Free Run by Kody Keplinger

the slightly too tall, slightly too chubby girl with the white cane. No one was gonna think I was sexy. And, even if they did, I wasn’t sure there was anybody in Mursey I wanted to find me sexy.
    After a lot of going back and forth, I decided to embrace the last breath of summer and picked out a yellow sundress Mama had bought me last year. It fell just above my knees and had halter straps that tied behind my neck. I loved the way it hugged my curves, and even though Gracie used to tell me I was too pale to pull off yellow, it was my favorite color.
    I pulled my hair into a long ponytail and put on my nicest black sandals. Then I turned to face Bo, who’d been sitting on my bed, flipping through my braille books and asking me questions about them for the past two hours.
    “What do you think?” I asked.
    Bo hesitated. “Well … It’s nice. But you look like you’re going to homecoming, not a party in someone’s backyard.”
    I groaned. “I’ll change.”
    “No, no,” Bo said, hopping to her feet. “You look real nice. You should wear what you want. Besides, I think my cousin’s downstairs. I see his truck through your window.”
    I grabbed my cane and followed her downstairs. Daddy was home now, sitting in the recliner, watching TV. “Hey, honey,” he said. “I hear y’all are going to a party. Sounds fun.”
    “Yep.” I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “See you tonight, Daddy.”
    Bo and I were almost out the door when I heard Mama’s voice from the kitchen.
    “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” she hollered before coming into the living room. “Just a second, girls. Bo, you said your cousin is gonna be driving?”
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    “And I can trust him to be safe, right?”
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    “And he’ll have Agnes home by ten thirty.”
    “Uh-huh.”
    “Maybe I should come out there—meet him myself. Let me get my shoes.”
    “Oh, let them go, Maryann,” Daddy said. “I’m sure Bo’s cousin will get them there fine. If you want Agnes home by ten thirty, she’d better get going.”
    I’d never felt so grateful to Daddy in my life. But then he said: “The Hickmans don’t live far from here. If we get worried, we can just drive over there and check on her.”
    He laughed.
    I didn’t.
    “Okay,” Mama said, clearly resigned. “Just be careful. No drinking, no drugs—”
    “I know,” I said. “Bye, y’all.”
    “Good-bye, Mr. and Mrs. Atwood,” Bo said as we headed out the front door and onto the porch.
    It was already too dark for me to see much. The crickets and a few cicadas, still clinging to the dying summer, were singing their night songs. Two headlights shined from the driveway, giving me just enough light to follow Bo, who led me to the passenger’s side of a tall pickup truck.
    She opened the door and climbed in. I folded up my cane and hoisted myself in beside her, trying to keep my skirt down. The truck was tight quarters, but Bo was tiny enough to fit between me and the driver.
    “Agnes, this is my cousin,” Bo said, “Colt Dickinson. He just graduated in May.”
    Even though Bo had said her cousin was driving, it hadn’t occurred to me until just now that I’d be going to the party with two Dickinsons. Which probably should’ve worried me far more than it did.
    “Hey, Agnes,” said a boy’s voice from behind the wheel. I couldn’t see him at all, but I could already imagine the head full of strawberry-blond hair he must have, just like the rest of his family. “I was in the same class as your sister. Gracie at college now?”
    “Yeah,” I said. “UK.”
    “Good for her.”
    “Come on,” Bo said. “Agnes’s gotta be back by ten thirty. Y’all can get to know each other at the party.”
    None of us said much on the ride to Dana’s house. Colt had the radio tuned to a country station, and I caught myself humming along to a Tammy Wynette song as the truck bounced down gravel roads. Dana Hickman lived all the way across town, but Mursey was so small,