Watch Me by Norah McClintock

I wished I was safe in the cafeteria with Drew—or that Drew was here with me so that he could help me figure out what was going on and what to say.
    â€œMaybe they didn’t know where your grandma lived,” I said.
    â€œThat’s the thing,” Jana said.
    What was the thing? What was she talking about?
    â€œAll the ID was gone out of my grandma’s purse,” Jana said. “So, either it fell out or the person who stole the purse got rid of it.”
    â€œThere you go,” I said. “whoever returned the purse probably didn’t know where she lived.”
    â€œExactly!” Jana said. “And you know what
that
means, don’t you?”
    I glanced around. Maybe Drew had got tired of waiting for me. Maybe he would come and look for me.
    â€œIt means that whoever returned the purse has to be someone who knows me,” Jana said.
    What
?
    â€œHow do you figure that?”
    â€œMy grandma got married again after my grandpa died. She doesn’t have the same last name as my dad. So how would anyone know to send her purse to our house unless they heard me talking about what happened?”
    â€œSomeone else in your family must have talked about it,” I said.
    â€œMaybe,” Jana said. She didn’t sound convinced. “But it was a kid who knocked her over. And she told the police that he said he was sorry. She said he asked if she was okay.”
    I started to get a bad feeling.
    â€œI have to go, Jana,” I said. “I’m supposed to meet Drew.”
    I started to walk away from her. She followed me.
    â€œShe said the boy who knocked her down was wearing a sweatshirt with the hood pulled up. She said she’s not sure, but before she got knocked down, she thinks she saw a scar on the side of his face.”
    I wanted to run away. I didn’t know what to say.
    â€œAnyway,” she said, “I just wanted to tell you that she got her stuff back and that she’s really happy about the watch. I thought you’d want to know—you know, because you asked me about it and you seemed to care.”
    I waited for her to say more, but she didn’t. She just turned and walked away.
    When I got home and saw that my mom was there, I was sure that Jana had called the cops.
    â€œHow come you’re home so early?” I said.
    â€œWe have to talk, Kaz.”
    Uh-oh. My legs started to shake. My face got all red.
    â€œMom, I’m sorry. I didn’t—”
    â€œYour dad called me at work today.”
    That wasn’t what I had expected at all. I was relieved—until I took a second look at the expression on her face. She was really upset.
    â€œHe says you called him on Saturday, Kaz.”
    It was true. I had phoned my dad right after I left the postal outlet. I still wanted to go and stay with him, but I had used up most of my money to buy back Jana’s grandma’s watch. I didn’t have enough left to pay for a bus ticket.
    â€œHe said that you asked him to send you bus fare so that you could go out there and live with him. He said—” Her eyes got all watery. “He said he hung up on you.”
    I don’t know what surprised me more— that my dad had hung up on me or that he had called my mom and told her about it.
    â€œIs that true?” my mom said.
    I nodded. I didn’t tell her that after he hung up, I called him again, but he didn’t answer the phone.
    â€œHow did you even find out how to get in touch with him?” she said.
    â€œDrew helped me.”
    My mom sighed. “Sit down,” she said.
    I sank down onto the couch. She sat down next to me and held one of my hands.
    â€œIt’s my fault,” she said.
    What was her fault?
    â€œWhat do you mean, Mom?”
    â€œI mean...” She peered into my eyes. “I thought that it would be easier for you if you thought that I didn’t want you to be with your dad, if you thought I wanted youall to