Perfect Escape by Jennifer Brown Page B

the phone as I stood in a gas station parking lot somewhere in Kansas brought that feeling back. I knew I could count on him. “No, he’s home from treatment now.”
    “Cool. Tell him to come on up. I got the new Zombiesplosion 5 game. It rocks. You should see what happens when you blow their heads off.”
    “Okay, I’ll tell him. But, um, Brock? I have a favor to ask you.”
    “Sure. What’s up?”
    “Um, I need you to cover for me. Well, actually, for Grayson. For both of us.”
    “Okay. How?”
    “My mom is probably going to call there in a few minutes. Can you tell her that Grayson is at your house and he can’t come to the phone? Just make something up. Tell her Grayson will call her later. I’ll take care of that.”
    There was a pause. I could hear his trademark heavy breathing whistling into the phone. Grayson never made fun of Brock’s weight, and neither did I, but everyone else did. “What’s going on?” he said, his voice laced with suspicion. “G-Man okay?”
    “Yeah,” I said, trying to keep my voice breezy. The nozzle
thunk
ed and the pump switched off. “Yeah, of course. We’re going… we’re taking a little trip. And Mom will get worried. You know how she is.”
    “Huh. A trip.” He sounded skeptical. “Where?”
    The wind gusted across the Kansas plain behind me again, and I stiffened against it, wishing more than ever I’d gotten my jacket out of my locker before Black Lung had opened it up.
Good question. Where are we going, exactly?
“I don’t… just… just tell her he’s in the shower, okay?” She’d believe it; Grayson went through phases when he showered twenty times a day.
    “And everything’s okay? You wouldn’t bullshit me, right?”
    I took a deep breath. “I totally wouldn’t bullshit you, Brock. Can you do this or what?”
    “Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, I guess so.”
    “Thanks,” I said. “I owe you.”
    “No problem,” he said, and the music started up again. Brock’s attention span only went so far. “But have G-Man call me, okay?”
    “You bet,” I said, then hung up and leaned back against the car. Step one, done. Step two… coming up.
    And then I didn’t even want to think about step three: convincing Grayson that this was a good idea.

CHAPTER
TEN
    I tried to keep my conversation with Mom short, partly because I didn’t want the lack of motion in the car to wake up Grayson, and also partly because I didn’t want Mom to figure out yet what was really going on, and I figured the longer I talked to her, the more time I had for it to dawn on her that there were highway noises in the background.
    Fortunately, luck was on my side, and I took it to be a sign that I was doing the right thing. Mom was ticked, sure, but easily calmed, which meant she hadn’t heard from the school yet.
    “Kendra! For crying out loud, I’ve been calling you for hours. Where on earth are you? Where is Grayson?”
    “Sorry, Mom,” I mumbled. “I had to turn my phone off for a science quiz, and I forgot to turn it back on. But everything’s cool. Did Gray forget to call you?” I made a frustrated grunting noise for authenticity. “He was supposed tocall you and tell you I gave him a ride to Brock’s. I’m at Shani’s house. We’re working on a psych project. Do you mind if I just crash here tonight?”
    “On a school night?”
    “Mom, seriously. We’re working on homework. And if I’m sleeping here I won’t have to get up early to pick up Shani on the way to school. This way I get more sleep. You can talk to her mom about it if you want.” I was bluffing, but I knew it was a risk I could take. Mom didn’t talk to anyone else’s mom, ever. Not since Zoe’s mom went away.
    When Zoe left, Mom lost her best friend, too. I remember Mom standing on the deck behind our house, shouting across the yard at Zoe’s mom, who was having some sort of party with some moms I recognized from school. Mom was screaming, “You changed his diapers, Rachel! How could