Free Crash by Lesley Choyce Page B

drink or a toke, I’d gladly take them up on it. Forget about getting clean. Just stay stoned.
    We were in the park now, and the voices inside my head were still screaming. This just couldn’t be happening to me. At first I thought the park was empty. The whole town was probably at home nursing hangovers. Everyone but me. Then Ozzie spotted something tucked between two bushes, and he loped over to check it out. I followed him.
    It was a pup tent dusted lightly with snow from the previous night. A pup tent? Who the hell would be camping out here in the middle of winter? Something moved inside. Ozzie barked. And he usually wasn’t much of a barker.
    From inside a girl’s voice said, “Leave me alone.”
    Ozzie barked more loudly, but I muzzled him with my chilly hands. “Be good.”
    I watched as the zipper on the tent slowly opened. A hand popped out first and then a head. Long straggly hair and the frightened face of girl. Real frightened. “Leave me alone,” she repeated. She looked at me and then stared at Ozzie.
    â€œOzzie won’t hurt you,” I said. But she wasn’t convinced. She popped back into the tent. Then she unzipped it all the way and jumped out. She was wearing a man’s winter coat. Whoever this girl was, I was thinking, she must be crazy. Maybe totally flipped out on drugs. She turned her back to me and started to hastily knock down the tent.
    â€œJust stay back,” she said, brushing the snow off the flimsy tent. She stuffed it into one of those big rolling suitcases.
    â€œHey, I’m sorry,” I said. “Look, I’m not the police or anything. I didn’t mean to disturb you. I was just out walking. Ozzie got curious.”
    The whole tent was in her suitcase. Like she’d done this manic breaking camp before. “What are you doing sleeping out here, anyway?” I asked.
    She looked me in the eye for the first time. I could still read the fear. But I couldn’t help noticing her green eyes. How pretty they were. “It was just a dare,” she said. “I was just camping.”
    â€œWow,” I said. “I guess you won that bet.”
    She started to walk away, towing that suitcase behind her. “Wait,” I said, following her. I really wanted the whole story. I wanted to know about the girl who camped out in January in the freezing cold, all alone.
    â€œLeave me alone,” she said. And there was no denying that she meant it. You could tell she’d said it to others many times before.
    For some reason, I felt like I needed to talk to this weird, crazy girl more than anything else on this crazy first day of the year. I tapped Ozzie. He understood. He pranced toward the girl and nuzzled her hand. At first she waved him off, but then he did it a second time. She petted him this time but still kept walking. I was following behind, and I watched as Ozzie gently bumped into her with his nose.
    The girl stopped. She petted him. I hung back for a second. Then I cleared my throat and spoke. “It’s friggin’ cold out here. I don’t live far away. Why don’t you come back with me and warm up for a bit?”
    She continued to pet Ozzie but didn’t look up.
    â€œI’ll cook you breakfast,” I said. “I suck at cooking, but I can do eggs.”
    She shook her head.
    â€œHey,” I said. “I don’t know who you are, but you look really cold. I’m freezing my ass here too, and I don’t even want to go home. You wanna hear about my morning? I wake up, and my father says he’s moving away to find work. Then my mom tells me she’s about to shack up with one of my dad’s old buddies, who is a certified scumbag.” I paused and took a swallow of that cold, hard air. “So do you want to walk away, or do you want to come join me in my nightmare?”
    I guess it was the way I delivered that last line that brought her around. She looked at me