Leap by Jodi Lundgren Read Free Book Online Page B

turds.
    Monday July 12th
    As I approached the change room this morning, raised voices inside made me pause with my hand on the doorknob. Tension pushed Sasha’s voice up half an octave. I heard Kevin’s name and yanked open the door. Sasha had her back to me and was pulling on bike shorts, which Ms. Kelly allows instead of tights in hot weather. She spun around when she heard me and snapped her mouth shut. Jamie, never the most sensitive person, bulldozed ahead. “So what happens now? Will he go to jail?”
    I couldn’t hold back. “What happened?”
    Jamie said, “Kevin was driving under the influence and he got into an accident.”
    â€œOh my God!” How much of that beer did he drink at the lake?
    â€œI’m not discussing this with her.” Sasha turned her back to me and rummaged in her knapsack.
    Jamie glanced from Sasha to me and back. She looked almost smug, which confirmed my suspicion that she’d always resented our friendship. I waited to see whose side she would take, but I should have known. Jamie stepped up to Sasha, slipped one arm around her shoulders, and murmured words I couldn’t make out—she was either building Sasha up or tearing me down, maybe both at once. Either way, my presence obviously grated on them. I bolted and, as I flung open the outside door, crashed into Lisa.
    â€œWhat’s wrong?” she said.
    â€œSasha’s brother got into an accident and she won’t talk to me. I’ve got to get out of here.”
    She touched my arm. “Wait—I’ll come with you. I heard Kevin’s okay.”
    Lisa guided me to Con Brio, a café on a corner a few blocks from the studio. It has two walls of windows, counters filled with newspapers and magazines, and long wooden tables where you can play chess or backgammon. I’d never been in. Sitting in cafés was for grown-ups.
    Grown-ups. Luckily, I didn’t say that out loud. Older people, I meant. We crossed the threshold and entered the shop. Lisa—who is older, after all—ordered two iced lattes and chose a table for two in the window. The sun at her back made her dark hair glow with auburn highlights. She pushed one of the tall glasses across the table to me. We faced each other, stirring in sugar.
    â€œI’ll tell you what I know,” Lisa said. She didn’t use the excited tone that Sasha reserves for juicy gossip. She was matter-of-fact. Her boyfriend and Kevin have friends in common, soccer players. They’d held an after-game party on Friday night. “The accident happened on his way home. He ran a red light and got sideswiped.” Lisa twisted her glass in her hands. The barista was hammering at the espresso machine.
    Kevin didn’t sustain serious injuries, but his license was suspended. He has to go to court and will miss the second half of tree-planting season. “His parents are so angry that they want him out of their place, like, yesterday.”
    I stared at the tabletop.
    Lisa touched my hand. “It could have been a lot worse. And I’ve seen other guys smarten up after an accident like that. In the meantime, I wouldn’t take anything Sasha says too personally.”
    I frowned at my glass and poked at the ice cubes with my stir stick. “Did you hear her call me a slut when I walked up to you guys at lunch on Friday?”
    The roaring of the espresso machine drowned out Lisa’s response. A young woman struggled to push a stroller into the café until a man entering behind her held the door. I chewed my lip and waited for the grinding, hissing, and banging to cease.
    â€œNo, I didn’t,” Lisa said.
    â€œI’m sure I heard her say it, and then I figured you’d all been talking about me.”
    â€œI wouldn’t have joined in that kind of gossip, Natalie.” The warmth in Lisa’s face convinced me. Sasha may have her issues with me—maybe she even hates me right