Page 6 of Escape

“I know. But that doesn’t mean she isn’t a good influence on you. I’d love to meet her.”

I looked out the window and saw Josie had just approached the library. She happened to look in my direction and lifted her hand to wave at me. As she moved my way, I returned my attention to my mom and said, “She’s right here. I’ll introduce you.”

After opening my door and getting out, I glanced up to see Josie slowing her steps to a stop. My body froze. “Whoa. What happened to your lip?”

As though she’d just remembered there was something wrong, she lifted her hand toward her mouth. “Oh, that. Yeah, I was rushing around the house yesterday after school, and I accidentally tripped and fell. My lip got cut on the edge of the doorframe.”

That sounded awful. “Are you okay?”

“It bled for quite a while, but it’s okay now,” she assured me. As quickly as she shared that, she looked at the car and asked, “Is this your mom?”

“Yeah.”

Without needing the introduction, Josie bent down, looked inside, and extended her hand to my mom. “Hi, Mrs. Davidson. I’m Josie. It’s lovely to meet you.”

My mom shook her hand. “Likewise, dear.”

For a brief moment, I was jealous of my mom. She got to hold Josie’s hand before I could.

“I’m so glad I got to meet you, because I wanted to say thank you for sending those breakfast sandwiches with Huck every morning,” Josie told her. “They are so delicious.”

“Oh, you’re welcome. I’m glad you’re enjoying them.”

“I am. Very much,” Josie insisted.

As Josie stood back up, I leaned down and saw the massive grin on my mother’s face. “I’ll see you later.”

“Have a good time, kiddo.”

“It’s the library,” I reminded her.

Nodding, she returned, “Yep. And I bet you’re going to have a blast.”

I laughed as I grabbed my backpack, stood, and closed the door. Then I walked with Josie into the library, where we spent the next few hours working on our project. And when lunchtime rolled around, I pulled out two brown paper bags and held one out to Josie. She looked like she wanted to jump over the table and kiss me.

Sadly, I wasn’t that lucky.

It was the last time we were meeting before the holiday break.

My mom didn’t have any additional errands to run today, so she’d given me the keys to her car and told me to drive safely.

I was so eager to spend another morning and afternoon with Josie that I left the house and arrived earlier than necessary to make it to the library on time.

But I thought I’d use the time to practice for what I intended to do today. It had been weeks since I’d been paired with Josie, and it was safe to say I’d really grown to like her. She wasn’t like the so many of the other girls in school—she was quiet, smart, and so sweet.

Somehow, being around her had changed my whole mindset surrounding school and what I needed to do to be a guy she might like just as much in return.

So, today I was going to ask her.

I was going to tell Josie that, as much as I enjoyed spending time with her at the library while we worked on our project, I wanted to spend time with her doing something else. I wanted us to go on a couple of dates. My hope was that I’d be able to ask her to be my girlfriend eventually, that I’d be able to kiss her, too.

No matter how enthusiastic I was about it, my plan went down the tubes when I saw her pull up in a car. I was standing off to the side, unsuspecting, and Josie was in the passenger’s seat. The man behind the wheel—I could only assume it was her father—was angry and shouting at her. Even if the windows were up and I couldn’t hear anything, it was clear he was mad.

I wanted to look away, so I wouldn’t have to lie to Josie if she asked me if I saw him yelling at her, but something made me keep my eyes on her.

She was leaning away from him, cowering. She was terrified.

And a moment later, I understood precisely why.