Trouble With Liberty (3 page)

If I'd said that to my parents, I'd have been the one spending the evening in my room. But Mrs. Hayes didn't argue. She just poured herself a drink and left.

I watched her climb the stairs. She was so different from Liberty that it was hard to believe they were related. When Liberty walked into a room, she instantly took it over. She didn't even have to say anything. People were just naturally drawn to her. Not Mrs. Hayes though. You could have dressed her in flashing neon and she still would have blended in with the wallpaper. Compared to Liberty, she was practically invisible.

Everyone started arriving as soon as Mrs. Hayes went upstairs, and in no time the rec room was jumping. Kevin Halloran planted himself in front of the pinball machine the second he walked into the house and didn't leave it all night. A couple of other guys latched onto the pool table, and the rest
of us spent the night filling our faces and dancing. There was no way we could talk over the music. I kept waiting for Liberty's mom to show up and tell us to turn it down, but she never did.

It was a pretty good party. Everybody seemed to be enjoying themselves — especially Liberty and Cody. I don't think the two of them spent two minutes apart the whole night. During the slow songs they were glued at the lip.

So it was no big surprise when Liberty dragged me off to the kitchen near the end of the evening to announce that she and Cody were officially
exclusive
.

“Isn't it great!” she bubbled.

“Fantastic!” I agreed. Liberty was so excited she couldn't stop bouncing. It was hard to believe my brother could have that effect on someone. “Looks like you were right about giving Cody a little push,” I said. Then I noticed a couple of the guys staring at Liberty and grinning. I stepped into their line of vision and whispered into Liberty's ear. “I think maybe you better stop hopping around. You're jumping right out of your blouse — if you know what I mean.”

“Oops!” she giggled. She rearranged herself
so that all her flowers were where they were supposed to be. “I'm just so happy! And I wanted you to be the first to know. After all, you are my best friend.” Then she threw her arms around my neck.

That's when Cody showed up. “Hey,” he teased, “hugs are supposed to be reserved for me.”

Liberty let go of me and wrapped herself around him instead. She gazed up into his face.

“Don't worry, Cody. You can have all the hugs you want,” she assured him.

As I watched them melt into one another and then back onto the dance floor, I thought about what Liberty had just said. She'd called me her best friend. I hadn't expected that. Liberty was the most popular girl in school, so I was flattered. But it also made me feel a little bit like a traitor. I already had a best friend.

“Ryan is becoming a real jerk.”

Who said that?
I glanced around, but I was the only one in the kitchen. Then I heard the voice again. It was coming from the hall.

I listened more closely. It was Wanda Watts.

“Liberty asked me to tell him about the party, and when I did, he said he wasn't interested. It's
like he's suddenly too good to hang around with the rest of us.”

Then I heard another voice. It was Melanie Shepherd. “Maybe he figured Liberty should have invited him herself.”

“Oh, please!” Wanda groaned. “The way he's been giving everyone the cold shoulder, he's lucky he got invited at all. I don't know what his problem is, but he's really getting to be a drag.”

Melanie sighed. “I guess you're right. Even Val isn't hanging out with him anymore, and they've been friends forever.”

I cringed. Some friend.

I must have started to phone Ryan ten times that weekend. I just never went through with the call.

What would I say?
Sorry I've been such a crummy friend? I've been having so much fun with Liberty that I didn't miss you?
Even though it was true, I somehow doubted that admitting it would help either of us feel better.

Besides, it made it seem like the situation was my fault. And it
wasn't!
I'd been the one trying
to get everyone together. It was Ryan who'd pulled away from the group. So really, this whole mess was
his
fault. But I didn't want to say that either. After all, he was my friend, and friends aren't supposed to hurt each other — at least not on purpose.

So I crossed my fingers and decided to wait until Monday. Hopefully the problem would solve itself. Ryan isn't normally an ornery person, and with the weekend to think things over, he might have mellowed out.

When I saw him get off the bus, though, he seemed anything
but
mellow.

“What happened to you?” I said. “You look like you were hauled through a knothole backwards.”

“Nothing that much fun,” he mumbled, dragging his hands down his cheeks and giving his head a shake. “I was up all night with Hercules.”

“Why? What's wrong with him?” Ryan had raised Hercules from a colt, and I knew how much he meant to him.

“A bad case of colic,” he said, yawning. “I walked him all night. We must have put in thirty miles around the corral.”

“What does the vet say?”

He shook his head. “Doc Jensen's away. But his wife says he should be back this morning, and she'll send him over the second he gets in. Dad's keeping an eye on Herc until then.”

Ryan closed his eyes and leaned his head on the locker.

“So how come you came to school?” I demanded. “You should be home in bed.”

“History test third period, remember?” he said without opening his eyes. “After that I'm outta here.”

During homeroom I did my best to keep Ryan awake. Despite my efforts he kept nodding off. Then I headed to English and he stumbled off to math. I shook my head as I watched him stagger down the hall. I didn't see how he was ever going to survive until history.

Band was second period. I was one of the last to arrive, but when I looked around for Ryan, I couldn't see him anywhere. I took my place in the woodwind section beside Liberty.

“Have you seen Ryan?” I whispered.

She frowned and shook her head. “Shhhhh.” Then she directed her attention back to whatever it was Mr. Henderson was saying.

I put my clarinet together and pulled out my
music. I kept one eye on the door, waiting for Ryan to stumble through it. But he never did. By the end of the period I'd begun to think maybe he'd gone home after all. Either that or he'd sneaked off to do some last-minute cramming. Well, history was next, so I'd soon find out.

I gathered up my books and clarinet and waited for Liberty. But for some reason she seemed to be suffering from slow-motion disease.

“Will you hurry up?” I grumbled. “We have a test — remember? And knowing Mrs. Adams, it'll be a killer. I'm going to need all the time I can get.” I waved at her instrument. “You haven't even taken apart your clarinet yet!”

“I know,” she said, picking it up. “I need to ask Mr. Henderson about it.”

“Ask him what?”

“About one of the valves. It keeps sticking, and the note comes out wrong.”

I let out an aggravated growl. “Can't you ask him about it some other time? We're going to be late!”

“It'll only take a second,” she argued. “Go on without me. I'll be right there.”

But she wasn't right there. In fact she didn't show up all period. And neither did Ryan.

When the bell rang ending the morning, I practically threw my test on Mrs. Adams' desk and bolted out of the room. I headed straight for the girls' washroom. If Liberty had skipped class, chances were that's where she was.

I pushed the door open and poked my head inside. There was a group of girls standing in front of the sinks, gabbing and doing their hair.

“Have you seen Liberty?” I asked them.

They shook their heads.

I let go of the door, but a voice from one of the cubicles made me push it open again.

“She's in the office.”

“What's she doing there?” I said to myself as much as anyone.

“From the looks of her, crying,” the voice said.

Crying!
Why would she be crying? Then I had a thought.

Neither Ryan nor Liberty had been in history. Maybe they'd bumped into one another on the way to class and gotten into a fight.

“Thanks,” I said and took off.

There was a crowd of kids milling outside the office by the front door. Even so, I saw Ryan right away. But before I could get to him, he bolted out
of the school and climbed into his dad's van.

I frowned. He'd obviously been waiting for a ride. Even so, he'd taken off so fast it was like he was avoiding me. I pushed my way through the crowd to the office.

“Is Liberty here?” I said to my mom once I was inside.

She motioned for me to come around the counter. Then she got up from her desk and led the way to the counseling room.

“I called her father,” she said in a lowered voice. “He's on his way to pick her up now.” Then she placed a hand on the doorknob. “But she's pretty upset. I think she could use a friend. Just try not to get her any more worked up than she already is.”

I was totally bewildered. “Why? What happened? Did she have an accident or something?”

Before Mom could answer, the door of the principal's office opened and Mr. Henderson — walking like a robot and looking white as a ghost — brushed past us. My mother took one look at him and pushed me into the counseling office.

“Never mind that now,” she said. “Just try to keep Liberty calm.”

That was easier said than done. Liberty was curled in a little ball on the couch, but the second she saw me she leaped to her feet, launched herself at me and started wailing. She was so upset it took me a good five minutes to get her quiet.

Then I asked, “What happened?” I didn't know what had set her off, but I was pretty sure it must have had something to do with either Ryan or Cody.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

New tears welled up in Liberty's eyes, and her shoulders started to shake.

“Mr. … Mr. … Hender … Henderson,” she sobbed, “he … he … he … tried to rape me.”

I heard Liberty's father before I saw him. Of course, not having met him before, I couldn't be sure the voice bellowing outside the counseling room belonged to him, but the fact that it was threatening to kill Mr. Henderson seemed like a pretty good indication. And then when Liberty flew out the door and latched onto him, there wasn't much doubt.

Mr. Hayes was a tall, muscular man, and
when he wrapped Liberty in his arms she practically disappeared. I stood quietly by as he whispered soothing words into her hair.

“It's okay, baby. It's okay, Liberty honey,” he kept saying over and over. “Daddy's here. You're safe now.” Then taking her head in both of his big hands, he kissed her forehead.

Liberty's face melted into something between relief and awe — the sort of expression you might expect to see on someone who'd just met God. That surprised me. I mean, I don't think I even have a look like the one Liberty was wearing, but if I did I certainly wouldn't use it on my dad.

I hadn't even finished thinking that thought when shame hit me like a bucket of icy water. I was shocked by my own cattiness. Liberty had practically been raped, and here I was criticizing her.

Clinging to one another, she and her dad headed for the principal's office and closed the door. I wouldn't say Mr. Hayes slammed it, but he definitely shut it with attitude. I couldn't help feeling a little sorry for Mr. Garvey.

At the same instant, Cody came skidding in from the hall.

“I heard what happened,” he panted. “Where's Liberty? Is she all right?” Then his expression went from concern to anger. “I can't believe Mr. Henderson would do something like that! I just want to punch his head in.”

Mom frowned and came around the counter.

“That kind of talk isn't going to solve anything,” she scolded Cody. “Besides, at the moment we don't really know what happened. Until Mr. Garvey and the police make some inquiries, nobody is going to do anything — especially not you.”

“Police!” I yelped. “Did Mr. Garvey call the police?”

“There's no choice in matters like this,” Mom said as she shooed away the mob of kids outside the office. “Attempted rape is a very serious offense.”

My mouth fell open. “Is Mr. Henderson going to go to jail?”

“There won't be anything to put in jail if I get my hands on him!” Cody growled through gritted teeth.

Mom gave Cody's arm an angry shake. “I told you, that's enough! You two shouldn't even be discussing this. Now go and eat your lunch. And
don't go spreading stories you –”

That's when Liberty and her dad burst out of the principal's office.

“Mr. Hayes, please!” Mr. Garvey called after them. “You have to wait for the police.”

“Like hell I do!” Liberty's father barked without slowing down. “I'm taking my daughter home!”

Afraid of getting mowed over, Mom and I both jumped out of the way.

“Liberty!” Cody called as she whisked past.

But Liberty might as well have been deaf. She didn't even look at him.

“Please pass the bread,” Dad said. He slathered butter on a slice and asked, “So what happens now?”

We all turned to Mom. She gave us a
wait-a-second
look and made a big show of chewing and swallowing. Then she reached for her glass of water and took a sip. Finally she said, “Well, it looks like Liberty's father is going to press charges. That means the case will likely end up in court. In the meantime, Dave Henderson is suspended.”

“That's it?” Cody blurted. “The guy tries to
rape Liberty and all that happens is he gets suspended? What kind of justice is that?”