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“No, but I thought getting away might do both Kiera and me some good.”

He paused and thought.

“I don’t know if Kiera is the best influence on her at this moment,” Jordan said.

Donald glared at her. “You don’t want to give her a chance, do you?”

“Of course I do, but I just thought that—”

“You’d drive up?” Donald asked, interrupting.

“If you think I could.”

“Of course you could. Why couldn’t you?”

“I could leave Friday after school.”

“But we’re all going to Castles on Friday,” Jordan said. It came out more like a whine.

“So, you and I will still go,” Donald told her.

“And what about our shopping for her dress to wear to the concert, Donald? I made arrangements for this Saturday.”

“The concert is a little less than a month away, Jordan. You’ll have time when she’s back.”

“So you’re giving her permission.”

He looked at me so intently I thought I might just say that I had second thoughts. Jordan was right, but I pressed my lips together.

“I am, but I’d like you to leave by midafternoon,” he said. “Traffic on Friday is hell in the late afternoon. I’ll call Dr. Steiner myself. Under the circumstances, with your grades, I don’t think there’ll be a problem.”

“Okay,” I said quickly. “I’ll call Kiera after dinner to tell her.”

“No, I’ll call her,” Donald said. “I want to lay down some rules.”

“No drinking or drugs, for one thing,” Jordan said.

“I doubt you have to tell either of them that after what happened to Kiera, Jordan. I was referrin

g to other things,” he added, and left it cryptic.

I said nothing else. Kiera would surely call me after he had called her.

Jordan reached over to take my hand. “I suppose your getting away is a good idea, Sasha. Just be careful. By the time you return, I’m sure Ryder Garfield will have found another girlfriend and you won’t feel so bad.”

“If they let him return to Pacifica at all,” Donald added. “I might have something to say about that as well.”

I looked at him.

Why was he so adamant about Ryder and me, even to the point of doing something like this?

Something in his face frightened me.

He didn’t look so much like a concerned parent.

He looked more like a jealous lover.

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