Authors: S. E. Campbell
How to Get Dirt (13 page)
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That night, she dreamt of whipped cream, chocolate ice cream,
and
caramel sauce.
Her day was less pleasant than her dreams.
She sat at lunch, playing with the noodles
which
were on her tray,
but she
didn
'
t eat. Courtney sat next to her,
slurping
down her spaghetti.
“
Is everything okay?
”
Courtney asked, her mouth still full of food. Pickles saw the half chewed mass in her mouth
and
grimaced.
“
Wellâ¦
”
Pickles eyeballed her nervously.
“
I
'
m your friend, aren
'
t I?
”
Courtney asked.
“
You can trust me. I
know you
came here under odd circumstances. The whole school has been
talking about
it.
”
She couldn
'
t think of
a reason why she couldn
'
t trust Courtney.
The other girl
was nice to her
,
and she
kept the other girls away with her frightening temper. Before she could stop herself, the whole story spilled out, just like it had with Mrs. Beazley. When Pickles was finished with her story, Courtney
'
s mouth dropped opened.
“
You
'
ve been
through all that?
”
Courtney asked.
Pickles nodded.
“
Wow.
”
Courtney ate another bite of spaghetti.
“
Double wow. So now you
'
re trying to figure out how to get home in the middle of the day without getting in trouble?
”
“
That
'
s about it,
”
Pickles said.
“
Honestly, I don
'
t know if it
'
s worth it. They
look
to be so perfect.
”
“
I guess I can see things both sides,
”
Courtney said, shrugging,
“
but one thing I know for sureâ¦
”
Pickles frowned at her.
“
What
'
s that?
”
“
I
know if
a plan
involves
trouble
making, I
'
m all in,
”
Courtney said, with a triumphant smile.
“
I think I know exactly how I can get you home early today.
”
Her eyes widened as Courtney
'
s mouth formed a sinister smirk. Pickles wasn
'
t
sure she
was going to like Courtney
'
s plan.
****
Pickles
'
fears about Courtney
'
s plan
turned out to be
well-founded
.
It involved pulling a fire alarm and Pickles sneaking out of the emergency line-up.
At one o
'
clock, right after lunch, Pickles sat in her regular spot in English class.
Her
hand
s
shook.
The fire alarm
rang
as planned, cutting off her thoughts. The Spanish teacher, Mrs. Florez, grunted
and
gazed
up, as if she might just see fire pouring in from the ceiling.
“
Do you think it
'
s a real one this time?
I left my cell phone in my locker. My parents won
'
t buy me a new one for at least a month
,
”
Mary Lou whispered to the neig
hbor across the aisle, Clarissa.
Pickles couldn
'
t help herself.
F
eigning a concerned frown,
she
said,
“
Oh no, I can
'
t believe
Courtney blew
up that garbage can
like she said she would
. Now the whole school
'
s going to burn down.
”
Mary Lou gasped
with horror
and stared at her.
Pickles hid a smile.
Mrs. Florez called the class forward
.
Pickles walked toward her and waited. The other classmates did the same. Her heart thudded in nervousness. What if she got caught? If Mrs. Florez
noticed she
had
disappeared on the way to the soccer field, she could be in big trouble.
Miranda
'
s face filled her vision
, so
her resolve strengthened.
“
This way, class,
”
Mrs. Florez said, leading them forward.
“
Everybody calm
down
now.
”
The class moved in a massive, swarming herd out the door. Halfway out, Pickles left the line then
walked out of
the school via the front door.
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Fifteen minutes later, Pickles arrived, gasping and shaking, at the front door of the condo. Like usual, Miranda
'
s car was
parked in its normal spot
.
What did I expect? Miranda is the nicest human on the face of the planet. Prudence was silly for
thinking this
would work.
Her stomach sunk as she lingered by
the
front door.
She pressed her face to the window and peered through a small gap in the
curtains
. Miranda was where she was supposed to be, sitting at the table in jeans and a
T
-shirt while staring at a computer screen filled with data.
A mug
â
probably coffee
â
sat at her elbow.
Since Miranda was home,
it
meant no sleuthing. No sleuthing meant she couldn
'
t force Miranda and David to keep her.
Pickles
knew what
that
meant for her.
She would be going
back to foster families
who
didn
'
t know her name and schools
where she had to be checked for weapons at the front door.
It
meant no bedtime stories and no ice cream past midnight. She suddenly felt as if she was choking on her emotions.
I can
'
t go back to school. I just can
'
t.
She turned from the house
and
beg
a
n
to run. Her feet pounded on the ground
and
her
toes
burn
ed
with
pain. But she ignored it until she reached her destination
â
the
park she
had come to the first day.
Currently, it was empty. Pickles was grateful for that. She climbed up the stairs
of the play land
and found the slide. She slid inside of it, curled up at the bottom, and then began to weep. Already, her stomach hurt.
****
When Pickles awoke after she had cried herself to sleep, her head was
blurry
as if she was trying to see through an ocean of fog. She
didn
'
t know how much time had gone by, but
darkness
had fallen outside. She
knew she
was in trouble. Miranda would have gone to her school and figured
out she
had left
.
Pickles
knew she
should go home, but she couldn
'
t bear it.
Maybe I knew all
along the
list wouldn
'
t work. I just wanted something to hold on to in order to give me
hope
. B
ut it
'
s gone now. All gone.
She almost
wished she
had never come to Miranda
and
David. At least then she wouldn
'
t
have
realize
d
how
much she
was missing. But now
that
she knew
,
she
would never forget.
As she
laid her
head back against the plastic, she heard the sound of familiar giggling outside of her slide. She
glanced
up and saw the soles of two bright white sneakers.
Agony electrocuted her forehead,
and then
she heard a loud bang in her ears as her head met plastic. The pain gave way to a sea of darkness.
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When she awoke, she wasn
'
t at the park. She was at home
, sitting in her living room. Strange alien faces loomed above her, making her heart quicken in her chest.
Where am I? Who is that?
Fear caused her teeth to chatter.
The strange alien flashed a light in her eyes, which made her brain ache as if he had poured acid into her eyeball
.
“
Ouch,
”
Pickles said, shaking her head. She felt as if her brain was going to fall out her ear it ached so
badly
.
“
Where am I
?
What happened?
”
Then she blinked and realized there weren
'
t aliens after all. It was her foster family and a strange man in a
jacket with a patch on it
. Her heart filled with relief but her head still ached in pain.
“
Oh, Pickles,
”
Miranda said.
“
Oh,
thank heavens
.
”
Then Pickles heard David.
“
Is she going to be okay?
”
He was
breathing hard.
“
Please tell
us she
'
s
going to be okay.
”
Someone said,
“
She
'
s going to be fine.
”
The
strange man in front of her
, who she realized had a beard, a belly, and blue eyes, smiled at her
then
patted her head. She squirmed beneath his touch. She didn
'
t like it. Also, she didn
'
t like the unanswered questions running circles in her head. How
had
she
gotten t
here? Why wasn
'
t she in the park? Why was the only
thing she
remembered shoes?
“
I
think you
should bring her to the hospital. We can
take her in the ambulance, but it isn
'
t necessary
. You can drive her yourself,
”
the
strange man in front of her
said
, stepping aside.
“
She
'
s sound
. See?
She
'
s already awake.
”
Before she had time to blink, Miranda was above her too. Miranda leaned down, seized her, and then held her tight. Pickles gasped in her arms.