Overdrive (6 page)

He nodded his head ever so slightly. “And everybody's going to be okay…right?”

“Everybody. The woman in the other
car is going to be just fine. Her and her newborn baby.”

“She gave birth?” I asked, and then realized that maybe I shouldn't have said anything. “I'd read in the paper that she was pregnant.”

“She was nine months pregnant. The accident caused her to go into labor a few days early, but she and the baby are both just fine,” Luke's father said.

“Although I don't know how that poor woman is going to take care of a baby on a broken leg,” Luke's mother said.

“She'll do just fine,” his father said. “The baby's father is there to help.”

Mrs. Johnson laughed. “I remember just how much help certain fathers were.”

“I better get going,” I said.

“Thank you so much for coming,” Luke's mother said. To my complete surprise she came over and gave me a big hug. “Please tell all his friends that he's doing just fine and if they want to visit they can.”

“I can do that,” I said. I turned and went to leave.

“Jake?” Luke called out.

I stopped and turned around.

“Thanks…thanks for coming.”

“You're welcome,” I mumbled and then retreated out of the room. How grateful would they all be if they knew I was driving the other car?

I looked anxiously at my watch. It said I still had three minutes until the bell rang to start afternoon classes. But I could never trust my watch to be in tune with the school clocks. Judging from the thinning crowds in the hall, the bell might ring any second.

Missing the whole morning wasn't good—especially when I didn't have a reason—but I could probably intercept the
automated call home reporting me missing and delete it from the answering machine before my parents could hear it.

Being late for class would be harder because I'd have to face a real live teacher and explain myself. In this case, my math teacher. He was not one of my favorites, and the feeling was mutual. If it wasn't for the fact that it was math and I couldn't afford to cut that class, I might just have gone to the cafeteria and taken another spare.

“Hey, Jake!”

I turned around. It was Mickey.

“Where were you all morning?”

“I went to the hospital,” I said as I kept walking.

“The hospital? Were you hurt or something?”

“No, not for me. I went to see about Luke.”

“Why did you do that?” he demanded as he grabbed me by the shoulder and spun me around.

“I just wanted to see if he was okay,” I said. I shook off his hand and started walking again. “I wanted to see if everybody was okay.”

“He's gonna be fine, but he's going to miss some school,” Mickey said.

“How do you know that?” I asked.

“They told us at the assembly.”

“There was an assembly?”

“Yeah, first two periods of the morning.”

That was probably good for me. Assemblies meant teachers weren't taking attendance and wouldn't have even known I wasn't there—at least for the first periods.

“And they mentioned Luke at the assembly?” I asked.

“Mentioned? That's what the whole assembly was about.”

“You're joking…right?”

“Nope. The principal talked about the accident, and then the cop—”

“There was a cop?”

“Yeah. He did most of the talking and then they turned down the lights and he
was showing pictures of car crashes on the screen. He said most of them were caused either by speeding or street racing. You should have seen some of those wrecks!”

“I've seen enough wrecks,” I said. I had that one picture still seared in my memory and figured it would stay there for a long, long time.

“That's all everybody's been talking about all morning. I mentioned that Luke's car was really smashed up as bad as those ones in the slides and—”

“You said what?” I demanded as I stopped walking and spun around.

“I mentioned that we were there on the street and saw the accident.”

“Why would you say that?”

“Don't worry, it isn't like I mentioned we were in the other—”

“Shut up!” I hissed.

Mickey looked around. “Nobody can hear me.”

“Don't talk about it! Not now, not here, not at all. You've already been stupid!”

“And going to the hospital was bright?” Mickey asked.

“I just needed to know, that's all.”

“If you'd been here this morning you would have known all that there was to know,” he said.

“Did they talk about the woman being okay, that she had her baby and it's all right too?”

“No, they didn't mention that. That's great news.”

“It is good—” I was cut off by the bell ringing. “Great. Just great. I'll see you sixth period.”

I rushed off down the hall. My class was just up the stairs and to the right. I took the stairs two at a time, pushed open the door and raced down the corridor, skidding to a stop at the door to the class. Slowly, quietly, I opened it up and slipped in and—

“Good evening, Jake,” Mr. Sloan said sarcastically. “Nice of you to finally join us.”

“Sorry,” I said as the door closed behind me.

“Do you have a late slip?” he asked.

“No…but I'm hardly late.”

“You're a minute late. The difference between one o'clock and one minute after one.”

“Come on, it's just one minute.”

“One can mean a lot. Just like the difference between forty-nine and fifty is the difference between passing and failing,” he said as he turned around and walked away. That was my mark last year—the mark that stopped me from passing math.

He was a terrible teacher and a rotten person. He was always saying nasty things to kids, including me.

“I guess that's not nearly as big as the difference between you and a good teacher!” I snapped.

“What did you say?” he demanded as he spun back around.

Instantly I regretted what I'd said, but what could I do now? He'd heard me. Everybody in the first five rows had heard me. Kids were giggling.

“What did you say?” he repeated.

“Nothing,” I mumbled.

“If you said it, at least have the guts to repeat it to my face.”

I took a deep breath. “It looks like you can't hear any better than you can teach.”

“Get out!” he screamed. “Straight to the office! Now!”

I held my ground for another couple of seconds and glared at him. There was no point in arguing, so I turned around and left.

As I walked down the hall, I tried to figure out what was going to happen.

I hadn't done anything wrong all year, so they wouldn't suspend me. Or would they?

The office was full of kids waiting to get late slips or to sign in or out. There was no point in my standing in line because it wasn't like I was going back to class anyway. I'd just sit down and wait until the lineup was gone. I took a seat on the bench against the wall. What was the point in rushing?

“Jake, what are you doing here?”

I looked up. It was Miss Parsons, my guidance counselor. She was the last person I wanted to see. I was hoping she wouldn't even hear about this because I knew she'd be disappointed.

“Why aren't you in math?” she asked. “And don't look so surprised that I know you're supposed to be in math. I know everything!” She came out from behind the counter. “Just like I know that you weren't there for the assembly or the two morning classes after that,” she said.

“I was at the hospital…seeing Luke.”

“You did that? That is so nice.”

Nice had nothing to do with it.

“I guess that's a good excuse for missing the morning. Why are you here now?”

“I was late for math,” I said, looking down at the floor.

“Then why aren't you waiting in line for a late slip?” she asked.

“There's more,” I admitted. “When he told me to go down to get a late slip, he said something.”

“Probably something stupid,” she muttered under her breath.

“What did you say?” I asked.

“Nothing that you were supposed to hear. So he said something, and then?”

“And then I said something back and he kicked me out.”

She nodded her head. “That sounds like an old story. A story from last year. You haven't done that once this year. What's wrong?”

“Nothing's wrong.”

“Yeah?” she asked. “You don't sound like nothing's wrong and you're not acting like nothing's wrong. Come with me,” she said.

I trailed after her out of the main office, down the hall and into the guidance office. She led me into her little room and motioned for me to sit down as she took a seat behind her desk.

“Now, let's start again. Something is wrong. Something is bothering you…correct?”

Reluctantly, I nodded.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked.

“I would like to, but I can't.”

“I see. And can you tell me why you can't?”

“I can't tell you that either,” I said.

“I understand there are some things that aren't easy to discuss. I know it must be serious if it's troubling you this much.”

“It is serious.”

“Does it have to do with what happened to Luke?”

My eyes widened in shock. How did she know? What had she heard? Had she been talking to Mickey?

“Judging from your reaction, that was a lucky guess,” she said.

“How did you know?” I asked.

“I just figured because you'd gone to the hospital, and you seem so upset now.”

I didn't answer. I didn't know what to say.

“You don't have to say a word to me,” she said. “I can tell that you're really troubled
by something. It feels like you're trying to figure out what to do, trying to make some sort of decision.”

Again I nodded ever so slightly.

“But it's okay that you don't discuss this problem with me, because you already know what to do.”

“I do?”

“Yes.” She stood up and walked around her desk, perching on the edge of it.

“Jake, I know you. I know you're a good person. That's why I went to bat for you last year. And because I know that, I know that whatever is bothering you, you will resolve it yourself.”

“I will?” I asked in surprise.

“Of course you will. That is, if you know what's right. Do you know what the right thing to do is?” she asked.

I nodded. “I know.”

“Is it a hard thing to do?”

Again I nodded.

“That makes it more difficult. That's where you learn about the character of a
person. Anybody can do the right thing if it's easy or doesn't cost them anything.”

I didn't even want to think about what could happen to me.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” she asked.

“I guess there is,” I said. “Could I just be alone for a while, use your office, so I could think?”

“Certainly.” She got up and went to the door. “While you're thinking, I'm going to see if I can straighten out the problem you had in math.” She closed the door as she left.

I wished I could talk things over with her, but I knew I couldn't. I couldn't talk about this with anybody except Mickey, and that wasn't going to help me.

On one hand, everybody was going to be okay and absolutely nobody would ever know what had happened, what I'd done. Luke's mother had said such nice things about my going to the hospital, and Miss Parsons thought I was being so nice.
Little did they know. And they wouldn't know…unless Luke regained his memory. Or Mickey blabbed to somebody.

I took a deep breath I knew what the right thing to do was. I knew it.

I took another deep breath and reached across Miss Parson's desk to pick up the phone. I dialed. It started to ring.

“Emergency Reponse,” said a calm voice.

I didn't answer.

“This is Emergency Response,” the voice came again.

“Hello,” I said. “I'd like to talk to somebody. I'd like to talk to somebody about a car accident.”

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