Chapter 10

The day dragged as we waited for news. Coach Baldwin ran us guys to death in gym class, getting us ready for our time trials in the mile.

I nearly fell asleep in English class and would have if Mrs. Ferguson hadn’t decided to tell us a spooky short story about a teenage girl who decides to run away with some guy in a car.

“Good literature—stories—help us make sense of what’s going on around us,” she said. “Some great stories have come out of terrible circumstances.”

This was all leading to something I wasn’t sure I liked. Mrs. Ferguson glanced at her watch. “Think about something bad that’s happened to you. Make up a character, give him or her a name, and change that story’s outcome. You’ll read your stories aloud tomorrow in class.”

Only one thing came to my mind. My dad.