Perfect Glass (A Young Adult Novel (sequel to Glass Girl)) by Laura Anderson Kurk

would never act inappropriately.”
    “But I did show up uninvited,” I said. “Where do I sign to say I’m sorry, or whatever it is she expects?”
    “You sign the report here,” Officer Bain said, pointing to the signature lines. “But it’s not to say you’re sorry and it’s not acknowledging you’ve done anything wrong. It just says you’ve been made aware of the complaint.”
    Dad and I signed and pushed the forms back across the desk.
    “My advice to you, Meg,” Officer Bain said, “is to steer clear of Jo Russell.”
    There was nothing to say to that, so I just nodded and stood up. I was ready to find my Jeep, call Henry, and sleep. I opened the door while my parents cleared up details with the officer.
    The front desk area of the station was quiet. I leaned against the wall and looked around. That’s when I noticed Quinn sitting in a chair pushed into the corner of the room. He watched me and did the chin lift thing. What does that even mean?
Hey, how you doin’?
Or,
If you’re done here, can we play a game of basketball?
I tucked my hair behind my ear, feeling self-conscious.
    “You holding up?” he said.
    “I’m okay. It’s just…I feel creepy now.”
    Quinn stood and walked over to me. He reached out his hand and dragged the backs of his fingers over my wrist in a way that felt too intimate. I wrapped my other hand around that wrist like it hurt.
    “Sorry,” he said. He pushed his hands into his pockets and looked down at his feet.
    “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said.
    “Yep.” He didn’t act like I’d dismissed him. “Holy crap, Meg, I wish tonight had gone differently. I had fun, though.”
    I nodded, trying to simultaneously understand the meaning behind his words and to let their meaning float somewhere over my head. I couldn’t tell a guy, who wasn’t Henry, that I’d had fun with him. “It was a purely high school moment.” I smiled up at him. “We played car tag and won. No big deal.”
    “No big deal,” he repeated. His gaze slowly took in my whole face. When he finally turned to go, I noticed he turned his toes in a tiny bit when he walked.

EIGHT
    henry
    M y body jerked awake, over and over, like it was still juiced for a fight. I catalogued all the ways the day could have been even worse. Raf could’ve been killed. I could’ve been killed, too. I watched the minutes roll over on my clock and finally, when my body couldn’t take it anymore, fell asleep around two o’clock.
    Five minutes later, John came in and woke me. At least it felt like five minutes. But daylight already burned through my window, so it had to be at least seven in the morning.
    “Mornin’, Henry. Sorry to wake you, but we’ve got some things to discuss and they’re not ones to let simmer.”
    I sat up and punched my pillow behind my back, groaning with the new pains that had appeared in my shoulders and neck overnight. I glanced at my phone in my hand. I must have fallen asleep trying to get hold of Meg. We hadn’t gone a day without talking since I’d been here.
    “Let me go first, John.” I tried to shake off my lack of sleep and line up all the points I wanted to make. My voice sounded like I’d eaten gravel in the night. “I’m sorry I took him. I’ve put you in a bad situation now. In all fairness, though, you should have been up front from the start about Raf’s juvie sentencing.”
    “You have a point.”
    “I felt like that was my one shot to place the order and we were so close. Like, within minutes of having it done. I never dreamed, being that far from his old neighborhood, we’d see anyone who knew Raf. I thought I could pull rank on him and teach him a lesson, I guess.”
    John nodded and rubbed his hand over his dark, military-short hair. “That’s not your job here, Henry. I have to be the one to teach Raf any lessons. You’re a temporary volunteer and, as far as these kids are concerned, that’s it.”
    Temporary volunteer. The words stung, but