Free On the Loose by Jenny B Jones Page B

showed them my preview script for Cinderella and told them about auditions, it was like they were forcing their enthusiasm. I know they are really into my drama efforts, so it was totally out of place. What if they got news yesterday? News they didn’t share with me. When I first arrived in their home, they were very secretive about their MIA daughter. Maybe Millie got bad news, and they’re hiding that from me too.
    “Where are my shoes?”
    Rinsing off the last of the soap, I stick my head out the shower.
    Angel tosses things out of her locker. Shirts and shorts fly everywhere. Her face is red from class. And from anger.
    “Somebody in here took my shoes!” She turns on Hannah. “Have you seen them? The ones I had on earlier?”
    Hannah collapses onto a bench. She mutely shakes her head.
    I towel off as Angel confronts every girl in the locker room. My t-shirt slides on just as Angel plants herself in front of me.
    “You.” Her nostrils flare.
    I stare at her for a few seconds. My face is totally blank. I will not let her think she is intimidating me.
    Which she is.
    “Do you know anything about the whereabouts of my shoes? My brown leather ones?”
    “Nope.” I grab my socks and take a seat.
    “They were here at the beginning of class, and now they’re gone.” Perspiration still clings to her skin.
    I concentrate on tying my shoelaces and don’t bother making eye contact with Angel. “Haven’t seen them.”
    She picks up a gym bag and throws it against the wall. Its contents spill out. “One of you lifted my shoes. I will find out who did it.” Angel’s eyes scan the room before her gaze lands on me. “And you will be sorry.”
    The cool air outside is like a big Band-Aid to my aching bones. James waves at me from his truck in the school parking lot. That’s odd. Millie usually picks me up.
    “Hey. How was your day?”
    I collapse into the passenger seat. “It was a PE day. Need I say more?” James smiles in response, but his attention seems elsewhere. Something is up.
    “I brought you some clothes. I’m gonna take you over to Frances’s house. You can study and eat dinner at her house, then ride with her family to church.”
    “Where’s Millie?”
    James hesitates. “We . . . ah, had a doctor’s appointment this morning. She had a little in-patient surgery.” He sees my thunderous expression. “It’s okay, Katie. She had a biopsy so we can get a better idea of what’s going on.”
    “Why didn’t you tell me? She had surgery and you just forgot to mention it?”
    “No, we didn’t forget. We didn’t want to upset you.”
    “That plan worked well.”
    He rests his hand on my arm. “It was a quick procedure. She’s been home all afternoon. Even been baking cookies—well, with Maxine’s ‘help.’”
    I turn away from him and look out the window. “When will you find anything out?” Or have you already, and you’re just keeping me in the dark? Again.
    “Soon.”
    “I could’ve gotten a ride with Frances, you know.” Unlike me, Frances is in the elite club of student drivers.
    “Millie sent your makeup because she knew you’d want it after PE.” He turns down Frances’s street. “And I wanted you to have your Bible.”
    “I do like to be hot and holy.” No, stop talking! I’m supposed to be mad. James and Millie are shutting me out of all of this, and I cannot act like it’s OK.
    James stops in the Vega driveway. “We’ll see you at church. And Katie . . .” James gives my hair a little tug. “Everything’s gonna be fine.”
    My foster dad drops me off with a wave. His cell phone is to his ear before he’s out of the driveway.
    What if he’s talking to Iola Smartly? Saying, hey, Millie’s got cancer, so come get this girl off our hands.
    No, think positive . Millie is one of the nicest, godliest people I know. God’s not gonna mess with someone like her. How totally unfair would that be? To her. To me.
    I walk past the small koi pond and as soon as