Ditched

Freeing the Prisoners

Two months later, I lie sprawled out on my bed, firing questions at Casey and Jack from the textbook. They blurt out the answers, marking points on a piece of paper with every right answer.

"Guys," I start.

"George Washington!" Casey shouts. Jack and I stare at him blankly. He shrugs. "What? When in doubt, it's George Washington."

I burst out laughing and roll my eyes at Jack. "Anywayyy, I was thinking, that I might wanna go to the dance this Friday." I emphasize the word 'dance' hinting that maybe Jack should ask me.

Casey raises his eyebrows at Jack. Jack gulps. "Oh, yes. About that. Um, would you-would you, like, maybe-"

I kiss his lips gently. "Please shut up," I say, pulling away. "Stop embarrassing yourself. Of course I'll go with you."

"You guys are so disgusting." Casey says, his face scrunching up.

Jack crosses his arms. "Only because you don't have a date."

Casey frowns. "I don't have anyone I wanna ask."

"But you only have two more days to ask. Tomorrow's Thursday." I point out.

Casey shrugs. "I think I'm just gonna go alone."

And then a thought hits me and a perfect solution occurs to me. "Actually, I may have an idea."

*****

"Get these hand cuffs off of me!" Mrs. Haggerty shouts, struggling against the cops. Fifty kids stand in the yard, squished together like a field of cows. I stand with Tommy and Jack on my right and Casey, grasping Lily's hand on my left.

Tommy has a smirk plastered to his face, watching the Hag get shoved into a police cruiser and driven away, her shouts fading down the street.

I turn to Tommy and without thinking about it, I throw my arms around his neck. He stiffens, not used to my hugs, but eventually grips me back, swaying my body back and forth. "Thank you. Thank you, Piper." He whispers in my ear.

I grin, pulling away to look into his dark brown eyes. "I've been waiting to get her arrested and free you guys from her prison."

He laughs, putting an arm around my shoulders. The five of us walk down the road, free to do whatever we want.

Casey had asked Lily to go to the dance yesterday. At first, she scrunched up her face in confusion, she didn't know what you did at a school dance. ("Well, dance, of course," Casey had said.)

She had immediately agreed and he had smiled widely, glad to have a date. They seemed to really hit it off and I was proud to have brought them together.

We were all extremely happy at that point; Tommy had become very fond of a young girl, about 6, at the orphanage, and when he turned 18 next week, was moving with her to a house a few miles from my brothers and my house.

I was going to a dance tomorrow with my best friend and my boyfriend, knowing my other best friend was safe in Atlanta, feeling light weight with the idea of all of the orphanage kids being free from Mrs. Haggerty's wrath.

Arriving at the diner for the millionth time this month, we join my brothers, waiting at a table for us.
We all order the exact same thing, making Mrs. Fallon smile.

"So everything turned out perfect." Christian says, biting into his burger.

"So what's gonna happen next?" Casey asks, smiling at the bacon laid on his plate.

"You know," I answer, feeling free to have nothing on my schedule, "I have no clue."