Free Out of the Ashes by Valerie Sherrard Page B

said; with everything else in my head, it was just about impossible.
    Lunch finally came, and I was glad for the break from trying to pay attention to math and history. Betts met me at the lunchroom, and we picked up where we’d left off. Then I saw Nick walking toward us, and I wanted to crawl away somewhere. It was only a matter of seconds before he’d get to the table and say something that would tell Betts I’d been at his place. She’d be furious when she found out I’d kept it from her. I jumped up quickly, saying that I’d be right back, and headed toward the girls’ bathroom.
    Nick caught up with me on the way.
    â€œShelby!”
    I turned and faced him squarely without saying a word. I guess he could see I wasn’t too happy.
    â€œI’m so sorry about last night. I feel like such a jerk.”
    â€œYeah?” I wasn’t letting him off that easily.
    â€œI swear I thought I’d be home right after practice, but something came up. I can’t explain it right now,” he reached out and touched my hand, “but please trust me. I didn’t mean to leave you there alone all night.”
    I felt my anger dissolving with his hand on mine and his eyes all sad and full of regret. He really did look sorry.
    â€œIt’s okay. I just didn’t know what happened.”
    â€œI wish I could tell you, but I can’t. A friend needed my help for something personal.”
    â€œForget it.”
    He smiled then, and I found my knees going to rubber as I smiled back.
    â€œThe essay was awesome by the way. Thanks a lot.”
    â€œYou’re welcome.”
    â€œI guess you heard about the fire last night.”
    â€œEveryone has.”
    â€œYeah.” He paused like he was about to say something else, but he didn’t.
    â€œWell, I have to go.” I hoped he’d tell me to wait, maybe suggest that we do something together on the weekend to make up for last night. Instead he just gave my hand a quick squeeze, said thanks again, and wandered off.
    I spent a couple of minutes in the bathroom so Betts wouldn’t get suspicious, then I went back to our table.
    â€œWhat did he want?” she asked before I even had a chance to sit down again.
    â€œWho?”
    â€œNick! I saw you talking to him in the hall.”
    â€œOh, nothing much. Just something about the fire. Everyone’s talking about it.”
    â€œDid he see anything?” she asked.
    â€œLike what?”
    â€œYou know, the fire.”
    â€œWhy would he have?”
    â€œI just thought, since he was out last night, he might have noticed something.”
    â€œHow do you know he was out?”
    â€œI saw him. My uncle was over at our house, and I can’t stand him, so I went out.”
    â€œOh, yeah? Where’d you go?”
    â€œNowhere really, just around. Oh, there’s Graham. I have to ask him something. See you later.”
    She flew off then, leaving me to finish my lunch alone.
    I could hardly wait for the afternoon classes to end so that I could go home and get some rest. Then I saw the e-mail notification on my computer screen, and when I checked there was a message from an unfamiliar sender.
    â€œMeet me at The Scream Machine at 6:30 P.M..” There was no name given, but the sender’s e-mail address was [email protected]. I looked around for my school newsletter, which had a page for students to list their e-mail addresses, but couldn’t find it.
    It had to be Nick, I thought. Who else could it be? The J must be for Jarvis. I smiled then, remembering how he’d looked as though he wanted to say something else when we were talking. Maybe he was nervous because of last night and couldn’t bring himself to ask me out when we were face to face.
    Instead of taking a nap as I’d planned, I rushed through my homework, promising myself that I’d putmore effort into my schoolwork from now on. Then I told Mom where I was going