Trouble With Liberty by Kristen Butcher Page B

she was using me to make him jealous or something. And when it didn’t work, she dumped me. It’s kind of sick, don’t you think?”
    â€œYeah,” I mumbled. “Sick and sad.”
    That night I called Ryan. After I told him what had happened at Liberty’s house, we decided Mr. Henderson had been a victim long enough. It was time to set the record straight.
    When my mom heard the story, she immediately phoned Mr. Garvey. Suddenly Ryan and I had an early morning appointment at the office. All night I tossed and turned, thinking about it. I knew Ryan and I were doing the right thing, but that didn’t stop me from worrying. After all, we were crossing Liberty, and look what had happened to Mr. Henderson when he’d tried it.
    By the next morning I was a wreck. I thought my stomach was as knotted up as it could get, but when the office door swung open and Liberty’s mom walked in, it snarled up a little bit more.
    Mrs. Hayes looked every bit as fierce as shehad the last time I’d seen her. She walked up to the counter and started talking to my mother. She said an unexpected business development required the family to leave Sutter’s Crossing immediately. She’d arrange for Liberty’s things to be picked up later. Then she placed two envelopes on the counter and left.
    From where I was sitting, I could see the top envelope. It was addressed to Mr. Henderson. And it was in Liberty’s handwriting. The second envelope was a mystery. At least it was until morning announcements.
    That’s when Mr. Garvey read it over the public address system for the whole school to hear. It was from Liberty too. In it she admitted she’d lied about Mr. Henderson trying to molest her, and she apologized to everyone for what she’d done.
    I figured Liberty had been forced to write those letters, but since her dad was out of town, it had to have been her mother who’d done the forcing. It was probably the first time Mrs. Hayes had made Liberty do anything in her whole life. But I had a feeling it wouldn’t be the last.
    â€œSo when will Mr. Henderson be back at school?” I asked my mom as we drove home that day.
    She shook her head. “He won’t.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?” I demanded. “Liberty confessed. They can’t take Mr. Henderson’s job away now!”
    â€œNo, they can’t. But it doesn’t matter. He handed in his resignation. He’s going after his wife to try and salvage what’s left of his marriage.”
    â€œBut he’s innocent!” I insisted. “Why doesn’t Mrs. Henderson just come back?”
    Mom sighed. “It’s not that easy. When something like trust gets broken, it’s a hard thing to fix.”
    Though I didn’t like it, I knew she was right. My friendship with Ryan was proof of that. I shuddered to think how close I’d come to losing it.
    Part of me wanted to blame Liberty for everything that had happened, but I couldn’t.
    I’m not saying she was innocent. She wasn’t. She’d blown in and out of Sutter’s Crossing like a tornado — causing about the same amount of damage. The thing is, she hadn’t done it alone. Cody, Ryan, me, Liberty’s parents, Mrs. Henderson, the kids at school, people in the community — we were all partly to blame for the things thathad happened. If Liberty had manipulated us, it’s because we let her.
    Though I hated to admit it, I knew we were partly responsible for the business with Mr. Henderson too. We should have stood up for him, but we hadn’t. Now all we could do was hope he could put his life back together.
    Which just left Liberty. Amazingly, my feelings about her were still confused. I didn’t admire her anymore, and I sure didn’t envy her. But I didn’t hate her either. What was the point? She was gone, and the trouble she’d caused was gone with her. And that’s because the