that he instinctively looked at the weather. No farmer ever made a decision without checking the weather. Our lives revolved around it.
    His gnarled hand came into my vision. He stood there waiting for me to shake it. I reached out and grasped it. My heart lodged in my throat when I realized that mine was as big as his. We squeezed and he stared into my eyes. “Your dad would have been proud” was all he said. Not that he was proud, not that he felt my pain.
    Hey, I’ll take it. One of my most important rules is – Any approval from Grandfather was the equivalent of winning the Heisman and an Oscar on the same day.
     

 
    Chapter Two
     
    Katie
    Whoever said high school wasn’t fair, didn’t know the half of it. High school ranks right up there with ‘life’ in its unfairness. It’s one of those rules that no one ever tells you about until it’s too late.
    The poor idiot, Scott I mean, come on. Anyone could have told him what was going on. Even someone like me on the outside, the extreme outside, could see she was using him to get to heart throb Danny. The way she’d light up, giggling at every lame joke, flirting whenever Scott wasn’t around. It was a farce until it became a tragedy. The Greeks would have been proud.
    It was ten minutes into first period before I knew what was happening. I sat immediately behind Jennifer Hobson and Marla Jackson. Two of my best sources of Intel. I used my tricks to remain invisible. Letting my hair fall across my face. My eyes focused on the front of the room.  As far as they were concerned I didn’t exist. Just the way I liked it. I sneaked a handy wipe packet and opened it under my desk before sanitizing my hands while I listened.
    “He caught her in bed with Danny,” Jennifer said.
    “No way, for reals? Wow, I thought she was the holy of holies,” Marla questioned.
    “Yeah, but it was Danny Carrs, who could blame her.” Both girls laughed. ”Johnnie told me. He visited Danny at the hospital.”
    “Marla, Jennifer, please pay attention,” Mr. Lavers said from the front of the room. I could have kicked him.
    Me? I observe. It’s safer out here on the fringes. ‘Don’t get involved’ is the rule I live by. It’s served me well so far. Better to watch other people crash and burn.
    I saw everything from the edge. I could usually tell who was going to break up with whom long before they knew it themselves. Who was on their way out of the in group? I could tell you who cheated on their Spanish test this morning and who worried about taking a pregnancy test this afternoon. The one test you couldn’t cheat.
    I knew which kids were getting abused and which were higher than a kite. I knew who broke into the lockers during last week’s football game and who was going to be next year’s valedictorian. I mean, I saw it all and kept it to myself.
    Knowledge like that left me feeling a little guilty about not warning him. Scott had always been nice. I mean, it’s not like we talked or anything. It’s just that he’d never been mean, never gone out of his way to make fun of the strange new girl.
    I ran into him once in the hall. Literally ran into him. It was like walking into a brick wall at full speed. Totally my fault, I was looking at Jessie Taylor and her brother fight about something and didn’t see the mountain in front of me. My books went flying one way and my glasses the other.
    He never commented about my beet red face. Not a word about my stammering apology. He acted like it was all his fault, apologizing as he helped me retrieve my stuff. Like I said, a nice guy. And you’ve got to admit that’s unusual for a jock.
    He sat at the front of the class in fourth period and stared at the front wall. His shoulders straight