By the time I’ve reached home, I know what I have to do before anything else: get rid of the bag of “evidence.” Charlie would probably freak out if she knew I still had it. With Uncle Bill not coming home till later, I have time.
I pull the bag out from its hiding place in my closet and stare at it for a moment. Then I open it, rummage around, and pull out the backpack. The bloodstain jumps out at me. This time because, again, it’s not as much blood as I remember. Which makes me question what it was I’d really seen. Does Greg really have it in him to hit Amy with a backpack full of books? If he was sorry afterward, would Amy really be willing to forgive him for something like that? I know if Amy were my girlfriend, I’d never hit her. Or any girl.
More likely, like Charlie said, Amy really did simply trip and fall, her head first hitting the dugout wall, then landing on the backpack when she hit the ground.
I’m lost in thought, still holding and staring at the backpack, when I hear, “Hey, Alden, you here?”
Crap, it’s Uncle Bill! What’s he doing home so early? Instead of answering, I drop the backpack into the bag, but it misses and hits the floor.
“Alden, are you upstairs?” I hear him start to move up the stairs. Frantically, I grab for the backpack, but I miss, my fingers only grazing it. My uncle’s footsteps are getting louder, closer. I grab for it again, successfully this time, shoving it in the bag then throwing it back into my closet.
Uncle Bill appears at my open doorway. “There you are,” he says. “Didn’t you hear me calling you?”
I open my mouth. “I…uh…”
“That’s okay,” he says, wearing a smile on his face I’ve rarely seen. “I got off early today. Thought you and I could do something. Make up for not getting to share pizza on Sunday. Maybe a movie and then dinner somewhere? If you don’t have a lot of homework.”
“Actually I do,” I say, though, really, all I have are a few easy math problems. “I might need to go to the library…” Once I figure out how to get the bag I’m hiding out of here without you seeing it.
“Oh,” he says. “Okay. I just thought…”
He looks so crestfallen my heart sinks. “Wait a minute. I don’t have to do all of it tonight. I have a few math problems due tomorrow. But the rest can wait.”
“You’re sure…”
“Yeah,” I tell him. “I am.”
“Great!” He lights up again, his smile even bigger now. “Let’s look at the paper, pick a movie, then do your homework and we’ll go.”
“I can just check online,” I tell him.
“Where can you do that?”
“Here, I’ll show you.”
I glance back at my closet before leaving my room and following him down the stairs.