Free A Way (The Voyagers Book 1) by Tara Lutz Page B

Their new school teacher didn’t even suspect it wasn’t the name he was given at birth. 
    Jessie gave no explanation for calling him Dex.  She looked at him one day, when they were sitting on a rock at their favorite swimming spot, tilted her head and said, “Race you to the island, ex.” Then she jumped in the water and was gone. 
    She was seven, he was nine and from that day forward he was Dex.  He seemed to be always running behind Jessie, trying to keep up .  ‘Race you to the islan dex.’
    *******
    Up ahead of them, other kids from their class streamed down the street in the direction of their school house.  William, who sometimes helped out at their farm, in the summer, was mooning after Rebecca Moreland, the daughter of the man who owned the town store.  She stepped off the front porch, ignored William and stared directly at Dex, with her liquid gold eyes.  Her cat-like stare made Dex uncomfortable, he regretted even looking in her vicinity.  A boy named Garrett, who thought it was funny to pull girl’s pig tails - Dex dared him to try that with Jessie –turned towards them, walking backwards, calling to his brother, Joshua, to hurry up.  That reminded him.  He also turned, to make sure his brother and best friend were close behind.  They were both watching Dex and Jessie, Peter with a pout, Gerald with a smirk.
    Even with these observations, he was paying little attention to the activity surrounding him. He certainly didn’t notice Rebecca hovering behind them, wondering what it was about Jessie that caused Dex to never take his eyes off her. He was too busy mourning the fact that his favorite time of the day was almost over.  Jessie was like a breath of fresh air every morning.  He wished their walk could go on forever.  After school, she went to her job at Moreland’s mercantile, while he rushed home to his chores. 
    Lately, his father had been more strict than usual.  “Make sure you come straight home from school boy.  No time to be messing around,” he yelled out to his son, when Dex was leaving for school that morning.  His father turned and walked into the forest behind their house, in the opposite direction from the fields where he worked daily.  Dex wondered where he went every morning. His father acted like there was something he forgot to check the night before and wanted to make sure it was still there. Why he was allowed to be ‘messing around’?
    For the last few minutes, Jessie and Dex had been walking quietly, close together, as they watched their classmates enter the school.  Both of them were thinking the same thing.  Jessie moved closer to him, dropping her hand and letting the back of it whisper along the back of his.  Too quickly, Dex felt her arm return to support her heavy load of books.  The short pause in their steps gave their dawdling brothers a chance to go in front of them.  They slowed their steps even more and reluctantly climbed the remaining stairs into the school.  The bell started to chime, signaling the start of their endless school day of sitting apart. 
    Even though Jessie’s desk was situated only two desks away from his own, he felt that the distance was still too great.  He would drift between lessons, watching her shoulders move up and down. Her shining blond braided hair lifting with each breath she took.   He was not quite sure what was happening to him. 
    An elbow to the ribs, compliments of Gerald, shook out Dex out of his day dream. His friend leaned over and looked at his empty slate.  They were supposed to be solving arithmetic problems from page – he didn’t know – to page - he had no idea - in their text books.
    “Hey you better get something written down on that or you will end up over there.”  Gerald motioned to Emmett, the class trouble maker, sitting in the corner, a pointy cap stuck on his head.
    Dex hadn’t even noticed what the kid had done this time.  He had been too busy watching Jessie, hoping she