Page 54 of Room to Breathe

I didn’t know what had gotten into me. Being around Cody felt exciting and unpredictable and, most important,differentfrom what I’d been feeling in my everyday life recently. I needed different.

I hit send.

He pulled out his phone and a wide smile spread across his face as he read my message. Then, without hesitation, he closed the distance between us and pressed his lips to mine.

The kiss didn’t last long. He tasted like Doritos, he smelled like grass, and he was a little sweaty. But it was nice. Unlike our first, cold kiss, this was soft and warm. His arms around me felt good, and it got my mind off of everything for the rest of the school day. Because instead of thinking about my missing book, or my dad’s job, or the way Beau had looked at me, I thought about how it had felt to be in Cody’s arms. How he kicked his board to the side while we were kissing, out of our way, and pulled me close. How he laughed against my mouth when his friend let out a “Whoop!” in the middle of our kiss. How he said, “More of that later, Jones,” when the bell rang and he’d skated off.

When I got home from school, my life seemed to crash over me again. I searched the house for my book, but it wasn’t there. My dad wasn’t home. I wasn’t sure where he was, because he hadn’t been going into the office since the incident. The office wason holiday. That’s what their official recorded message said when people called in. It helped that it was December.

By the time my mom got home, I was worked up.

Before she’d even had a chance to hang her keys on the hook in the kitchen, I said, “Those stupid FBI people stole one of my schoolbooks.”

She gave me a look of disbelief. “Highly unlikely.”

“It’s been missing ever since they were here.”

“It’s probably just in your room somewhere.” She was wearing green scrubs today, which made the green in her hazel eyes look more intense as she gave me a tired stare.

“I’ve looked everywhere.”

“Maybe you left it at a friend’s house. Did you ask Beau?”

“I asked everyone.”

“Where is your father?” she asked, hanging her keys and setting her purse down on the counter.

“I don’t know. He wasn’t here when I got home.”

Her expression went dark.

“Can you have Dad ask if my book was taken with everything else?”

She sighed. “What would they want with your book?”

There was a small bowl of pistachios on the counter, and I picked one out and took off the shell but didn’t eat it. “I don’t know. Maybe they think it’s funny. Maybe they like to play pranks. Maybe one of them really wants to learn calculus.”

She released a small chuckle. “Again, not likely.”

I let out a grunt and dropped both sides of the shell and the pistachio back in the bowl. “Well, whatever. It’s missing and it costs seventy-five dollars for a new one and that’s so much money! I’ve been saving up for a car and I’m almost there, but that would knock me back down again.”

“You’re almost there?” she asked.

“What?”

“How much money have you saved?”

“With the paycheck I’ll get on Friday, I think I’ll be at eight hundred.”

“That’s really good, Indy.”

“Thanks.”

“Let’s go get you a car.”

“What?” I asked. I had heard the words, understood each one,but I didn’t think she meant to string them together in the order she did.

“We’re going to get you a car. Have you thought about what kind you want?”