I got up that Monday morning determined to do better. To stay on track. I ate eggs for breakfast and took the snacks that Hannah

had packed for me for my locker with more appreciation than I'd had recently.

Crane had checked over my math and I sat down at his desk after breakfast to try and correct the four that I'd gotten wrong.

Crane wasn't around for me to have him check them the second time, but I tucked the paper in my book bag, and hoped that I'd gotten

them right this time. Maybe, I thought, Guthrie could check over them for me.

That reminded me. I'd thought over what Adam and Brian had said about sharing rides to school, at least some times. I had very little

money of my own. I'd used the last pay from Ivy to pay for my own gas of late, and that was gone, mostly.

I did have money in savings at the bank, but I wasn't allowed to just use that for anything that I wanted. It was supposed to be for

'my future'.

So-riding with Guthrie would help me out, as well as save the money in the family's coffers for other stuff. Or-Guthrie could ride

with me, instead, but I decided I wasn't going to fuss about that this morning.

So, when it was time to leave for school, I caught Guthrie on the way out of the door.

"Okay if I ride with you today?" I asked him.

Guthrie looked a little surprised, but he said, "Sure. Okay."

Adam was in his usual spot on the front porch, leaning against a porch column, cup of coffee in hand.

"Ready?" he asked us both.

"Ready to be tortured," Guthrie said, with his usual jibe at school.

"You'll miss school when you're done with it," Adam told him.

Guthrie snickered. "Okay. Whatever you say."

Adam's gaze went to me. "How about you? Got all your homework and stuff?"

I patted the bag over my shoulder, and nodded. "Right here."

"Good," he said.

"I guess I'll ride with Guthrie today," I offered.

Adam nodded. "That's good," he said, again.

"Let's go if we have to," Guthrie said, with humor, and ambled down the steps. "See ya later, Adam."

"See you," Adam said.

I gave Adam a half-smile. "Bye."

"Bye, sugar. Have a good one."

I paused before going on down the steps. "Tomorrow after school, could I go visit with Ivy for a little while?"

Adam looked as though he was considering, and I went on to add, "I'll come home right afterwards. I promise."

"I believe you," he said. "It's alright, don't stay more than an hour, though."

I nodded in agreement. "Okay."

"And remind me in the morning again," he said.

I said okay again, and Guthrie and I left for school. We rode along for a while, with the radio blaring some Waylon Jennings.

At one point, Guthrie reached over and turned the radio dial down.

"Daniel's comin' home this weekend, did you hear that?" Guthrie asked.

I hadn't. "He is?"

"Yeah. Crane said they're goin' to start workin' at the building."

The building would be the one that Crane and Daniel had purchased earlier in the summer, to renovate into a country western club.

"That's good," I said, thinking ahead to coming face to face with Daniel. I'd missed him. Still-he might be put out at me over the

whole telephone debacle. That reminded me that I had planned to call him tonight to apologize.

"Is Jill coming, too?" I asked, assuming that of course she would be.

"I dunno. I think maybe not," Guthrie said.

I sort of hoped that Jill would come. What a long way we'd come, relationship wise, for me to feel that way.

Guthrie went on, talking now about an upcoming fall dance at school, and the band that had been hired to play the music for

it.

"Are you going?" I asked him.

"I dunno. Maybe," Guthrie said, sounding vague.

"When is it?" I asked. "In two weeks, right?"

"Naw. Well, a week from this Saturday, so yeah, I guess."

"Kenny hasn't said anything about it," I said.

"Well, no," Guthrie pointed out, giving me a look. "He knows you're grounded, so he's probably not gonna say anything, so he

doesn't make you feel any worse."

"If I can get my grades up, then maybe I could go," I said, considering.

"Yeah."

"Bring it up tonight at supper," I suggested. "You know how Hannah is-she's always wanting both of us to do all that stuff at school, maybe

she can go along with it for me."

"If you get up your grades," Guthrie said.

"Yes. I know," I said. "I just said that. I'm going to. I'm gonna turn over a new leaf."

Guthrie laughed outright.

"What are you laughing about?" I demanded, reaching across the cab to punch his arm.

"Nothin'," he said.

"If you do go to the dance, I think it will help Kristen," I said. "Give her something good to think about."

There was a couple of moments of silence, and then Guthrie said, "I don't think I'd go with Kristen," he said, slowly.

I stared across at him, truly shocked. "What?" I asked.

"I told you, Har. I'm not gonna go out with Kristen as much."

"Yeah, I know you said that, but-" I hesitated. "I mean-I didn't think you meant for stuff like a dance at school-"

Guthrie shrugged, and reached over to turn the radio back up again.

I reached over and turned it right back down.

"So, you're really breaking up with her?" I pressed him.

"I told you, I'm not sayin' I don't care about her," Guthrie said, hesitating. "I just think that it's not the best for me right now. All the

trouble, and drama, all the time."

"That's not Kristen's fault," I protested.

"I know it's not. Never said that it was."

"Well-" I paused, just looking at him. "You're not going to date someone else right now, are you?"

Guthrie's face got a little red, and I could tell that he was, indeed, considering another girl to date.

"You are!" I said, shocked. "Who is it?"

Guthrie got his stubborn look on, and said, "I'm not sayin' anything right now."

"Why not?" I asked, insulted.

"I'll tell you later on, if there's anything to tell."

"Oh my gosh," I muttered.

We were pulling up into the school parking lot, and Guthrie found a spot, and parked, and turned to face me.

"Don't go hassling me," he said, in warning.

"I'm not hassling you," I said. "I was just asking is all."

"I know she's your friend," Guthrie said, sounding less irritated. "And-I'm not gonna treat her bad, or anything. I just-it's a lot, Har."

Since Guthrie is one of the nicest people that I know, I knew that he wouldn't be mean to Kristen. And I guess I did understand

that dating Kristen must be sort of hard to deal with, what with her rocky home life, and all of that.

I didn't want to fight with Guthrie right then about it, so I just nodded, and told him I'd see him after school.

7

I continued on my intentions to concentrate in classes, and I was really happy when the teacher handed back my homework sheet

in Trigonometry, and, out of the four that I'd redone, I'd gotten three of those correct.

I was still feeling the success of that at lunch. It was Trent and Lori, and Kenny and I, and Guthrie, as usual, only not Kristen. Instead

another couple of Guthrie's friends joined our group. Lonnie and Joe.

Now that I thought about it, I hadn't seen Kristen anywhere in the halls that morning. I asked Lori quietly if she had, and she said yes.

Then Lori whispered something to me that made my eyes widen, and my stomach drop.

I lost my appetite, but kept trying to eat my turkey sandwich and nuts. I wondered if Guthrie knew.

7