Damaged: A Violated Trust (Secrets) by Melody Carlson Read Free Book Online Page A

Of course, Dad probably wouldn’t even care. It’s Mom who flips out over something like this.
    “Don’t wait up for me,” Dad says as he’s getting ready to leave. “I might be in late.”
    “Okay.” I just nod.
    “Have fun!” He jingles his car keys and, just like that, he’s gone. I feel a strange sense of detachment as I stand there by myself in the condo — kind of like I’m all alone in the universe. On one hand, I should be thankful for this newfound freedom. On the other hand, it’s a bit unsettling.
    It’s still light when I walk to the game. A car full of guys honks at me and offers me a lift, but there’s no way I’m climbing in with a bunch of strangers, thank you very much. I feel a little odd going to the game by myself. The stands aren’t that crowded, and I soon discover that this is the junior-varsity game and in its second half.
    Some of the varsity cheerleaders are among the spectators, but I don’t see Emery or Saundra among them. However, Libby Farnsworth, one of Emery’s lesser friends, waves me over to join them. Libby isn’t a cheerleader but is part of their crowd. And in my opinion, she’s one of the nicer ones.
    “Did you hear the news?” she urgently asks me.
    “What news?” A rush of panic hits me — did something terrible happen to Harris? Car wreck, broken bones, what is it?
    “Emery and Harris broke up,” she says dramatically.
    Concealing my true emotions with a serious expression, I slowly nod, trying to take this in. “Oh, that’s too bad,” I finally say, but in reality I am controlling myself from doing the happy dance. “What happened?”
    “I guess we should’ve expected it. They’ve been fighting a lot lately and we all know what that means. Emery is saying it was mutual.”
    “Yeah, right,” Deidre Thornton says as she joins us. Deidre is a cheerleader and one of Emery’s closer friends. “Emery’s been home crying her eyes out all afternoon.” Deidre holds up her phone. “Saundra just texted me saying Emery might not even make it to tonight’s game. And we really need her to do our new formation.”
    “That’s too bad,” I say for the second time. Inside I’m cheering and clapping my hands. Outside I look as disturbed as these two.
    “It might be for the best,” Deidre concedes. “Emery hasn’t been that happy with Harris since last summer.” She glances at Libby. “Remember?”
    Libby nods. “Oh, yeah. I almost forgot.”
    “What happened?” I ask innocently.
    “Emery thinks Harris cheated on her,” Deidre says. “Naturally, Harris denied it.”
    “And Emery didn’t have any solid evidence,” Libby adds. “So I think she decided to overlook it.”
    Suddenly someone scores a touchdown and everyone is yelling and cheering; figuring it’s our school’s team, I cheer too — with abandon. Mostly I’m cheering for the breakup of Harris and Emery. It seems wrong in some ways, but it’s not like they were married. Besides, Harris gave me the heads-up this afternoon. It takes all my self-control not to admit this to these two girls now. Instead, I stand there with them, pretending to be the biggest football fan ever while we wait for the JV game to end. Fortunately our team wins and there’s even more opportunity for celebrating — and I really feel like celebrating.
    “Want to get a bite to eat?” Libby says to me as the cheerleaders head down to the turf to join the JV rally in a victory yell. “I never had dinner tonight.”
    Thankful to have a person to hang with, I gladly agree, and as we head down to the concession area, she tells me a little more about the breakup between Emery and Harris. “Can you believe it? He didn’t even do it in person. He broke up with her on the phone.”
    “Seriously?” I try not to look too happy. “That’s a little harsh.”
    “Maybe … but you didn’t see Emery storming off when he tried to talk to her after school. She wouldn’t even listen to him.”
    “Why did Emery