Free Possessions by Nancy Holder Page B

in.”
    “It’s just a sprain,” Julie retorted, but her voice was shaky. “And I don’t want to be in trouble, even a little. I want to go back to Grose.” Julie looked at the guy. “Please?”
    “Sure,” he said, overruling me. “There’s a hole in the chain-link fence,” he told us. “You’ll have to crawl through.”
    “I can do that,” Julie said.
    He caught his lower lip and scratched his nose. He had dark eyebrows and just a hint of a five o’clock shadow. He was wearing a ring that caught the light. “You haven’t seen the hole yet.”
    He looked at me, and my knees wobbled. “I’m Troy, by the way,” he told me. “Troy Minear.”
    “Lindsay. Cavanaugh.”
    We stared at each other for a second, and I felt something pass between us. It was physical, but it was more than that. After Riley, I thought I was over guys forever. One of the most appealing things about Marlwood was that it was an all-girls school. But now I was trying very hard not to drool.
    “I could carry her,” he told me, pointing to Julie. I was normally a feminist type, but his heroic offer was seeming really hot right now. “Or two of you could let her sling her arms over your shoulders . . . what?” He cocked his head at me.
    “Nothing. Sorry.” I had just been wishing I was the one hurt. I definitely wouldn’t mind being carried. I looked at Ida and Claire. “Are you guys in?”
    “Yeah.” Ida bent down and picked up the weird porcelain head. “Is this what you tripped over, Julie?”
    Julie nodded. “I want to keep it.” She reached out her arms. She looked guiltily at me. “If it’s valuable, I’ll give it back.”
    “What is it, a head?” Troy said. “I’ll carry it for you.” He took it from Ida, wrapping his big hands around it as if it were a football. My imagination suited him up in shoulder pads and a helmet. Or maybe a basketball uniform. He was very tall, maybe too tall for football. If I ever tried to kiss him, I’d have to use a ladder.
    Stop . But my heart was skipping beats. He was too, too hot.
    And he was rescuing us—well, Julie, anyway.
    Troy and I eased Julie to a standing position while Ida and Claire pushed down her costume. Rose folded it up.
    “Can you put this in your trunk?” she asked him.
    “Don’t put any weight on your ankle,” I told Julie, as she slung her arm over our shoulders and we started walking. Poor Julie moaned and hopped along. It was awkward in the extreme.
    “Nice, kiddo,” Troy said. He was very gentle with her. “You look like a quarterback coming off the field.”
    We reached the chain-link fence. Ferns and ivy braided the diamonds. Ida shone her flashlight along it, and we saw the jagged gap, which, luckily, was flush with the ground. Troy went through first, crab walking, then grabbed the top links of the hole and tried to stretch them upward. Each of us squirmed through; part of my mom’s sweatshirt caught on the broken fence, tearing the arm.
    I helped Troy pull Julie through next. Julie sucked in her breath a lot, but we took our time. My fingers brushed Troy’s. I was hyperaware of touching him.
    At last, the six of us stood on a rise. A hill spread below us, and there was a dark shape in the trees. His car. He fished in his pocket and handed a ring of keys to me.
    “What kind of car do you have?” I asked. “So I’ll know which one it is.”
    He chuckled. “It’s an old T-bird, but it’s the only car down there.” Then he looked at Julie. “It’s steep. We’ll go slowly.”
    “This is really nice of you,” I said.
    He didn’t say anything, but he did smile. I slid ahead of them down the hillside. When I saw his car—the T-bird was vintage, beautifully restored from some long-ago era—I smiled, too; it wasn’t what I would have expected from a rich boy at a private school. A Mercedes or a Beemer, maybe.
    I got it open; Troy guided Julie into the passenger side while Claire, Ida, and Rose climbed into the back. I squished in on