Free Top of the Class by Kelly Green

relief. “Thank God! Frank Schecter is a lowlife. You, on the other hand…you are marvelous. I love you so much.”
    As Linda sang my praises, I tried to conjure the image of my real mother, whatever her name was.
    “Mom,” I said. “I saw your PTA video. You were great.”
    She whimpered. I heard the unmistakable sound of crying.
    “What’s wrong?” I asked.
    “I just…I feel like you’re back. I don’t know where you’ve been lately, but I feel like I got my boy back.”
    I had a pretty good idea of where Eric had been.
    “I gotta make another phone call, Mom,” I said. “I’ll be home soon.”
    I hung up and scrolled through the contacts, stopping at the listing for “DR,” which could have meant “doctor” or, more likely, “Davida Rogers.”
    She picked up after two rings.
    “Why hello there,” she cooed.
    “I’ve been exonerated,” I said.
    “I know. Word is already flying around the school. Maybe we can celebrate later. You can come to my apartment this time.”
    “Actually,” I said, “I can’t. I have to go home.”
    “Home?” she whined. “That’s not where fun things happen, Eric.”
    I hesitated before going on. Would Eric really want this? I didn’t know. But I was sent into Eric’s life because he needed someone who could see it clearly, and it was clear to me what had to happen.
    “Listen, I can’t do this anymore. This whole thing.”
    Miss Rogers was silent.
    “I don’t want to have to uphold a code of silence,” I said. Secrets are no fun , I thought. At least according to Will. “The University of Virginia is a long way away from Evanston, anyway, and that’s where I’ll be in a year.”
    Miss Rogers raised her voice. “But you knew that going in, Eric! Why did you make me start this in the first place? I risked everything to be with you, because I loved you. And you said you loved me too.”
    “I do love you,” I said. “But I didn’t make you do anything. It was your decision.”
    Maybe Eric wouldn’t want it right now, but years later, when he had graduated from college and was living in DC, working as a senator’s aide, lying in bed next to his fantastic girlfriend who was his age and required nothing of him but love—no secrets, no risk—he’d thank himself for somehow acquiring the momentary fortitude to break up with Miss Rogers.
    “Screw you,” she said, and hung up.
    I put my phone in my pants pocket and closed my eyes, breathing in the smell of fall, the rushing wind, the orange leaves, the sense that anything was possible.
    When I opened them again, I saw the police officers exiting the school, with Principal Schecter in front of them, his hands cuffed behind his back. As they passed me on the way to the police car, Schecter turned and locked eyes with me for a moment. I thought maybe he’d apologize, or call me a bastard, or spit in my face, but he just looked at me and smiled.
    “Goodbye, Abby Grace,” he said.
    Wait. What did he say?
    I rushed toward him, but my knees gave out. The now-familiar darkness was starting to cloud my vision. No, no, don’t leave now, I thought. I have to find out how he knows I’m Abby Grace!
    But it was too late. I was caught in the swirl of static. It spun me around, tangling me up in a thickening whirl of departure, and before I could do anything more than call out, I was leaving Eric’s body.
    And I was gone.

Author’sBiography
     
    K elly Green spent her childhood loving ghost stories and s’mores. The ghost stories stuck. Girl Steals Guy is the second episode in her new series, Borrowing Abby Grace .
     
    Follow Kelly: www.twitter.com/BorrowingAbby
    www.BorrowingAbbyGrace.com
     
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