***Zac’s View***
	It was really awkward to be with Tara in front of Ike. But Tara
was a little more talkative, but she hardly raised her voice over a
whisper. Finally, Ike had to go to the bathroom. As soon as he was
out of the room, Tara came out of her shell. 
	“I can’t believe that Sam wasted my makeup on your face!” she
joked. “Hey, it wasn’t my choice!” I protested. We were silent for a
few moments. “Thanks,” I mumbled. “For what?” “For saving my
life.” Quickly, we wrapped our arms around eachother. “Don’t you
ever scare me like that again,” she said, only half joking. 
	Suddenly, we heard the door open & Ike walking back to the
room. We jumped apart & went back to playing the game. 
		***Sam’s View***
	“So, we meet again,” Brad mumbled, stumbling toward us. I
could tell he was dead drunk. Taylor  was about to beat him to a
pulp, but I held him back. “Who’s that?” I snapped, referring to the
black haired girl he had his arms around. “This’s my woman,” he
slurred. “Say hello to the trash, Axa,” he said, turning to her. “Hey
trash.” 
	“What the fuck do you want, Brad?” Taylor asked. “I got
sumthin, to tell that BITCH over there,” he mumbled, motioning to
me. “She’s not a-” “What?” I asked, interrupting Taylor. He
hiccuped, then looked at Axa. “We heard about you & Ashley,” she
smirked. “Heard what about me & Ashley? “About what you two did
last night. He’s telling us that he fucked you last night.” I gasped.
“Yep. And he said you were the lousiest fuck he ever had. And from
the looks of you, I believe him.” This time, I tried to attack them, but
Taylor held me back. Brad burst out laughing drunkenly.  It sent
shivers up my spine, the way it sounded so familiar, but I tried my
best to ignore him. 
	“Uh huh. Then, he saw Melly, and he said he was all out sorry.
Changed his story, too, to fit her needs. Told her you was tried to
touch him & shit like dat. So then, she forgived him, & they ran off
like a buncha newlyweds. Just like dat!” Axa exclaimed, ending her
story. “That’s not true,” I protested under my breath. “Yes it is, &
you know it!” Axa yelled back, enjoying this whole thing. “He’s a
liar,” I gasped, biting my lip. “You go talk to him then! You go ask
him the difference between, ‘lying & the truth’!” she said, making fun
of me. Brad laughed even louder, then started coughing. That sound
Brad made, a cross between laughing & choking, struck a nerve in
the back of my brain. I spun around & raced out of the alley. “Sam!”
Taylor called. Axa gave a hideous laugh. I ran faster. 
	I could hear my drunken father laughing along with them. All
laughing at me. I saw a gap between some trees, & I escaped between
them. More laughing. A fence jumped up in front of me. I searched
around, found a low branch. I leapt onto it, jumped to another
branch. Then another. In a matter of seconds, I was over at the top of
the fence. On the other side, nothing but an open field. I jumped off
the branch to the ground. My ankle twisted under me, sending a shot
of pain up my leg. I heard a crack, but continued in motion. More
laughing. I limped across the field, then heard someone running
toward me. ‘Faster, faster!’ my mind yelled. Ignoring the pain soaring
up my leg, I ran forward. Something stabbed me in my side. I ran
faster. 
	“Sam!” a voice yelled. Faster. A root jumped out of nowhere &
tripped me. I fell onto my outstretched palms. Needles jabbed into
my hands. More laughing. I sprang back up, ran faster. “Sam, wait!”
Another tree. I pulled myself up to the lowest branch, my hands
protested. I yanked my body from limb to limb. A branch broke. I fell
onto another one with my back. More pain. More laughing. The pain
nearly blinded me. I pulled myself to a group of branches and rested.
The laughter was almost deafening. I closed my eyes, trying to shut
out the redness that was surrounding me. Tears stung my eyes, but I
didn’t give in. More laughter. The last blow knocked me out as my
father laughed hysterically. 

		***Tay’s View***
	When I finally caught up with Sam, she was nearly passed out
in a tree. “Sam?” I whispered, scared of what she’d do next. I
couldn’t understand why what Brad & Axa had said had made her
run like that. She’d been running like a madwoman from Axa & Brad,
like something was chasing her. From the way she was running,
she’d hurt her ankle pretty bad, & she’d hurt it even worse because
she kept running. Her hands were pretty scraped up too, but I didn’t
get a good look at them. 
	I had no idea how she got all the way up the tree. The branches
were extremely thin around where she was sitting, and she’d been so
careless. I saw her almost fall once, but she fell onto something. I
couldn’t tell what happened, I hadn’t been in the tree yet. 
	“Sam?” I called again, inching closer. She mumbled something
& moved her head over. I couldn’t get too close to her, the branches
were too thin. “Sam, you awake?” Her eyes fluttered open, but closed
just as quickly. “Are you OK?” I asked. She groaned & tried to lift her
head up. She cried out & let her head fall back down. I searched
around for some way to get to Sam without having to try to step on
the thin branches. I saw a thick branch that lead from where I was to
where Sam was, so I stepped onto it. Slowly, I made my way over to
her, like someone walking on the highwire. 
	There wasn’t anywhere else to sit, so I sat down on the branch
I’d been walking on. “Sam?” I asked again. This time her try to open
her eyes was successful. “Huh?” “Are you OK?” I asked. “Oh, I
dunno. The voices....” ‘The voices?’ I thought. “How bad are you
hurt?” I asked her. “My back, my ankle... the voices wouldn’t leave
me alone...” She closed her eyes again. I had no idea what she was
talking about, but that was the last thing I was worried about. 
	“How’d you hurt your back?” I asked. “Huh?” Oh, sorry!” She
sat up & opened her eyes, looking as if nothing had happened. But,
there was a secret hidden in her eyes. “Didn’t you hear them
laughing, Taylor? All laughing at me,” she said, ignoring what I’d
asked her. “Who?” “Everyone! Everyone in the world was laughing
at me & I couldn’t get away from it.” “Are they still laughing?” I
asked. “No. They stopped after my-after I rested for a little,” she told
me, looking suddenly scared, but it passed. 
	“Do you think you can make it down?” I asked her. “Yeah, but
I’ll need your help. Again! This ankle just does not like me,” she
sighed. “OK, be careful, & follow me,” I told her, helping her up. 
	Slowly, I helped her down the tree, which was difficult, because
of her ankle. She had to stop a few times because either her ankle or
her back hurt. When we were halfway back to my house, she was still
limping, but she said her back felt a lot better. 
	When we got back, Tara had gone home & Zac was over at
David’s. Ike told me that he’d be back after dinner so we could
practice. I think he noticed that Sam was limping, but he didn’t say
anything about it. 
	Sam wrapped her ankle up with the ace bandage we had. I told
her that she could have it for a week, but she insisted that she’d bring
it back the next day. She said that she had one at home & that she’d
use that when she got back. 
	Mom invited Sam to eat dinner with us, but Sam declined,
explaining that she had to keep an eye on Kay & Troy. But Mom
insisted that Sam take some cupcakes that she’d made earlier for the
littler kids, but they didn’t each that many of them. 
	So, around 6:30, Sam decided that she’d better head home. Ike
& I had to help carry all her crap. She carried her bag, Ike carried all
the CDs, which we never got a chance to listen to, & I carried the
remains of Sam’s presents inside. 
	When we got inside, there was a note from Troy saying that he
was staying the night at Chris’s, & another from Kay saying that she
was at Amy’s until seven. We reminded her that she could still have
dinner with us, but she protested because she wanted to be home
when Kay got back. 
	We ate dinner, then Ike, Zac, & I practiced for a good two
hours, but the whole time I was thinking about Sam. What had
possessed her to act like that in the alley? What were the voices?

		***Sam’s View***
	I was starving. Luckily, Diana had given me the cupcakes. My
stupid pride wouldn’t let me take anything like charity from anyone.
That’s why I had to refuse having dinner with them. The cabinets
were nearly bare, so I understood why Kay & Troy were over at their
friends’s house. We still had some milk, bread, and a frozen pizza,
but other than that, nothing. I ate a few cupcakes, saved two for each
of the kids. The next day I’d have to go to Dillons. Mom always left
us some grocery money, it was always enough until they got back. 
	Kay came home around a quarter after seven & assured me that
she’d eaten. She saw my ankle & asked me about it. I told her that I
fell. Not the complete truth, but not a lie. I didn’t want to have to
explain the whole story to her, it would be too confusing. She didn’t
need extra things to worry about. 
	I got onto the Internet a little later. My back hurt like living hell
& I needed to think of something else. I checked my mail, there was a
lot of junk mail, but the only good message was from Snazzy. 


	‘Hey Cookie!
		Haven’t heard from ya 4 awhile! Anyhoo, it’s been pretty
boring ‘round here. Haven’t heard anything new ‘bout the album from
Savage Garden yet, still waiting! How’s the ‘album in works’ goin over
there? I better get that album, girl! j/k. well, gotta fly! 	Alwayz Snazzy’
	‘Snazz-
		The album’s been goin OK 4 them. I wouldn’t actually know.
The stuff that they did B4 was skrewed, so they hafta redo it all this week.
Heard from Taylor (the one my age) that they’re gonna be workin almost all
day this whole damn week. I probly won’t C ‘em till they’re done. 	
	Yourz Cookie’
	I didn’t feel like wasting too much time on the Internet, but I
had nothing else better to do. I went to www.theglobe.com to chat.
Sometimes there were interesting people there, sometimes not. But it
was cool to make people mad. 
	After a few minutes of searching, I identified some people. I
found a guy to be my new ‘buddy’ & I got his email address. I also
found two people I definitely did not like. There was a guy,
SPELLCHECK, who kept yelling at people when they made typos,
and a girl, SLEEPINGSTAR, who told everyone that she’d slept with
Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, and on and on. First, I typed a message
full of typos just to make the one guy mad. Then, I asked the girl if
she’d been their first. 
SPELLCHECK-you can’t spell very well, M+M
M+M- I no spellcheck
SLEEPINGSTAR- I was Leo’s first. He told me so.
SPELLCHECK- do you need spelling lessons M+M?
M+M- sleepingstar- How cud U B his first when I was?
M+M- no spellcheck, I lik speling things rong
*****SLEEPINGSTAR has logged off*****
SPELLCHECK- I think you need spelling lessons very badly, M+M
M+M- spellcheck I dont think so. I alredy told U I lik 2 spel rong. get it yet?
SPELLCHECK- dont-don’t, alredy-already, U-you, lik-like, 2-to, spel-spell,
rong-wrong
M+M- hey spellcheck wud U lik 2 go thru al my postz 2 profred them or
wud U lik 2 giv up now?
*****SPELLCHECK has logged off*****
	“Yes!” I cried out my victory. I logged off & returned to email
my new ‘buddy’. It was really short, mainly it just said that I hoped
to chat with him again, blah blah blah. It was just something to do. 
	I got off the Internet & started walking down to my room.
Before I could even get to the stairs, my ankle was throbbing. I sat
down in the living room & took off the ace bandage. My ankle was
majorly swollen up, & the bandage was too tight. “Kay?” I called,
trying to find a pillow to put under my foot. “Uh huh?” she
answered from the hall. “Think you can get me an ice pack?” I asked.
“Sure,” she replied, walking to the kitchen. 
	I leaned back on the couch & put my foot up on a pillow. Kay
returned with the ice pack & I put it on my ankle. I thought back to
the last time I’d hurt my ankle. Things were so different now. Then,
things couldn’t have been better. Well, maybe they could’ve, but not
much. Now, things were so damn confusing. Especially about
Ashley. I still wasn’t sure if I believed what Brad & Axa said. Maybe
they’d just made the whole thing up. But then how would they know
that anything happened between us last night? Maybe Ashley had
told them some things, but he would’ve told them what they said
he’d told them. Would he?

		***Sam’s View***
	The next morning, I woke up around noon. I was surprised I’d
slept so long, especially on the couch. I just kind of dozed off after a
while after I had my foot taken care of. Kindly, Kay had removed the
ice pack from my ankle & put a pillow under my head. 
	I tried to sit up, but fell back immediately because of the pain
screaming from my back. “Ooh, Kay!” I called, squeezing my eyes
shut. No answer. “Kay?” My voice echoed through the house. “Shit,”
I mumbled & looked at the table beside me. Sure enough, there was
another note there. ‘Went to Jessie’s. Be back after dinner. -Kay’.
‘Great,’ I thought. ‘Now I’ll have to find someone else to help me
shop. I can’t do it all by myself like this, I’ll pass out.’ 
	I rested for another few minutes, trying to gather the strength
to get up. I had to get to the store, or I’d be hungry for the rest of the
day. Eventually, I pulled myself up, & it felt like my back was
broken. I stumbled into the kitchen & made myself some toast & milk
for breakfast. I still had on my clothes from yesterday, so I had to
look for a different shirt in the laundry. After about an hour, I was
ready to go to the store. Luckily, I’d left the money upstairs, so I
didn’t have to go all the way down the stairs to get it. 
	Now, all I needed was someone to go with me. The Hansons
were out, obviously. I still didn’t know Amanda’s number, so that
left Jason. 
	“Hello?” “Hi, can I talk to Jason?” I asked. “Just a second.”
“Hello?” Jason answered. “Hey.” “Hey Sam! Heard from Taylor what
happened yesterday,” he said. I was kind of angry with Taylor for
telling Jason, but I figured it saved me some time from explaining to
him how I hurt my back & ankle. “Uh-huh.” “Can’t believe he did
that. I’ll break his neck!” Jason threatened. “Uh, I don’t think so. It
isn’t that bad. Maybe he didn’t even tell them that. Maybe they made
it up,”  I reasoned. “Sam, wake up. Face it, they couldn’t have made
all that up. They could’ve exaggerated what he told them, but you
didn’t tell anyone but Taylor, right?” “Well, Ike knew about it cuz he
woke up. But he didn’t tell anybody,” I told him. “Well, & you told
Taylor right before you encountered them, so he didn’t tell anyone.”
“They could’ve been listening to us & then made that up!” I resolved.
“Sam, c’mon. Ashley told them. I heard that he’s friends with Brad, &
Melly’s friends with Axa. Ashley doesn’t have too good of a rep,
either. I don’t know why Melly’s still putting up with him,” he
sighed. “Well, whatever. You say what you want, I’ll say what I
want,” I told him. I was determined not to believe him. I wouldn’t.
“Well, Taylor told ya ‘bout my ankle & back, right?” I asked. “Yep.”
“Well, I kinda need your help. I need to go shopping & it’ll be hell for
me to try to do it on my own. Kay went over to a friend’s & Troy’s
over there...” “No prob. Meet me over here in a few, K?” “K.”
	I met Jason at his house about five minutes later. I had about
$20 on me, that would be enough to last us for a while. We’d
completely let the subject of Ashley drop. Instead, he told me about
how his sister had just been in a car wreck. 
	“Yep, some guy just rear-ended Claire in the gas station. Her
car rammed right into one of the pumps. The car’s really dented up,
but not beyond repair.” “I didn’t know you had a sister! Since when
did you have a sister?” I exclaimed. “Uh, since I was born. I have two
sisters. Claire’s seventeen & Julie’s three.” “God, I know so little!” I
exclaimed. “Actually, you don’t. Claire & Julie live with my dad in
Nowata. They’re down for two weeks till school starts,” he told me.
“Do you & Chris homeschool or public?” I asked. “Well, for this next
year, public. But Mom’s talkin about homeschooling the year after.
It’s kind of a thing around here,” he told me. “I noticed. It’s a real
change in atmosphere. Back home, I didn’t know anybody who was
homeschooled. But it was kind of like homeschooling in a way, we
had like ten or fifteen people per class. It sounds kinda cool, from
what I hear from Ike, Zac, & Taylor.”
	When we finally got to Dillons, I had to stop & take a break. My
ankle was killing me & my back ached. “Hey, hold on,” I signaled
Jason, sitting down on the curb. “What is it?” he asked. “My ankle
hurts like hell. I need a rest,” I sighed. “Plus, this heat is not helping.
I think I’ll just hand around in Dillons for a few hours in the nice air
conditioning,” I said. “You can say that again. God, it hasn’t been this
hot for like a month. This’s fucked up, Oh well,” Jason sighed. 
	“OK,” I said after a few minutes. “Now I’ll go in.” “Do you
know what all you need?” Jason asked. “Yep. Brought my
handy-spandy-doo little list,” I said, whipping it from my pocket.
“Ooh!” he said, acting surprised. “Now, let’s shop!”
	About an hour later, Jason & I were headed back with armloads
of groceries. I led him into the house & we put away all the groceries.
Troy got home & we made him help. After we were done, Troy told
Jason that his mom told him that he had to be back by five. 
	We couldn’t stand still very long, so Jason & I went for a walk.
“Where should we go?” I asked. “Well, you said you know where the
lake is, right?” I nodded. “Why don’t we go down there? Even
though Justins is open, I don’t think anybody’ll give a shit. How
‘bout it?” “Oh, sure,” I replied. 
	About halfway there, the heat got even worse. “God, you’d
think I would  be used to this by now, but it hasn’t been this hot in so
long!” Jason exclaimed. “Me too! Let’s not forget, I spent seven years
in the scorching Georgia heat,” I reminded him. “Where’d you live
before then?” he asked. “Ellsworth, Kansas. S’not too big, but it was
bigger than Holyrood. Man, Tulsa’s about ten times bigger than
Holyrood, at least!” I told him. 
	It took us about 45 minutes to get to the lake. Since neither of us
had a watch, we figured that we should only stay for about a half
hour. But at least it was cooler at the lake.