I felt a little better after Guthrie's crazy stunt, but my day didn't really improve much. In biology, I got back a quiz that I had failed.

I sighed and tucked it into my notebook. It wouldn't be a good thing for Crane to see it. At least not right now, so soon after he'd talked to me

about my grades.

As I was heading out with the rest of the kids at the end of class, I was startled, and not so glad, to have Mr. Fornelli ask me to

wait until the class had emptied.

"I'd like to talk with you a minute, Harlie," he said.

I nodded, waiting beside his desk, as he stood up, and then repositioned himself on the edge of his desk, crossing his arms.

"Is everything alright?" he asked me.

Wondering what he was getting at, I nodded. "Yes."

"Your grade is dropping fast, Harlie. Is there a reason for that?"

I felt my face turn warm in embarrassment. "I need to get it up again," I said.

"You do," Mr. Fornelli agreed. "But that's not what I asked you."

Even more embarrassed, I wasn't sure what to say. "I just haven't been studying enough, I guess," I said.

"Uh huh," he said, and then he was quiet, as if waiting for me to explain further.

"I've just had trouble keeping my mind on my work," I admitted.

"Is there something I can do to help?" he asked.

"No, sir."

"I'm not trying to lecture you, Harlie. I just want to help." His voice and his facial expression were both kind.

"Thank you," I managed. "But I'll start doing better."

"You're a good student. I don't want to see all your hard work sink away."

"Okay," I said.

After a silent few moments, Mr. Fornelli said, "You can go now, Harlie."

"Thank you," I said again, and made my escape.

7

After school, while I was waiting beside Guthrie's truck, I thought over the whole horrible day. It came to me that even though Guthrie had shown his

concern for me, and tried to make me feel better, he hadn't actually spoken the words I needed to hear. Which were, that he didn't blame me

for having to talk to the woman from family services. I was considering whether to try to approach him about it again in conversation.

When he finally appeared from the school, though, he had Kristen with him, her hand in his.

Oh. I'd forgotten about Kristen coming home with us for the weekend! Immediately my mood improved.

"Hey," I said, as we greeted each other with a hug.

"Hi!" Kristin said. We all climbed into Guthrie's truck, and Kristin and I began to chatter.

"I'm so glad I'm going to spend the whole weekend at your house!" she said.

"Me, too," I agreed.

We all three began to talk about what we should do over the weekend. I was actually feeling better. Concentrating on the weekend, and

pushing back the thoughts of the court case, and the visit from Ms. Barber.

As our house loomed into sight, Kristin was practically giddy. "I can't wait to get ahold of Isaac," she said.

"He's gotten a lot bigger since you saw him," Guthrie offered.

Guthrie parked, and we were all climbing out of the truck, when Hannah came out onto the front porch, followed by

Adam. Hannah reached out to greet Kristin with a hug.

"I'm so glad to be here," Kristin told her.

"As glad as we are to have you," Hannah said, hugging her again.

"Can I go see Isaac?" Kristin asked.

"Definitely," Hannah said, with a smile. "He's in the kitchen with Clare."

"Yay," Kristin said, and disappeared into the house.

"How are you two?" Hannah asked Guthrie and I, turning her attention to us.

"Okay," Guthrie said, with a shrug.

I was quiet, waiting for Guthrie to tell Hannah and Adam what had happened that day.

"What is it, Guthrie?" Hannah asked, looking concerned, and obviously able to tell that Guthrie was peeved about something.

"The woman from family services came today."

"Oh," Hannah said, looking startled, and then looked at Adam.

"That was quick," Adam said.

Guthrie shrugged again. "Yeah."

"Was it horrible?" Hannah asked.

"Well, there was nothin' good about it," Guthrie said, sounding disgusted. "I probably showed my bad side more than I should have."

I felt my good mood evaporating, and tried to draw my emotions close inside.

"Well. At least it's over," Hannah said, with false brightness.

Adam laid a hand on Guthrie's shoulder. "Were you respectful?" he asked Guthrie.

"I tried to be," Guthrie said, and then added, "Maybe I wasn't totally respectful though," he admitted. "She got on my nerves."

"I'll bet you did fine," Adam told him.

"Hope so," Guthrie said.

"How about you?" Adam asked, turning his attention to me.

I shrugged. "Like Guthrie said, there was nothing good about it."

Adam gave me a long look, and nobody said anything at all for a few moments.

"Any cookies, or brownies?" Guthrie asked Hannah hopefully.

"I'm sure we can find something," Hannah told him, reaching up to brush back his hair affectionately.

The two of them went inside, and left me standing there, with Adam.

"You seem pretty shook up," Adam said.

"I'm okay."

"Hmmm," Adam said then, looking at me doubtingly.

"I am, Adam. Really."

"I know it was tough for you."

"Yeah. It was. But it's over. I just want to forget about it."

Adam looked thoughtful, and then nodded. "Okay. But you can talk to me about if you want to. You know that, right?"

"I know."

As we went inside, Adam held the door for me. "I think Crane wants to talk to you."

"Okay."

I went up to change to my chore clothes. I was sitting on the edge of my bed, pulling on my old boots, when Kristin bounced into

my bedroom.

"Should we go to the basketball game tonight at school, or stay home?" she asked, sounding so happy that I gave her a look.

"It doesn't matter to me. Whatever you want to do," I told her.

"Okay. Guthrie says he'll do whatever we want." She whirled around in a circle happily. "See you downstairs, then. Oh, hey," she added,

"Crane's looking for you."

"Okay," I said, and when I'd finished pulling on my boots, I went back downstairs. I went thru the living room to the kitchen, which was

full of people, eating cookies, and talking. Guthrie had poured himself a glass of milk, and was busy dunking his cookies

in the milk.

"Have a snack," Hannah told me.

"I don't want anything," I told her.

"There's fruit. I went to the grocery store today."

I didn't want her to start fussing at me, so I got into the refrigerator, and took a plum from the assortment of fruit.

I felt a light smack on my behind, and turned to look up into Brian's face.

"What's happening?" he greeted me, sounding as though he was in a good mood.

"Not much."

"Crane's on the porch. He wants to talk to ya," Brian said.

Good grief, I thought. I took my plum, and went back thru the living room, grabbing a jacket from the hook by the door. I went out onto the

front porch, to find Crane sitting there, in the porch swing.

"Hi," I greeted him.

"Hi."

"Everybody says you want to talk to me."

"Yeah," he said. "I do." He gestured to the spot beside him on the swing. "Come sit here for a minute."

I hesitated. I could see something in his face. "What's wrong?" I asked him.

Crane patted the spot with his hand. "Come on. Sit down."

I went to sit beside him, feeling apprehensive.

"I got a phone call today," he said. "From Tony Fornelli."

My eyes widened. I know they did. I felt my stomach clench into a knot. "Oh."

"You know what it was about, right?" he asked.

"I guess."

"You do, or you don't. Which is it?" Crane asked.

Wow. This wasn't good. He was definitely irritated.

I sighed. "Yes. I know. My test that I failed this week."

"What test?" he asked then, and I wished I could kick myself.

"Isn't it about the test?" I asked.

"He didn't say anything specifically about a test," Crane said, and then he just looked at me.

I hate it when he does that. When he just looks at me and doesn't say anything.

"It wasn't technically a test," I said. "It was really a quiz."

"Yeah? Well, we definitely want to get it straight, on whether it was a test or a quiz," Crane said dryly.

I felt my face get all warm in embarrassment.

"Why is your grade in there continuing to go down?" he asked me then.

"I don't know," I said glumly.

"I bet if you think about it, you'll be able to come up with something," he said. He gave me a raised eyebrow look.

"It's the same reason as before," I said. "I can't concentrate." I waited a moment, and then when he didn't say anything,

I said, "So am I grounded?"

"We'll get there," Crane said. "I think we need to keep talking for a bit first."

"What's the use?" I asked.

When Crane's eyebrow went up another notch, I slumped back in the porch swing, crossing my arms. "If I'm going to

get grounded, I'd just as soon not keep on talking about it."

"Wow," Crane said, and rested his arm on the back of the swing. "You're full of vinegar this afternoon."

I stared off towards the pasture, watching the horses, feeling stubborn.

"It's something you need to get a handle on, right now." Crane said.

"A handle on which?" I asked. "My grades? Or my vinegary attitude?"

"Harlie."

"What?" I asked, raising my face to look at him, and making my eyes go wide.

"You're about to reach the point where you and I have an entirely different type of conversation."

And, though Crane's voice was quiet, there was no doubting that he was past just being irritated. I knew I'd pushed him

as far as I could, at least without there being vast amounts of unpleasantness.

"I'll get my grades up, Crane," I said, and sighed.

"You told me that before."

"I mean it this time," I insisted.

"Uh huh. Well, right now I'm as concerned about your attitude as I am your grades."

The door opened and Guthrie and Kristin came out, thus halting Crane and I's conversation.

"Brian and Clare say they'll go to the game with us," Kristin said. "Okay, Harlie?"

"Sure," I said.

"Will you come too, Crane?" Kristin asked him.

"Maybe so," Crane said, smiling at her.

As Guthrie and Kristin went off towards the barn, hand in hand, I gave a deep sigh. "I wish I was like Guthrie," I said, without thinking.

"How come?"

"Because Guthrie's such a good person."

"Which is something you both have in common," Crane said.

"Thanks. But you're my brother. You have to say I'm a good person."

"Actually, no I don't," Crane said. He reached out and gave the back of my head a nudge. "Sit up," he told me.

I sat up from my slumped-down position.

"Look at me," he ordered next.

I turned to look at him.

"For instance," he said, "I think you've been acting like a bratty kid for this entire conversation. Something which I have no problem at

all saying to you."

"Bratty kid, huh?" I asked, feeling my cheeks heat up.

"Right. So if I say that you're as good and decent a person as Guthrie is, then you can bet that's what I really think."

I suddenly felt like crying. Yet again. I would have thought that I'd used up all my tears earlier in the day, in the girl's restroom. But

apparently not. I felt my eyes begin to fill.

"I'm sorry for being a brat," I told him.

"Apology accepted."

I sighed, and sniffled a little. "You're such a good person, too. You really are."

"Well, thanks. There's a bunch of good people around here then, isn't there?"

I nodded at him, and reached up to brush my wet face. I wasn't crying flat-out, just more of a dribble here and there.

"That lady came today," I told him. "The one from family services."

"I know. Adam told me." Crane's hand rested on the back of my neck. "Not one of the best days, huh?"

"No. It's been sucky. From beginning to end."

"Yeah." His hand dropped to my shoulder, and he pulled me over closer.

We sat there in silence for a few minutes. Every little while Crane would set the swing in gentle motion with the toe of his boot.

"So can I go to the game tonight?" I asked him.

"Yeah. You can go."

"So I'm not grounded?" I asked hopefully, looking up at him.

"I didn't say that."

"Oh," I said, disappointed.

"You can go tonight, since Kristin's here and all, but the rest of the weekend you stay home. And after that, you don't go anywhere

until your grades are up."

Even though I'd known he would most likely ground me, I was still subdued about it. I mean, who wants to be grounded?

When I didn't answer, he said, "We clear?"

"Yes. We're clear," I said, with a sigh.

"Okay."

"I guess I'd better do my chores," I said.

"Yeah." And, as I moved to get up, Crane caught at my wrist. "You know how you said your day's been sucky from beginning to end?"

"Uh huh," I said.

"Well, it's not really the end yet. There's still some of the day left. Let's see if we can make it end on a good note. Alright?"

I shrugged, not answering.

Crane tipped my chin up with his hand, so that I had to look right at him. "Alright?" he said, again, stronger than before.

"Yes. Okay," I said.

7

It was quite a crowd of McFaddens that went into the high school gym that night to watch our basketball team play a nearby school.

Brian and Clare came, along with Guthrie, Kristin and I. Evan and Nancy came a little later, finding us in the bleachers and coming to sit

with us. After the end of the first quarter of the game, I saw Steven Yager come in. He was looking over the crowd while he munched on a sack of popcorn.

When he was looking in our direction, I waved at him. He smiled, and then came up the steps of the bleachers to where we sat.

He said hello to everybody, and then when he hesitated, I asked him if he wanted to sit with us.

"Sure," he said, looking happy.

I went to the bench below where there was more room to sit, and Steven sat down beside me.

We watched the game for awhile, and Steven offered me some of his popcorn. I took a handful, and we watched and munched.

"I was wanting to talk to you," he told me, during a lull in the game.

"About what?" I asked.

"Well," he said, looking around, "Maybe someplace more quiet. Do you want to go to the Dari Kurl after the game?"

"Oh," I said, and finished with the popcorn in my mouth. I lowered my voice a little. "I don't think I can. My grades aren't so good, and

I'm grounded. After tonight, I mean."

"That's rough," he said, looking sympathetic.

"I would have liked to, though," I told him.

"Maybe we can, when you're not grounded," Steven said, sounding hopeful.

I nodded.

Our team lost the game, though not by much. As we were all standing up, and talking to people around us, Steven told me goodbye, and

disappeared into the crowd.

Riding into the game in Clare's little car had been a tight squeeze with five of us in there. So, walking out of the school building, I

pulled on Evan's shirt. "Can I tag along with you guys?" I asked.

"I've got to get home," Nancy said. "I've got to work in the morning."

When Evan didn't say anything, I asked again, "So can I ride home with you, Ev?"

"For fifty bucks," Evan told me, jokingly.

"I don't have fifty dollars," I said, glumly.

"I'm just joking with you, knothead," he said. "Yeah, you can ride with me."

I turned to call back to Brian that I was riding with Evan, and after the three of us were in the cab of Evan's truck, he pulled out onto

the highway, heading back to Murphys.

Evan and Nancy were holding hands, while he drove with the other hand. Nancy spoke up, "You've been quiet tonight. Are you okay?"

"Just a lot on my mind," I said.

"I know it's all going to work out," Nancy said, and I knew she was referring to the whole Karissa debacle.

"I hope so."

It didn't take long to get to Nancy's house, and once we were there, Evan got out so Nancy could slide out after him. She turned to me.

"How about we hang out tomorrow?" she asked me.

"I can't go anywhere. I'm grounded."

"What'd you do now?" Nancy asked, giving me a nudge in my ribs.

"Bad grades."

"Well, I'll come over then. We can make cookies, or something."

"Okay," I said, cheering up a little. "Thanks, Nancy."

Nancy said goodbye and slid out of the truck. Evan walked her to the door, and they stood in the darkness of the front porch for a few

minutes, and then Evan was back, hopping into the truck, and slamming the door.

As he turned a U-turn from Nancy's driveway, and we were heading on the road toward home, I said,

"I'm glad about Nancy. That you're with her, I mean. She's awfully nice."

"Yeah. She is," Evan said in agreement.

"I've always thought she was nice, but after that night at the party, when I got sick, and lost my boot and all that, that's when I found

out how great she really is," I added.

"She's special," Evan said.

After that we faded into quiet for a few minutes, and then Evan picked up the conversation again, as if there hadn't been a pause at

all.

"I'm glad you feel that way about her," he said.

"I think we all feel that way. I know Adam likes her, too."

"Yeah?" Evan asked, and I could tell he wanted to know more.

"Yeah. He says she has a good head on her shoulders," I said, repeating what I'd heard Adam say about Nancy.

"That's good," Evan said, sounding pleased. "I'm gonna marry her, you know."

I looked over at Evan, trying to make out his face in the darkness. "I'm glad, Ev!" I said happily.

"Well, not this minute," Evan amended. "Someday, though."

"That'll be good," I said.

Another quiet bit of time, but it was a comfortable sort of silence. Not the kind where you feel like you have to talk. But the kind

where it's okay to just be still. At least that's how I felt. I don't know if Evan felt the same.

"Somebody from family services came to school today," I said.

"Yeah? Was it real bad?" Evan asked.

"Yeah. It was horrible. Guthrie got mad, and this lady just kept asking these questions, like who does the laundry and do we

like having Hannah around. Stupid stuff like that."

"It does sound stupid," Evan agreed.

"And if Adam and Brian are abusive," I said, in a quieter voice. "She asked that."

"She asked that?" Evan asked, sounding outraged.

"Yeah." I studied him again in the darkness.

"Man." I heard Evan sigh. "Well, hopefully she got what she needed, and that's the end of it."

"Maybe," I said,

We'd reached the end of our long driveway, and I asked Evan to stop.

"I want to walk up," I told him.

"How come?"

"I just do. I want to look at the stars."

Evan pulled to a stop. "Okay."

I got out, and waited as Evan began to pull forward. He stopped again, though, and handed my jacket out the window

to me. "Can't have you gettin' the sniffles," he told me, and I could hear the grin in his voice.

I took the jacket from him. "No. We wouldn't want that," I said.

"Don't be long, though," he said then. "For real. Alright? Everybody's worried about you."

"I won't be long," I promised.

"Okay," Evan said, and drove on up the driveway. I waited until the taillights of his truck were almost to the house, and then I started

walking, pulling on my jacket. The sky was littered with stars tonight. I thought of what Ford was always saying.

"There's nothing like a California sky at night."

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