Free Swipe by Evan Angler

day was slow, but Logan’s mind couldn’t have stopped racing if he’d begged it to. All those years spent certain he was crazy, exasperating his parents, visiting doctors and refusing prescriptions, answering questions and absorbing doubts and suspicions that were anything but fair . . . all of that, overturned in an instant by one stalking silhouette. He’d been right. This whole time. And he didn’t know what to do about it.
    He hadn’t told his parents. If they’d believed the story of his walk home, it would have been a miracle; more likely it only would have led to a disappointed look and perhaps another doctor’s appointment.
    He would not tell Erin either. Logan was already angry with himself for going on so long about his sister and his fears the night before. Next time he and Erin talked, Logan was determined it would be about how much homework they had, or how the teachers compared to those in Beacon, or where to find the best pizza in town, or which after-school activities they might be interested in joining together.
    â€œSo!” Logan said. “Got any big plans tonight?” By the time economics rolled around, he had practiced this opening line about a hundred times.
    â€œHuh?” Erin asked. She looked at him as if from a far-off place.
    â€œUh . . .” Logan cleared his throat. “I said, ‘Got any big plans tonight?’” He’d rehearsed the words so extensively in his head that when he said them a second time, they came out in exactly the same cadence.
    â€œIt’s Tuesday,” Erin said, brushing him off. “Why would I have plans?”
    Logan was crushed. He couldn’t have guessed that her response was coming from a place of paranoia and guilt.
    Truthfully, Erin did have plans that night. And not only were they big; they were illegal. They would begin with the deliberate theft of classified information, and she couldn’t imagine they’d get any rosier from there.
    â€œI just . . . thought . . . maybe . . . I mean . . .” Logan struggled to form a complete sentence. He hadn’t prepared for this particular contingency.
    But Erin laughed in a way that was friendly and genuine, and Logan caught his breath and shut up.
    He’s not onto me , Erin thought. He’s just being dorky ol’ Logan .
    â€œI’ll prob’ly mostly be doing homework,” Erin lied. “Don’t wanna get behind already, being the new girl and all.”
    â€œThat’s smart,” Logan said. “I’ll probably be doing that too. Maybe study for the Pledge some.” He felt himself calming down now. This had been the idea. This was exactly the conversation he’d had in mind.
    â€œIf I finish early, maybe I’ll sneak a movie on my tablet,” Erin continued. She’d heard once that the key to dishonesty was specificity. “Sounds boring, I know.”
    â€œThat doesn’t sound boring.”
    â€œOh, it will be.” Erin laughed. “It’d just be some romantic comedy.”
    â€œI like romantic comedies,” Logan said.
    Erin laughed again, more nervously now. “Yeah, but . . . like . . . this’ll be a really awful one, though.”
    â€œHow bad could it — ”
    â€œBad,” she insisted. There was much too much to be done before her father got off work tonight for Logan to get any ideas about following her home again.
    But Logan wasn’t inviting himself over. He was simply making the small talk he had been so determined to make. And throughout the lesson, each time he’d lean over to whisper a joke, or to pretend to need clarification on a point the teacher had made, Logan forgot a little more completely about the stress he was under and the danger he was in.
    In all of it, Logan never once mentioned the stalker on his walk home from Erin’s the night before.
    And Erin never once mentioned her unfolding plans to moonlight as an unlicensed