Chapter Seven

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“Hey, Stef, how’d it go last night?” Darla asked when she caught up with me at my locker.

“Great. Wendy and Dwight tried to get me in trouble because they wouldn’t do what I told them. Dad stood up for me and told them they better mind me when they’re gone,” I announced proudly. I finally had some authority.

“That’s cool. Wish I could boss my sister around. She’s always the one telling me what to do.” Darla rolled her eyes. “So, you weren’t afraid? You sounded like you were a little nervous being home alone for the first time.”

“What? Was Little Miss Stephanie home alone? You’re such a big girl now,” Rachael mimicked. “Ha, ha, ha...”

“Why don’t you do us all a favor and get lost, Rachael?” I stormed angrily. If there was one thing worse than brothers and sisters... it was Rachael!

“Good comeback. Maybe if you’re lucky they’ll let you be line leader next week. Hey, or maybe room monitor. Of course, you might need to get a pocket protector first. Geek.” Rachael laughed.

My face grew hot and I was about to drop my books and wring Rachael’s neck but the bell sounded. If I was late to Mrs. Gable’s class again, she would definitely give me an eighth hour.

Darla grabbed my arm. “She’s not worth it.”

“That’s for sure.” I slammed my locker shut. “I’ll see you at lunch.”

“Okay.”

The bell was just beginning to buzz when I walked into my language class. A thin brunette in a black skirt, white blouse, and a bouncy ponytail sat in Mrs. Gable’s chair. She smiled as I walked by.

“Hello, class,” she said and stood. “My name is Miss Johnson.”

“Dude,” Jason exclaimed. “She ain’t married. Yeah.”

Carter gave Jason a high-five. “Oh, yeah.”

Miss Johnson laughed. “No, I’m not married, yet. We’re waiting until the end of June.”

Both boys moaned and Miss Johnson laughed again.

“I shouldn’t be telling you this, but Mrs. Gable did leave a message for me stating that we should review the book you’ve been reading. What is it... The Outsider’s?”

“Yeah, I finished it two weeks ago,” Angie said out loud.

Miss Johnson nodded. “It was a good book. I remember reading it when I was younger.”

“Couldn’t have been more than a year ago,” Jason hollered.

“Ha, ha. Thanks, but it’s been a bit longer than that.” Miss Johnson opened a couple drawers and looked through them, finally retrieving a copy of the book in question. “I believe Mrs. Gable is planning on giving you a quiz on this book tomorrow.”

Practically everybody moaned.

Miss Johnson smiled. “Well, that answers my question. I was going to ask who was ready for the test. Why don’t we pair off into groups of two and review previous chapter quizzes?”

Several people nodded. That sounded like a good idea as long as I didn’t get stuck with Robin.

“Okay, I want everyone to scoot your chair closer to the person across the aisle from you. There are six rows, so this should work out perfectly.”

The sound of chairs scraping across the floor was nerve-wracking. My palms began to sweat a little. Todd and I would be partners. He lined his chair up next to mine. I tried to smile, but ended up looking away from him. The cutest guy in school and I get to partner with him. Yikes!

“I’m glad we got to be partners,” Todd said, laying his book down.

“Really?”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “You looked like you were upset when you came into class. Is something wrong?”

I shrugged. “Just someone being a twit.” Before I could help myself I rambled on. “They were giving me a hard time about getting to be on my own. Oops. Never mind. It’s not important.”

Todd laid his hand on my arm and my stomach did a flip-flop. “Yes, it is. My parents put an alarm in our home because... I’m sorry. I shouldn’t scare you.”

Todd withdrew his hand and picked up his review papers.

“Scare me? Why? What happened?” I had to know. My heart beat faster, like it would pound out of my chest.

“When we lived in California someone broke into our home.”

“They did? Good thing your family was gone.” That would scare me silly. I couldn’t imagine someone going through our stuff.

“Well... my parents weren’t home, but I was,” Todd admitted.

“You’ve got to be kidding? You were home?”

Todd nodded.

“What happened?” It was obvious they didn’t shoot him or he wouldn’t be here now. My heart continued its rapid pace.

“Well, to be honest. I froze. Kind of in shock.”

“I would have been in shock too.” Probably would have wet my pants, but I didn’t want to admit that.

“The burglar split. He didn’t get much. I think he figured if I was home, my parents would be soon too.” Todd nudged me with his elbow. “Hey, forget I said anything. Just because it happened to me doesn’t mean it will happen to anyone else. After all, we lived in California.”

He said that as if it made all the difference. I watch the news. Things like that happen here too. Even things much worse than that, have happened. Now, I was scared. What if I went home and somebody was already there? The thought sent shivers up my spine.

God has not given us a spirit of fear. I thought about our Sunday school lesson. He didn’t give us a spirit of fear. But weren’t some things natural to be afraid of? Wasn’t Todd afraid?

He was safe. It was like a voice inside of me telling me I didn’t have to worry either.

“I messed up and left the front door unlocked after I got home. There are things you can do to help avoid someone breaking in. Lock your doors. If you’ve got a dog, he’ll probably bark and warn you if there is someone sneaking around outside.”

“I’ve got a dog.” Jinx would protect me. If any dog could bark, he could!

“What about Soda Pop and Dallas?”

I jumped before looking up at Miss Johnson and gulped. “We’re not in Dallas.”

Miss Johnson laughed. “You’re not in Kansas either.”

Todd and I looked at each other. I’m sure my expression mirrored his—a frown. I had no idea what she was talking about. We both looked back at Miss Johnson.

“You’re supposed to be reviewing for your test tomorrow. It’s not a good sign if you don’t know who the characters in the book are,” Miss Johnson said.

“Oh, that. Gee, I know who they are. I thought you were thirsty or something. Then you started talking about different places.” I laughed.

It apparently wasn’t very amusing to Miss Johnson. She tapped her finger on my desk. “I think you should both get busy or I’m going to have to separate you.”

“Yes, Miss Johnson.” Todd picked up his notes. “Let’s start with chapter one.”