Free Out with the In Crowd by Stephanie Morrill Page A

our bathing suits on the beach. What I wouldn’t give to be there now, away from the frozen, barren land of Kansas, away from the drama. It wasn’t like going to Hawaii meant staying there forever. Maybe I could just go for the summer, get away for a bit.
    But Connor . . .
    “I’d be ready for something new, except . . .”
    Lisa grinned. “Except for a certain baseball player?”
    Lisa grinned. “Except for a certain baseball My face warmed. “Something like that.”
    “How funny. You spent all of high school hanging out with guys you didn’t care about, and now—last semester— you’ve got Connor.” She pointed down a hallway. “Gotta get going. Just wanted to tell you thanks.”
    “See ya,” I said.
    As I walked the short distance to study hall, I turned Lisa’s words over in my mind. She was right—I had Connor. How could I seriously consider leaving the one person who supported me when most everyone else mocked?
    The answer was simple—I couldn’t.
    “You’re quiet,” I observed as I drove Abbie and myself home.
    Abbie fiddled with a button on her jacket. “That’s because I’m trying to figure out how to tell you I’m giving the baby up for adoption.”
    I stiffened. So she’d decided. Those images I’d indulged— holding my niece for the first time, taking her shopping— wouldn’t happen. It had been stupid anyway, letting myself get attached. Hadn’t I learned my lesson about not getting my hopes up? But something about babies made it impossible to avoid feeling excited.
    “Please don’t be mad,” Abbie said, and I realized I’d just been sitting there in silence.
    “I’m not mad,” I assured her. “I’m . . . I don’t know what I am.”
    Abbie’s cheeks puffed, then she exhaled long and slow. “Yeah, me neither.”
    Yeah, me neither.”
    “You wanna talk about it?”
    Abbie fingered her seat belt. “It’s the same stuff we’ve said all along. I’m a sophomore in high school, I don’t want to be with Lance, and the last thing our house needs is a baby. This way I have the baby March 10 and am back at school by the time spring break is over.” She wiped away a tear. “And life goes back to normal.”
    It sounded so simple when Abbie stated it like that. Sure, just squirt the kid out and head back to school. Like we could ever forget that somewhere in the world, a little piece of my sister would be running around, and yet she would be a complete stranger to us all. The thought chilled me, and maybe it did Abbie too, because she shivered.
    “I have an appointment tomorrow with a counselor at Christian Family Services. They said I should bring an adult. Would you mind coming?”
    I didn’t know if I was exactly what they had in mind when they said an adult, but I said, “Whatever you need.”
    After the heavy conversation in the car, I hoped Dad had gone to the office so I wouldn’t have to face him. We hadn’t talked since the day before, and I didn’t know how to act around him. He’d cheated on Mom with her best friend and kept it to himself all these years, but it was hard to be too angry with him when at least he was home. These days, Mom seemed eager to cut and run while the rest of us loafed around the house, waiting for her to decide to come home. I no longer knew who deserved my allegiance—the parent who’d screwed up back then, or the one who did now.
    I opened the garage door to find Dad standing in the hallway wearing a tight smile. “Hi, girls, how was your day?”
    “Fine,” we said.
    The three of us stood there in the tiny space, just watching each other. Dad’s smile grew more strained. “Well. Do you have lots of homework?”
    Abbie shrugged. I said, “Some.”
    He nodded. “I’m ordering takeout, Abbie. You in the mood for anything special?”
    “Whatever.”
    “Or I could attempt to cook.”
    Abbie didn’t smile back. “I’m gonna go lay down.”
    “Okay, honey.” Dad ruffled her auburn hair as she passed, then looked at me.