Free In Your Arms by Becky Andrews Page B

Josh snarled.
    Sam started stumbling backwards, desperate to get away from him.
    “You okay, Baker? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost,” Josh commented, peering at her intently.
    “Uh, no, I’m…uh…I’m fine. Sorry I ran into you. I really have to go,” Sam said as she turned around and made a run toward the front entrance. She was too scared to look back as Josh shouted her name. The only thing she could think of was whether he had figured out she knew his secret.
    She ran out the door, straight to her car. Sam threw her backpack in the car and locked the doors. Her hands shook as she tried to put the key in the ignition.
    “Sam!” Michael said as he lightly tapped on her window.
    Sam screamed at the top of her lungs when she heard her name. She turned her head and saw Michael standing outside her car. Her heart was racing.
    “Are you okay, Sam?”
    She turned her key and rolled down the window.
    “Yeah. Why are you here, Michael?”
    “Oh, late tutor session. I just saw you running in the hall and you looked scared. Especially after Josh started calling after you.”
    “Oh yeah, I’m just late for, uh, my time with Alex.”
    “Right, sorry I bothered you then. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
    “Sure, see you later,” she said.
    Sam rolled up her window and made her way out of the parking lot.
     
    * * *
     
    “Sam, what are you doing here?” Alex said when Sam walked into her room a few minutes later. “I thought you said you weren’t coming over today.”
    “I know, but then I bumped into Josh and I have to tell you something.”
    “Oh my God, don’t tell me you like that Josh guy now.”
    “God, no! Why would you say something like that? It’s about the school shooting,” Sam said with a shudder.
    “Oh, well, then go on, you can tell me.”
    Sam told Alex the whole story, how she had lied about where she was when the shooting occurred, how she saw the whole thing take place, and how Chris hadn’t shot himself, but been murdered by Josh McFadden. Sam told her the whole story, even what had taken place earlier that day, and how she’d seen Tracy and Mr. Stevens making out in his classroom. She just couldn’t keep it all held inside any longer. She felt like she was losing her mind.
    “Now tell me what I should do!” Sam was annoyed that her friend kept dwelling on the fact that Tracy and Mr. Stevens were together and not focusing on her current situation with Josh and Billy.
    “Well, Josh will only find out that you lied if you keep acting weird around him. Just be yourself—”
    “It’s kind of hard when I know he’s killed someone!” Sam cried.
    “Why don’t you just go to the police? That seems like the smart thing to do.”
    “Because, Josh’s dad will just hire some big shot lawyer to get him out of it, and when he does get out, he’ll know I’m the one who told and I’ll be the one he’s coming after.”
    “Sam, you can’t just pretend that Josh didn’t kill Chris,” Alex said with a frown.
    “Don’t you think I know that? But I can’t do anything about it, unless I want to end up just like Chris!”
    “Calm down, Sam, it’s okay,” Alex said, trying to hide her own shaking hands by putting them in her pockets. “We’ll keep quiet then, until we come up with something. Can’t you tell your father? I mean, he is a lawyer, he would know how to handle this.”
    “I can’t tell my father. He’ll just tell the police. I have to figure this out myself.”
    “Well, what about Tracy and Mr. Stevens?” Alex asked.
    “What about them? You can’t tell anyone!” Sam said, looking Alex in the eyes.
    “What? I won’t. I promise. I swear, but you know if you tell Phillip, he will be a free man. I'm just so glad you have this thing going on with Phillip, something to keep our minds occupied with, so that we don’t have to think about the other stuff.”
    “Al, I can’t tell him. That would be wrong. I can’t, I won’t.”
    “Not even if it meant that he