Free Me & My Invisible Guy by Sarah Jeffrey

lifted an eyebrow at me. “Just had to bring her up, didn’t you?”
    Tess answered, and I could hear indistinct yelling through the phone. Tess shook her head at me. “I know, Mom. I’m taking care of it. Yes. Yes!” Tess jammed her finger at the phone to hang it up. “We need to make another detour.”
    We drove toward Tess’s house in silence, knowing theshopping trip, no matter how much Tess needed it, probably wouldn’t happen. Tess pulled into her driveway and parked the car.
    She spoke without looking at me. “You may want to wait in the car. It looks like Darren is still here.”
    “I want to come with you, but… it’s up to you.” I didn’t want to make things any harder on her, but I also didn’t want to let her go inside alone.
    Tess gave a heavy shrug of her shoulder. “It doesn’t matter.”
    That was enough for me. I followed her up to the door, where she paused before pushing it open.
    Darren was sitting in the small living room, a glass beer bottle in his hand, watching TV. He was scrawny and stubbly and dressed in dirty jeans. The shades were all drawn, making the room feel stuffy and dingy.
    “Hey, baby.” Darren laughed, and wiped his hand across his dirty tank top.
    “I’m not your baby,” Tess snarled. “Where’s Mom?”
    “Tessie, is that you?” Her mom’s voice carried in from another room.
    Tess gave Darren a wide berth and went into the kitchen. I followed the same path and ignored Darren’s obvious leering.
    Tess’s mom was standing in the kitchen, wearing ratty sweatpants and a too-big T-shirt with a fraying robe on top. Her blond hair was hanging in greasy strings, and she had a bruise on her jawline.
    “There’s no more chips! Darren really wanted to have chips. Why didn’t you go to the grocery store?” She was pleading as if she were the kid.
    Tess wasn’t having any of it. “There’s plenty of food, Mom.”
    “But not the chips Darren likes.”
    “That’s because you need to get Darren out of here, Mom. We talked about this. He can’t stay here.”
    Tess’s mom burst into tears. “Why are you doing this to me? Why can’t you just be happy for me?” She flung herself from the room, and Tess looked at me. “I’ve got to take some clothes to Ashley.”
    I followed Tess to Ashley’s bedroom and watched her throw some clothes into a polka-dot bag on the bed.
    “Tess.”
    “Don’t, Mallory. I need to do this.”
    I leaned against the wall. “You are so stubborn.”
    “I have to be. Once I get Darren out of here again, it’ll all calm down. He makes everything ten times worse.”
    “What will you do?”
    Tess lifted her head and smirked. “Call his parole officer. Anonymously, of course. It’ll only get rid of him for six months, but I’ll take what I can get.”
    “You’re the bravest person I know.”
    “I don’t know about that.” Tess zipped up the bag. “That should do it.”
    Tess drove to Ashley’s friend’s house and dropped off the bag, then drove toward the mall. On the way, she made the call to the parole officer.
    “Will they pick him up?” I asked when she hung up.
    “Hopefully.”
    “You still want to go shopping?” I asked.
    “Absolutely. Don’t you?”
    I shrugged.
    “Forget about it, Mallory. You’ve just got to push it aside and live your life. It’s all you can do. Distraction can be a girl’s best friend.” Tess nudged my shoulder playfully.
    My phone rang, and I looked at the display.
    “Oh, no. It’s Liam,” I whispered.
    “Answer it.”
    I stared at the phone until Tess snatched it from my hand and put it to her ear.
    “Mallory’s phone. Why, yes, she is. No, we’re at the mall. Sure, meet us at the food court at one. Okay, bye.”
    Tess closed the phone.
    “What did you do?”
    “What? He wanted to get out of the house.”
    “Tess!”
    “What? You said last night was great, that you got along.”
    “I don’t want to make him sick of me.” What I didn’t say was that I was afraid. Afraid