”“You might want to tell M.E.,” Allard suggested.“Are you interested in her coming back?” I asked.He looked at me as if I’d lost my mind. ...n the one hand, we had a willing girl. On the other, we had a teenage boy. What did I think he would say?“I don’t think she’s the kind of girl you want to just mess around with. I would bet that today just got a little out of hand. I don’t want to sleep with her all week and then pack up and go home. It wouldn’t be fair to her,” I said.“But I thought this. “There was my picture too, Mum,” I said.“What picture?”I had to go fetch it out of my book bag which was sitting on the bench beside Tara and Angie. Angie was sitting on Tara’s lap playing with the collar on Tara’s top and talking about some butterfly she’d seen. Tara gave me a smile, so I kind of smiled back and then hurried back to Mum. Somehow I managed to do all that without getting the shakes.I held out the paper and Mum took it from me and looked at the picture. I looped one hand around. The mask slipped and changed to astonished recognition."Your not one of us, something's wrong"She turned urgently to leave the confines of the kitchen, and inform Joyce of Frankie's condition."Stop right there - I have a proposition for you" Frankie's firm voice echoed.Lesley stopped and turned to listen. She chose to turn away from the teasing inner voice of Joyce, and towards the more certain rewards; the rewards that only Frankie could offer.Chapter 14: A peek through the barsClaudia. "Thank you John for saving me," she said and smiled. "It was nothing ma'am," I offered, giving her my best John Wayneimpersonation. She laughed at that and figured that all was well. Icouldn't believe the pain I was feeling across the bridge of my nose. Ibegan wondering whether it was broken. Darla insisted that I accompanyher inside and ushered me into the guest bathroom. I wasn't sure if I wasready to view the damage that Sam had wreaked on my face. "You're going to have quite a shiner there.