Free Someone Else by Rebecca Phillips Page B

on the living room couch. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in Robin’s bed at four in the morning and puking into a garbage can that someone had kindly placed beside me. After about an hour of that, I fell back to sleep and woke up again at eleven with the kind of headache that felt like someone had reached into my head, grabbed hold of my brain, and squeezed. It hurt to blink.
    After downing two Advil and the largest cup of coffee on earth, I felt good enough to go home and face my cell phone. Only one message waited for me, from Michael, sent about an hour ago. When I saw it, the same feelings I’d tried to bury under alcohol last night came rushing back to the surface. Still feeling a dull throb in my temples, I called him back.
    “Just checking to see how you’re feeling,” he said, sounding about as hungover as I felt. “And to apologize again for last night. I acted like an ass.”
    “I was the one who acted like an ass.”
    “How about we forget it ever happened?”
    Thoughts of last night’s phone call nudged through the clouds in my head. That girl’s voice, answering my call. Her laugh, so close in my ear. “I’ve already forgotten,” I said, knowing somehow that it wouldn’t be the last lie I’d ever tell him.

Chapter 7
     
     
    On Monday I wore black dress pants and a fitted white blouse to school. My job interview was at four-thirty and I planned to go straight from school. I even brought some makeup to put on later, which thrilled Jessica. She loved having a preening partner in the girl’s john.
    “Bronzer,” she said as we gathered our things after French. “That’s what you need. If you don’t have any, you can borrow mine.”
    I could safely say I didn’t have any bronzer, as I had no idea what it was. My makeup bag consisted of eyeliner, lip gloss, and that mineral foundation that Jessica had given me weeks ago.
    “It’ll give you a healthy glow,” she said. “No offense, but you’re looking kind of washed out today.”
    I didn’t mention the monster hangover I’d been nursing all weekend. “I guess I’m just nervous.”
    “Oh, you’ll do great. I bet he’ll hire you on the spot.”
    I gave her a smile. Jessica may have been “shallow and flakey”, as Ashley had claimed, and she may have been a little hypercritical, but deep down, under all that eye shadow and conditioner and cool indifference, there was a big heart. Ashley didn’t see it, but she also hadn’t seen Jessica’s face when she spoke about her mom dying, or when she gushed about her fish, or when she described something funny her little brother had said or done. She showed me what she kept hidden from most people, and that was why we were friends.
    We made a pit stop in the washroom because Jessica had to check out her hair, which according to her was “sticking up in one spot despite half a tube of gel”. By the time we got to the chemistry lab, McDowell had already started setting up. He glared at us as we scurried to our table. Well, I scurried while Jessica casually strolled.
    “We have a lot to cover today, people, so let’s get started,” the teacher said as I slid onto a stool next to Dylan, whose dimples were nowhere in sight. Surprisingly, he hadn’t followed Ashley’s lead and ditched us too.
    McDowell explained today’s lab, which had to do with transforming common metals into gold. After a boring Power Point presentation on the history of alchemy, we got our supplies: pennies, galvanized nails, and drain cleaner. I could see this as being potentially disastrous for my outfit, so I figured I’d stick with writing down the observations and leave the dirty work to Jess and Dylan.
    That was pretty much how it happened anyway. Dylan did all the heating and adding and rinsing while Jessica examined her manicure and I wrote stuff down. And through it all Dylan did not look at me once. I found this strange, especially after feeling the weight of his gaze all last week. It seemed he only