Trouble With Liberty Read Online Free PDF Page B

left. Then my dad ran me a bubble bath and made me spend the rest of the day in bed. He brought me tea and scones and sat with me the whole time. I felt like a princess. He even canceled an important business trip so I wouldn’t have to go through this alone.”
    I wanted to say, “
What about your mom? Wouldn’t she be with you?
” But it didn’t seem like Mrs. Hayes was Liberty’s favorite person, so I kept my mouth shut.
    Out of the corner of my eye I saw Cody coming our way. I knew he was anxious to talk to Liberty, but I also knew he was worried about saying the wrong thing and upsetting her all over again. Considering her mood, I didn’t see a problem.
    I nodded in Cody’s direction. “Here comes your boyfriend.”
    It was like I’d flipped a switch. Liberty dropped her books and spun around. “Oh, Cody!” she cried, running at him and throwing her arms around his neck. “Oh, Cody, it was so awful.”
    After school Cody rode the bus with Liberty, so Mom dragged me to the grocery store with her.
    â€œI just need to pick up a few things,” she said. Half an hour later she was still going strong. In an effort to speed up the process, I sneaked a peek at her list and headed for the pasta aisle. In three minutes I was back, dumping the spaghetti into the cart.
    â€œNot on the tomatoes, Val!” Mom complained.
    â€œOops. Sorry,” I said, quickly rearranging the groceries. “What else do you need?”
    She didn’t even look up from the green beans she was picking through. “Just a couple of onions.”
    â€œWhere are they?” I said, tearing a plastic bag from a roll and grabbing a twist tie.
    â€œRight next to the potatoes.”
    â€œGot it.” I turned to go, but froze in mid-stride.
    Mom looked up. “What’s the matter?”
    â€œOver there by the carrots,” I whispered out of the side of my mouth. “That’s Mr. Henderson’s wife.”
    Mom glanced over. “So?”
    â€œSo I can’t believe she’s here! Look. People are staring at her and she’s acting like she doesn’t even notice.”
    Mom shook her head and went back to her beans. “What do you expect her to do?” she muttered.
    I rolled my eyes. My mother was so clued out.
    â€œHer husband tried to rape a student! She has to know everyone in town is talking about it.”
    â€œWell, shame on them if they are,” Mom snapped. “And shame on you too. Obviously you didn’t hear a word your father said last night. You’ve already found your teacher guilty — and by the looks of it, his family too. The Hendersons are under enough stress without having to worry about malicious gossip.”
    Then she pushed past me and got the onions herself.

Chapter Eight
    The Tattler
is the town paper. It comes out once a week, but because not a lot happens in Sutter’s Crossing, there isn’t usually much to it. So the story about Liberty and Mr. Henderson should have been splashed all over the front page. But it wasn’t. In fact, the only mention of it was a measly couple of sentences near the back.
    â€œLook.” I flipped the paper across the table to Cody. It landed on top of his math homework.
    â€œDo you mind?” He glared at me from under lowered eyebrows.
    â€œWell, excuse me,” I sniped back. “I thought you might be interested in the article about Liberty.”
    Cody put down his pencil and picked up the paper.
    â€œWhere?” he said, scanning the page.
    I reached across the mound of school books and tapped the article with my pen. “This one here —
Local Teacher Suspended
.”
    Cody read the article out loud.
    â€œJust a month into the school year, Clarence Cobb Regional Secondary School is already short a teacher. David Henderson, the band instructor, was suspended last week following allegations of behavioral misconduct involving a student.