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Mom shot her new husband a glare. “Do you mind?”
He lifted his hands and eyebrows in surrender. “I’m just saying. Maybe if you give her a little space, she won’t feel so constrained.”
Eyes narrowing, Mom charged, “You think I’m constraining her?”
Barry shrank back in his chair, his throat working as he gulped down a nervous swallow. “I just meant— Geez, darling. Grace is a good girl. I think she can be trusted to remain a good girl.”
“Fine,” Mom muttered, shoving back her chair and jerking to her feet. Focusing her glare on me, she hissed, “Stay out as late as you want. Far be it from me to worry about my only child.” Then she stomped from the room.
Humph. And she’d just called me dramatic.
As soon as she cleared the exit, Barry turned to me and grimaced. “I stuck my foot in my mouth again, didn’t I?”
My shoulders slumped. Great, I just caused trouble in paradise to add to my list of mistakes for the day. Giving my new stepdad a grateful wince, I answered, “Thanks for sticking up for me though.”
“No problem. You really are a sweet girl, Grace. You deserve a little more freedom and trust. I’m not blind; I see how much Kate limits you.”
For some reason, I wanted to defend Mom. She’d been a single parent for so long, so many responsibilities heaped onto her shoulders with no help from a husband for thirteen years. Could anyone blame her for setting stricter rules on me to avoid as many complications as possible?
I didn’t think so, but I held my tongue.
“Do you need to borrow my car?” Barry asked.
The question perked me to attention, but he’d already stuck his neck out far enough for me for one night. So I smiled gratefully as I answered, “Thanks, but I can walk.” Through the freezing ice and snow. Ugh.
Chapter 10
Depressed and cold, I shiver, remembering my friends I left and my mother who seems to have left me. I feel so blue. Blue, like the deepest part of the sea with all those billions of water droplets pressing down on top of me or the highest stage in the sky where oxygen runs thin and I can no longer breathe. Honestly, who can survive in so much blue?
* * * *
The game had already started when I entered Southeast’s sports complex and paid my fee at the door before getting the back of my hand stamped. They were almost finished with their first quarter and beating the opposing team twenty-four to sixteen.
Popcorn and body odor permeated the air along with shouting from coaches and players, while the cheerleaders led fans in stomping their feet and clapping out a chant. I stood awkwardly in the doorway for a solid minute, watching the game, looking for Ryder.
He was currently benched, but I spotted his friend Todd on the floor just as he made a basket, nudging their score up to twenty-seven. When a family needed to enter behind me, forcing me to step fully into the arena, I had no idea where to go, so I dragged my feet toward my new pep club section, where Barney was whooping as he cheered for Todd’s basket.
It felt strange to approach the purple and white students. I was an outsider invading their home turf. I half-expected them to throw me out as soon as I breached their section.
I wished I had someone I knew with me, someone familiar by my side, holding my hand. But I marched alone. Clutching my dad’s lumber jacket tighter across my chest—though it was actually warm in the gymnasium—I neared my new classmates.
Southeast scored two more points by the time I reached the bleachers. The cheerleaders screamed and shook their pom-poms. I spotted Kiera twirling to grin at one of her co-cheer friends before saying something.
Okay, I finally admitted to myself as a lump of doom obstructed my windpipe; I couldn’t do this. Primed to whirl around and book it out of there, I heard someone call my name, making me pause.
“Grace! Hey, Grace. Up here.”
I blinked, lifted my face, and was shocked to see a girl waving. At me.
“Come sit by me,” she called and patted the free, two-foot section of bench beside her.
I remembered her face. One of the girls in Todd and Ryder’s group that Todd had introduced to me, she had a basketball player boyfriend. He’d been wearing a nice outfit at school, which told me he was a player. I guess they all dressed up on game days. Yeah, I could remember that, but for the life of me, I could not remember this girl’s name.
“I’m Mindy. Cory’s girlfriend. Remember?”
Cory? Had there been a Cory in the introductions? I had no idea. But Mindy was talking to me, so she became my new best friend.
I sat beside her. “Looks like we’re doing great,” I noted.
