Free The Memory Thief by Rachel Keener Page A

at the size of that bug,” one of them said.
    “Where?”
    “Over there.” He pointed at Hannah. “That bug caught in that big web of hair.”
    “Awww. Let’s cut it free. ’Fore some spider gets it.”
    “Stop it,” Sam said, stepping out from behind them.
    “You seen anything like that before?” one of the boys asked.
    “No,” he said, not looking at her. “But the dance has started. We’re already late.” He turned to one of the cheerleaders.
     Hannah recognized her as the girl with the red dress. “I forgot somethin’ back in the locker room. Catch a ride with Bo and
     I’ll see you there.”
    “Awright,” she cooed. “Don’t be long, though. I don’t wanna dance with nobody but the King.”
    He laughed and returned to the locker room while Hannah waited. When he was sure they were gone, he came back.
    “What in the world?” he said, smiling. “What are you doin’ down here, Yank? I didn’t think your daddy would be bridgin’ again
     till next summer.”
    “Thought I’d surprise you. Saw you play tonight. You were amazing.”
    He hugged her. “Gosh, I missed you.”
    She stayed there in his arms, her head against his shoulder, until he pulled away.
    “Your folks know the game’s over? You need to call ’em or somethin’?”
    She shook her head. “I was hoping we could go somewhere.”
    “Wish I could. But I’ve gotta go to the homecomin’ dance. Wouldn’t be right for the King not to show up.”
    “I could come with you.”
    He laughed softly. “This ain’t your type of thing.”
    “It might be.”
    “Nah. You’re a boatin’ girl. A deep water Yank. You ain’t meant for silly high school dances.”
    “You’re worried what those boys will think. The ones that were laughing at me.”
    He held his palms out in surrender. “We ain’t on the island anymore, Hannah. This is high school we’re dealin’ with here.
     My senior year. My last homecomin’ dance, and I’m King. And I’m supposed to go with the Queen, that’s practically in all the
     rule books. I’ll hang out with you a bunch next summer. But if I show up with you instead of the Queen, they’ll eat us alive.”
    Hannah backed away, shaking her head. She tried to take a deep breath, and when she couldn’t she closed her eyes so that she
     wouldn’t see him, standing there but wanting to leave. She remembered kneeling before him on the boat, working on the nets
     and believing that he was right. Believing that she was pretty. She tried desperately to feel that way again. To be his pretty
     Yank just once more. She grabbed fistfuls of hair and spread it across her shoulders. She prayed the moon would shine upon
     her and make her glow. “Like sweet corn,” she whispered.
    She looked at him then, and remembered the feel of the old cotton field beneath her. The live oak twisting above her. She
     remembered Sam, like the ocean. Freeing her from polyester. Freeing her from everything she thought she was, everything she
     was supposed to be. “I’ll change for you,” she begged. “I’ll be a queen for you.” She blinked her eyes and saw the picture
     of Leah. So pretty and curvy in her black pants and red turtleneck. So very queenlike with her red apple lipstick.
    He shook his head. “We’re different. No point pretendin’ we ain’t. We never went anywhere public together, even on the island.
     We went to the deep water. To the plantation. We went under them live oaks.”
    “But I gave you everything.”
    He nodded his head slowly. “It was a big deal for you. I should’ve thought ’bout that, before… But it ain’t such a big thing
     to the folks that I know. I’m sorry, I just got caught up in that night. With that house. Them oak trees. And you, lookin’
     like some golden antique yourself, with your hair and your long skirt. Like you was somethin’ the Yanks left behind, too.”
    “I gave you my whole life that night.”
    Somewhere behind the stadium a car honked its horn.
    “I ain’t