Firegirl by Tony Abbott

Author:Tony Abbott [ABBOTT, TONY]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: JUV000000
ISBN: 9780316050197
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2008-11-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

On the bus, Jeff swung into a seat up front that already had someone sitting by the window. I went to our usual seat in the back. When his stop came, he ran off to his house without looking back. One stop later, I got off and headed straight to the condo development where Jessica lived.

It was small, as developments go; just five houses tucked into what were probably originally people’s backyards. Each house was divided into two side-by-side units with two different families living in them.

As I approached number seven, I noticed a man standing in the side doorway near the garage. He was dressed in a flannel shirt and was reaching up inside over the door, moving his arm from side to side. It was the man in the picture who I had seen taking Jessica to and from school.

When he lowered his hand, which had a wet rag in it, he also lowered his eyes and saw me.

“Yes?” he said, holding the rag still, and looking through the door screen with a blank expression.

“I just came to give her her homework,” I said.

The guy looked at me.

“Jessica, I mean. I have her homework.”

He kept just looking.

“It’s because she left school early today,” I said. “So the teacher said because I live not too far away I should give her the assignments. And these books.” I lifted my arm slightly to show the books. Finally, I added, “My name is Tom Bender.”

Another moment of staring, then the man relaxed. “Oh, right, sure. Sorry, I’m Jessica’s father. Of course. Who else would I be? Come on in. Careful of the bucket.”

He swung open the screen and I stepped into a small hall off the kitchen. There were dishes stacked in the sink and on the table. They were caked with the remains of some kind of hardened green vegetable and dried ketchup.

“I wasn’t expecting anyone,” Mr. Feeney said in a tired voice. Still holding his rag, he took me through the kitchen and dining room to the stairs and stopped. “Jessica —”

Suddenly, there she was, coming round the corner of the living room and nearly bumping into us.

“Oh!” she whispered.

She looked right at me with her face right there.

I felt as if I must have leaped back a foot. I was ashamed at how it probably looked. Somehow I managed a smile and said, “Sorry, you scared me.”

That didn’t sound right.

“I mean, coming around so fast,” I said. “Out of nowhere. Uh, I have the homework.” I held up the books again.

“Thanks,” she said, not reaching for them. “You can come up if you want.”

I glanced at her father, but he was already heading back to the kitchen. Jessica went past me quickly, her hair practically brushing my face. She went up the narrow stairs to the second floor. She was still in the same clothes she’d worn to school, still in those thick tights. At the top of the stairs, she took a left.

There was nothing I could do.

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