Free Crushed by Laura McNeal

wouldn’t be right.
    But she hadn’t said anything at all, had pretended in fact not to hear, and when she’d seen him in the hall before school, she felt such a sense of buoyant well-being that she knew there was no point in bringing the matter up, because it was simple—it was something he wanted her to do, and she would do it. And she did—casually, subtly, as if she were merely shifting in her seat as anyone in the world might do.
    â€œTime!” Mrs. Leacock said, and gave Audrey a start.
    She didn’t look at Wickham as he handed his paper forward; she put hers on top of his and handed the tests to the boy in front of her. As the papers reached the first desk of each row, Mrs. Leacock moved across the front of the room, collecting them and assigning the class some pages to read while she corrected the quizzes.
    For the next twenty-five minutes, it was quiet in the classroom except for the turning of pages, the click of the wall clock, and an occasional sniffle or cough. Audrey tried to read, but couldn’t concentrate. Her stomach hurt. Her pulse seemed lightning fast. She was certain she would be caught; that she and Wickham would miss the same questions; that somebody had noticed their cheating and penciled a note on his or her test. Audrey watched Mrs. Leacock as she quickly ran her red marker down test after test, checking off incorrect answers, counting them up, scribbling a score. Once Mrs. Leacock raised her head and looked directly at Audrey, who quickly lowered her eyes.
    On quiz days, Mrs. Leacock always dismissed the class by calling out names and returning the corrected quizzes.
    â€œAudrey Reed,” Mrs. Leacock said first. Audrey gathered her books and walked toward the front of the room even as Mrs. Leacock called the next few names, none of which were Wickham Hill’s.
    â€œWell done,” Mrs. Leacock said in a low voice as she handed Audrey her quiz—which, Audrey noted quickly, was marked “100.” Next to the score, in red pencil, was written
Excellent!
    As she crossed the room toward the door, Audrey knew that what she should have felt was humiliation and shame. But she didn’t.
    What she felt was relief.

Chapter 18
    Three Girls in a Car
    It was too cold for the knoll that day, so the Tate girls were sitting in Audrey’s old Lincoln eating lunch, Audrey and C.C. in the front seat, Lea in the back. The heater was on, and all the windows were cracked open an inch or two to keep them from fogging.
    While they ate, C.C. talked about Brian’s bearded dragon. “The thing just lies on its rock and basks under its heat bulb,” C.C. said. “I don’t know when it moves.”
    â€œAt night,” Lea said in her soft voice. “When it goes looking for warm flesh.”
    C.C. laughed. Audrey laughed, too, but not much. The relief she’d felt when she received her quiz back from Mrs. Leacock had quickly dissolved, and a bad feeling had taken hold of her and not let go. She thought that if she could just see Wickham Hill and talk to him, the feeling would release her. But now they’d moved from the knoll, where she’d told Wickham she’d be, to her car, where he would never find her.
    A sudden wind broadsided the Lincoln, and seemed actually to shake it.
    â€œYou okay, Audrey?”
    Audrey, brought back to the present, nodded.
    Lea said, “She’s probably thinking about Wickie-poo.”
    C.C., going for a mock-sleazy tone, added, “Audrey’s personal quantum mechanic.”
    Audrey blushed only slightly. The girls had already gone over all the details of the study date, or at least most of them. Audrey hadn’t mentioned Wickham’s suggestion that she move a little to the left or right.
    There was a silence, and then C.C. said to Audrey, “This reminds me. My mom said her mechanic—her real mechanic—bought your dad’s Jaguar. Supposedly your dad made him an offer he