Free Swept Away by Nicole O'Dell Page B

hugged her. They clung to each other.
    “Congratulations.” Brittany squeezed her tightly. “I’m so glad it’s over.”
    “Me, too.” Amber laughed. “Believe me.”
    Principal Warner shook Amber’s hand. “There will be someone here from the newspaper to take your picture with Dave Druthers by the car after school. You can drive it home today, but there’ll be a ceremony at graduation where Mr. Druthers will formally present you with the keys and the title.” He grinned. “Congratulations.”
    Amber didn’t know what to say. It would have been so much better if she’d won it the right way. But still …
    “I hate to break up this love fest, but there are classes going on.” Principal Warner checked his watch. “You two need to get back to class.”
    “All right. Give me a few minutes with my mom and dad, okay?”
    Brittany walked into the school with Principal Warner, leaving Amber outside with her parents.
    Mom stepped forward and embraced her.
    “We’re so proud of you, sweetheart.”
    Dad wiped his eyes. “We’ve never been more proud of you than we are at this moment.”

    “I really need to talk to you.” Kyle hopped into the passenger seat when Amber pulled her new car into a parking spot. “Mmmm. I love the smell of a new car.” He rubbed the dashboard.
    “Me, too. What’s up?”
    “We have a problem.”
    Amber’s face whitened, and her eyes opened wide. “What kind of problem?”
    “We’re about to get caught.” He held up a finger. “I should say, they’re about to find out someone cheated.”
    “H-h-how? W-who’s about to find out?” Amber started to tremble. She’d never been in trouble before—especially not like this.
    “Don’t panic. I set it up so we won’t get blamed for it.” He shuffled and his eyes darted side to side—definitely hiding something.
    “Okay, then who will?” Amber’s heart sank, instinctively afraid of the answer.
    “It had to be Brittany, kiddo. It’s how it had to be.”
    Amber turned white and froze in place. “You framed Brittany for this? How could you do that?”
    “Well, actually, it was quite easy. I hacked her password
—bkim
—and made the access on a day and time when she really was in the computer room—at least according to the signin log.”
    “I didn’t mean how
did
you do it. I meant, how
could
you do it? I mean, it’s bad enough I cheated against her, but it’s so much worse now that she’s going to get in trouble for it.” Amber pounded her forehead on the steering wheel a few times.
    Amber noticed students streaming into the school, so she assumed the bell rang. In a huff, she grabbed her bag from the backseat and almost slammed the door, but managed to hold back. As they hurried toward the front entrance, she hissed at Kyle, “Fix this!”
    “Fixing it means you take the rap, kiddo. Your call. I’m not doing it.” He took off in the other direction lighting a cigarette—apparently not attending school that day.
    As she headed toward her class, the intercom squeaked. “Brittany Kim, please come to the office immediately.”
    Amber wanted nothing more than to get in her car and drive away from the school as fast as she could. She slumped into her classroom and tried to focus, but she couldn’t concentrate on anything but the thought of what could be happening in the office. At that very moment, Brittany faced sheer heartbreak—and Amber was completely to blame.
    Part of her wanted to run right down to the office and put a stop to it, but the logical side of her brain reminded her they’d take away her car and her scholarship if she admitted to cheating—no way could she allow that to happen. But as things stood, Brittany was in trouble. How could she watch her best friend lose everything because of her? What kind of person could do that?
    But her whole life depended on that scholarship and her family needed that car.
What have I done?
    Class ended, and then another one started and ended. No word of