Read Chasing the Skip for Free Online Page B

punched a button, turning it on speaker.
    “This is Max,” he said.
    “Hey,” a girl’s voice said. “Is Ricki there?”
    Dad’s eyes widened, and he turned toward me. I grabbed the phone and turned the speaker off.
    “Hello?” I said, putting the phone to my ear.
    “Ricki?”
    “Anna?”
    “Ricki! Oh my gosh, how are you?”
    Hearing Anna’s voice felt almost as good as hearing Jamie’s. “All right, I guess. Aren’t you at school?”
    “Yeah. I’m calling from the bathroom. I just checked my e-mail in computer class. Is this your dad’s cell?”
    “Yeah,” I said, “I’m in the truck with him now.” I made a point not to look at Dad. He was probably ticked that I’d given out the number, so this call from Anna might be my last. I wished I didn’t have to talk with him listening in.
    “Have you heard from your mom?”
    “Not yet.”
    “What a bitch. I can’t believe it.”
    I leaned my head back against the seat. Hearing Anna call Mom a bitch actually made me feel better. It wasn’t like when Dad said bad things about her. It’s the best friend’s job to be pissed when her friend gets screwed over.
    “How’s Jamie doing?” I asked. “He hasn’t forgotten about me, has he?”
    Anna was quiet for a second. “I haven’t really seen him much.”
    I was tempted to ask her to go with him to homecoming, since I knew he wasn’t interested in her. She’d also let me cut back in on him when I returned, no hard feelings or anything. Anna was like that. But Mom always said not to trust any girl with your boyfriend, especially a best friend.
    “If you see him, tell him to e-mail me.”
    “He hasn’t?”
    “No.” Damn, it hurt to admit that.
    “Bastard. You’re too good for him, you know.”
    “Just find out if he’s seeing someone else, okay?”
    “If he is, I’m so telling her about his gonorrhea.”
    “The one you just made up?”
    “That’s the one.”
    “Are things okay with your dad? Do I need to give him imaginary illnesses too? I bet I could come up with a good one.”
    I smiled. Anna always had my back. But there was only so much I could say with Dad sitting right there. “Things are okay. I can’t wait to get back, though.”
    “I can’t wait for you to come home. Do you have any idea what it’s like to sit through bio without you? I’m stuck next to Amy Allbridge now. Every day I spend an hour watching her tattoo herself with a paper clip and a ballpoint pen.”
    “Ew. Hasn’t Ms. Langley noticed?”
    “Yeah. Amy’s on her third paper clip. I don’t know why Ms. Langley thinks taking the paper clips away is going to make her stop.”
    I closed my eyes. I should be there with Anna. We should be watching this together.
    “Anyway, I’ve got to get back to class. Text me soon, ’kay?”
    “I will if I can,” I said. “Dad’s kind of picky about his phone.”
    “All right. Love you. Bye!”
    And then she was gone. I stuck the phone back on the dash, still not looking at Dad. We drove in silence for a few miles, until I couldn’t take it anymore.
    “Are you mad at me for giving out your number?” I asked.
    Dad sighed. “It’s a work phone. You should have asked me. I can’t have your friends calling on it all the time.”
    “I only talked for, like, two minutes.”
    “I know. Just don’t give it out to anyone else, all right?”
    “Okay.” That was easy to promise, since I’d already given it to everyone.
    “And if anyone else calls, you can talk for a few minutes, but that’s it.”
    “Can I make one more call?”
    “Not right now.”
    Jamie hadn’t called yet even though he had the number. Calling him would probably look desperate, anyway.
    “Read that math assignment to me. We’re going to figure this out.”
    I pulled out the book, mentally thinking of the kinds of illnesses Anna might assign to Dad. I’d suggest laryngitis.

 
    Laramie, Wyoming.
    Days since Mom left: 30.
    Distance from Salt Lake City, Utah: 399.2 miles.
    5
    It turned