Read Online Grace by Richard Paul Evans - Free Book Online Page A

flashlight and pointed it toward the corner. She was in the sleeping bag, which was pulled up to her neck. She yawned and rubbed her eyes. “Yeah,” she said, her voice weak and gravelly. “What time is it?”
    â€œIt’s almost eleven.”
    â€œI slept until noon?”
    â€œNoon? It’s night.”
    She sat bolt upright. “I slept all day?”
    â€œYeah.” She didn’t look right to me. “What’s wrong?”
    â€œI don’t feel well. I threw up.”
    Now I understood the smell. I turned on the light. She raised her hand to shield her eyes. “Are you sick?”
    â€œA little.”
    â€œWhat do you have?”
    â€œIt’s nothing. I’ll be fine.”
    â€œWell, you’ve got to be better by Wednesday for your birthday.”
    Her lips rose in a surprised smile. “You remembered.”
    â€œOf course. It’s an important day.”
    Her smile spread wider, and again she was looking at me in a way a girl never had. My face felt hot. “I got the things from your locker. I just put everything there.”
    She crawled over and pulled everything out until she found the red pouch. She untied it, then pulled out a large wad of bills. Not just ones, there were tens and even twenties.
    I stared at it in wonder. “What did you do, rob a bank?”
    â€œIt’s my stepfather’s gambling money.”
    â€œYou stole it?”
    She put the money back in the pouch. “It’s not really stealing.”
    â€œHow is it not stealing?”
    â€œLook, it’s his responsibility to take care of me, right?”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œSo I’m using this to take care of me, right?” She had a point. She retied the pouch and put it in the sleeping bag. “I’m not a thief,” she said angrily, though it sounded more like she was trying to convince herself.
    â€œI’m sorry.”
    â€œIt’s okay. Thanks for getting my stuff. I hope it wasn’t too much trouble.”
    I thought of telling her about my walk home in the snow and my frozen feet but for some reason I just said, “No trouble.” I handed her the sack of food. “And I brought this from work. You don’t have to eat it if you’re not hungry.”
    â€œI’m always hungry,” she said, which from what I knew of her seemed to be true. She lifted an onion ring and took a big bite out of it. After swallowing she asked, “What are you doing tomorrow?”
    â€œSame as today. School and work.”
    â€œThat doesn’t sound fun.”
    â€œIt’s not supposed to be.”
    â€œDo you ever play hooky from school?”
    I hesitated. “Sure,” I said coolly. “Who doesn’t?” If I sounded like the liar I was, she didn’t seem to notice. The truth was I had won three awards for perfect attendance.
    â€œGreat, then let’s play hooky tomorrow.”
    I was trapped by my own lie. The truth was I was proud of my perfect attendance awards. That sounds pathetic, but they were the only awards I’d ever received. Now I felt pressured to throw them aside like yesterday’s casserole just because I didn’t want to look dumb for some girl. I wondered if I got caught playing hooky, if my awards would be taken away like Jim Thorpe’s Olympic medals.
    Even worse than losing my awards was my terror of getting caught by a truant officer. I had never actually seen one or was even sure that they existed, but I’d heard about them and I didn’t want to take any chances.
    â€œI can’t miss work…”
    â€œThat’s okay,” she said. “It’s just until school’s out.”
    â€œWhat if you’re still sick?” I asked hopefully.
    â€œI’ll be okay.”
    I sighed. “Okay,” I said. “I better go.” I got down on my knees to crawl out.
    â€œMañana,” she said.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œTomorrow,