The Year of the Great Seventh Read Online Free PDF

from her face, she continued, “My family knows Ethan’s family, and I also happen to know that his parents weighed the possibility of pressing charges against Nate, but Ethan is already in enough trouble with the law due to his DUIs, and ultimately, Ethan’s parents decided to not press charges.”
    Emma would definitely be impressed with the ability of this girl to gather information. “Thanks,” I replied.
    The two girls smiled at each other and moved on to talk about their friend’s birthday party.
    Surely Ethan wasn’t going to be thrilled about Nate walking away without facing any consequences, neither from the school nor from the police. Having both of them at school through the semester was like a ticking time bomb. As long as they didn’t involve me in their problems a second time around, though, I didn’t care what they did.
    Once at school, I waited for everyone to get out of the bus, as I was done with my fifteen minutes of fame. But as I drifted across the lawn, looking for my friends, I could hear the students whispering as I passed them. They followed me with their gaze, and I fixed my eyes on the ground, letting my loose hair cover part of my face. I couldn’t take so much attention.
    My friends were at our usual bench. I rushed to the safety of their side, but Emma, Megan, Tyson, and Chase were also staring at me as though I had one leg and three eyes.
    “Hi, what’s with the staring?” I asked, shrugging.
    None of them said anything. I felt my chest tightening. Emma and Megan were sitting in the middle of the bench and Tyson and Chase, on either side, seemed to be their bodyguards. They were defiantly waiting for me to make an announcement. The problem was that I didn’t know what they were expecting me to say.
    “What’s up?” I asked, testing the waters. “You look like you saw a monster right before I arrived.”
    Everyone else behind the gymnasium seemed to have gone back to minding their own business.
    Emma’s intrigued look was nerve-wracking. She finally spoke, opening Pandora’s box. “We’re still shocked about Nate’s reaction last Saturday. It’s one thing to protect you from Ethan’s wandering hands, but another to almost kill him. What’s wrong with that guy? He totally lost it.”
    “What do you want me to do? I didn’t ask him to defend me,” I murmured nervously, holding my hands together as though I didn’t know what to do with them. Standing in front of them felt like I was trying to make the jury believe my alibi.
    “People at school are saying that you asked Nate to teach Ethan a lesson,” Megan said, shaking her head. Her lips curled. “After all, Nate was defending you when he left Ethan unconscious.”
    This was absolutely unfair because I didn’t deserve to be accused of conspiring with Nate. I didn’t even know him. Why would anyone blame me for anything when it was Ethan who started the whole episode by grabbing me? I went to that party to meet Travis Roy, not to trigger any fight.
    “I can’t believe you’re suggesting I was at that party on some obscure mission,” I mumbled. “Just think how absurd that sounds.” I couldn’t believe my friends doubted me.
    Just then I spotted Ethan on another bench farther down. His dark bruised face magnified the redness of his eyes. A bandage covered his nose. He was talking to a friend, and after propping a hockey stick against the gymnasium wall, he glanced at me. I needed to know how bad the situation was before Ethan accosted us.
    I took a long breath and gathered the courage to make them talk. I wanted to know the truth, and only the truth, before it was too late. I formed the question that was foremost in my thoughts. “Does Ethan think I asked Nate to beat him up?”
    They looked at each other and none of them said a word. I stared into Tyson’s eyes, but instead of speaking what he knew, he brought his gaze down to avoid meeting mine.
    “Please, Tyson! I need to know.” I begged, squatting