Free Vanished by E. E. Cooper Page A

gave the yearly talk on how we should all avoid drugs, and let her know if we knew anyone was planning to go all video game crazed and shoot the school up. Every so often she wandered the halls like a sheriff in an old Western movie, minus the white hat and jangling spurs.
    Jason wasn’t wearing handcuffs, but he looked scared. His shoulders were up around his ears. He saw me standing in the parking lot and he stopped. Officer Siegel followed his gaze. I had an urge to drop to the ground behind my car so she wouldn’t see me. I didn’t want to be connected to any of this. She took Jason’s elbow and guided him toward her car. People were standing by the front door, staring and whispering.
    The reality of what was happening hit me like a door being slammed in my face. God, Brit must be freaking out . “They can’t really think he did something to Beth, can they?” I watched the cop car pull out of the lot, the tires grumbling through the gravel. “Beth texted me. She’s fine. She just wanted to get away. Why are the cops involved?”
    Zach shrugged. “He was the last person to see Beth and they were fighting. I think it makes people wonder if theirfight had something to do with her leaving. Or maybe the cops know something about Beth that we don’t.”
    My brain screeched to a hard stop. “No.” Panic nibbled on the edge of my thoughts. It’s my nature to assume the worst, but she had to have taken off on her own. She’d used her ATM card. She’d talked to Britney. She’d texted me. She had to be okay.
    I wanted to believe she’d come back when she was ready. But if the cops were questioning Jason . . .
    I swallowed hard. I felt like I might throw up.
    Zach rubbed my back in slow circles. His hand was the only thing keeping me from flying apart in a million jagged pieces. “I don’t think anyone believes Jason did anything bad to Beth. Her parents just want some answers.”
    I pulled on my sleeves so they covered my hands. Zach kept talking. “Maybe they were fighting about if they should tell Britney about the two of them. Maybe Beth wanted to and he didn’t, or the other way around.” Zach tugged me closer. “I’d run off before I’d tell Brit I was messing around with her boyfriend.”
    â€œBeth was not messing around with Jason,” I snapped. “Why is everyone believing some stupid freshman?” But even as I said it, I realized how much it would explain. Beth and Brit had been on edge for weeks. Beth had always kept me at arm’s length, never pushing me to drop Zach. And if Brit suspected anything at all, that explained her bitterness when we’d talked yesterday, and why she’d asked Jason onMonday if he’d seen or heard from Beth. And more than all of that, it explained why Beth hadn’t bothered to answer my calls.
    I was falling for her, and she was fucking Jason. Beautiful.
    I wanted to believe that what Beth and I had was real. But if she felt what I felt, or anything even close, there was no way she’d be hooking up with someone else.
    Except, who was I to talk? How could I be mad at her when I’d done the same thing? My relationship with Zach was proof that it was possible. Confusing, but possible.
    I should have told her that I love her and made her tell me what she felt, whether or not it was the answer I wanted to hear. I’d thought I could float in the middle, not committing to her, not letting go of Zach. I’d thought I could keep my heart safe until I knew what I wanted, but now I was stuck in this horrible place, wondering where I stood.
    â€œI didn’t mean anything against Beth,” Zach said. He tucked my hair behind my ear. “All I meant is it’s possible Beth and Jason fell for each other. You can’t always control who you fall in love with. They wouldn’t have set out to hurt Britney. It might have just happened.”
    I