Free Heartbeat by Elizabeth Scott Page B

look at her. If she’d had a helmet on, she’d have lived. Broken bones, sure. But she’d have lived.”
    I don’t know what to say. I look down at my crumpled bag of cotton candy. I pick up one of the bits I pulled free. The first bite is what I remember—the pure, almost-crisp taste of sugar followed by a hint of bitter, like there’s so much sweet my mouth can’t process it all. It hurts, a little, to swallow. “If I skip second period, will I get detention?”
    He nods.
    “I can’t get detention. The...you know. Seeing my mom. I guess you can’t get it either. You have to be at the hospital or else you’ll get in trouble, right? With the judge or whatever and your parents?”
    “How come you haven’t said anything about me killing Millie?” His voice is so quiet.
    “Because you didn’t. She was hit by a car. You couldn’t have stopped that.”
    “If I’d made her wear her helmet...”
    “She knew she was supposed to wear one. You can’t take the blame for that.”
    “Maybe.” He swallows. “My parents think I should.”
    “My mother thought having a baby would make my family better,” I say, and I hear how my voice is shaking, dig my fingers into my palms. “She was wrong. Parents can be wrong.”
    The bell rings then, and both of us jump a little. Both of us look at each other.
    “See you, Emma,” Caleb finally says, and then disappears down a hallway before I can say anything in reply.
    I don’t see him at the hospital that afternoon, and Dan spends a long time talking to the doctor. I whisper to Mom about the bread and how I’d forgotten about it.
    “‘I met—there’s someone who understands,” I say. I haven’t talked to her about a guy since the Anthony nightmare.
    “It’s Caleb Harrison,” I say, and everyone would have something to say about that. Even Dan tried to say something that first time.
    But she doesn’t reply. Her stomach doesn’t even move.
    When it’s time to go, Dan drives back to the house quickly, silently, and doesn’t say anything to me when we get there, just gets out and goes inside.
    Bad news about the baby, I bet.
    I thought I’d be happy about it, but I’m—
    I’m not.
    I’m not happy. I’m not sad. I’m just...here. Numb.
    I go up to my room and open my window. There’s a note taped to it, Olivia’s scrawled Emma on the front.
    And on my roof is Caleb.

22
    “Caleb?” I say, like he’s not sitting right there, like I can’t see him sitting with his legs crossed, his hair blowing a little in the wind.
    “Hey,” he says. “I didn’t see you at the hospital this afternoon. I got stuck working on another floor. And I...I heard you and Olivia talking about the whole roof thing a while ago. Not that I meant to or anything, but I—” He breaks off, and although the sun is setting, I swear Caleb Harrison, car thief, is blushing.
    “Anyway,” he says, “I just came over. I don’t know why.”
    He is blushing. Who would have thought Caleb Harrison could blush?
    I look at him, and then climb out onto the roof. I’ve been out here with Olivia, and it’s not so different with Caleb. I sit down next to him and a strand of his hair blows across my face, making my skin prickle.
    It might be a little different.
    I open the note from Olivia. She has pink stationery with little dots on it that she uses for important messages, and there are matching envelopes too. Those only get used for very special messages.
    This message is in one of those envelopes, and apparently she’s with Roger, who asked her out when she was leaving school. They’re going to watch TV at his house.
    This is something, right? she’s written, and then Call me later!
    Call me later! is underlined three times and I know she must be happy and nervous because of how hard her pen has dug into the paper.
    “So what’s up with you getting letters on your window?” Caleb says as I’m putting the note away. “Nobody writes anymore.”
    “Olivia does. You know about her