Trouble With Liberty by Kristen Butcher

lunchtime and sat at another table, the light finally went on. Liberty was avoiding me. It looked like Cody wasn’t the only one who’d been dumped.
    All afternoon I thought about that — which is probably why I couldn’t get any formulas to balance in chemistry and why I let in four goals during a soccer game in phys ed. And though being snubbed by Liberty shocked and embarrassed me, those feelings soon changed to anger. The more I thought about things, the angrier I got.
    Liberty had used me. She’d used me to get to Cody, and she’d used me to get in with the other kids at school. And now that she didn’t need me anymore, she was tossing me away like an empty candy bar wrapper. By the time the last bell rang I was so mad it was a wonder steam wasn’t pouring out of my ears. If I’d passed Liberty in the hall at that moment I would probably have punched her in the nose.
    I made a quick trip to my locker and then poked my head into the office to let Mom know I’d be taking the bus home.
    As I climbed aboard, I could see Liberty at the back with her new grade eleven friends. I took a seat near the front beside Sarah Shaw. When the bus stopped at the end of Liberty’s driveway, I didn’t even watch her leave. A quarter mile down the road, I got off with Sarah. Since my stop was another two miles away, Sarah was more than a little surprised. But I crossed my fingers behind my back and explained that I’d left something at Liberty’s that I needed right away. I didn’t tell her it was my self-respect.
    With my eyes fixed blindly on the rolling purple hills ahead, and my mind focused on what I was going to say, I began the trek back to Liberty’s house. I played out the different ways the conversation might go. At first, all I could see was me biting Liberty’s head off. That was the least she deserved! But the closer I got to her house, the less angry I got, and the more reasonable the conversations taking place in my head became.
    I’d explain how hurt Cody and I were, and Liberty would apologize. She might even cry. She’d admit she’d made a mistake dumping Cody, and she’d beg me to help her get him back. Then she’d confess how embarrassed she was, and that was why she’d avoided me all day.
    I sighed and raked my hand through a tall clump of golden horsetails at the side of the road.
Yeah, right
!
    At the bottom of Liberty’s driveway I stopped. I wasn’t chickening out or anything. I just needed a minute to get my engines totally revved — kind of like an airplane that sits at the end of the runway for a second before barreling ahead for takeoff.

Chapter Twelve
    Mrs. Hayes was frowning as she answered the door. For a second it looked like she wasn’t going to let me in. But then her frown dissolved and she pointed to the staircase behind her.
    â€œLiberty’s in her room,” she said. “Go on up.”
    Liberty didn’t hear me coming. It was a good minute before she noticed me standing in the doorway. She was sprawled across her bed, talking on the phone. Her eyes were sparkling and there was laughter in her voice. She looked somuch like the Liberty I was used to that I almost forgot why I’d come. But then she saw me, and her expression became hard as stone.
    â€œI’ll have to call you back,” she told the person on the other end of the phone. She pushed herself up to a sitting position and glared at me. “How did you get in here?” Then she bellowed into the hallway behind me. “Mother!” And again. “Mother!”
    â€œSave your breath,” I said. “I’m not staying.”
    â€œWhat do you want?” Liberty snarled. “And make it fast. I have things to do.” As if to prove her point, she got to her feet and stalked across the room to her dresser.
    â€œThat’s a nice way to talk to your
best friend
.”
    Liberty didn’t even