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TRACY’S ESCAPE

  The Gifted Series-Prequel

  Aaron K. Redshaw

  Tracy’s Escape

  By Aaron K. Redshaw

  Copyright © 2014 Aaron K. Redshaw

  All rights reserved.

  Dedication: This one is for my readers

  Chapter 1: School life

  For me, November is the worst month of the year. It’s not because it’s almost Thanksgiving or because Christmas is so close. It’s because of what happened.

  For a long time I didn’t even want to talk about it, or think about it. Then Dr. Denay said if I wrote down the whole story, I might recover better. Then I could make sense of the fire, and the city disaster, and all those men who were after me.

  I guess I should start with school.

  “Hey, Tracy!” shouted Amber as I was on my way out the door. “Did you see that new boy in the 6th grade? He is so cute!”

  Amber thought every boy was cute, especially if he was older. But for me, I didn’t fall for just anyone. Mostly I just had boys as friends, like Gregorio.

  “Where are you going to in such a hurry?” she asked.

  “I need to get home,” I said. “Otherwise my parents will be worried.” What I didn’t tell her was that I wanted to get away from her after hearing that she spread rumors about me and Gregorio just the other day. I overheard some girls talking about it at lunch. Some of them had been my friends.

  “Yeah, Okay,” I said. “Well, I’d better go.” I needed to go before I either blew up at her or started to cry.

  “Sure thing, Tracy,” said Amber. I could tell she was disappointed, but what did she expect? She turned to go.

  Not even a second later, “Tracy!” called another girl.

  I turned toward the voice and saw Ilia stalking toward me. “Whoa, Tracy. Wait up.” Walking beside Ilia was a girl whose blond ponytail was swinging from side to side: Grace. Just great! I thought.

  Ilia stormed up to me, out of breath. She had brown hair a lot like mine, but she looked like she never combed it. Why grow it out if you aren’t going to take care of it? I thought. I prided myself in my hair. “Where are you going in such a hurry?” she asked.

  Trying to get away from your friend, I thought. “Well, school’s out,” I said. “I’m just trying to get home. I have a lot of homework tonight.”

  I turned to her friend, “Oh, hi Grace,” I said, trying not to sound too hurt.

  “Hey, Tracy,” she said. She didn’t even look guilty! “Yeah, I know what you mean about homework,” she said. “I’ve got a lot too. Mostly math. Oh, and the test tomorrow for Spanish!” She knew I had tried to get into that class, but my grades weren’t high enough. It was an advanced class, and they only had room for a few students each year. Grace was rubbing it in.

  “Yeah, Okay,” I said. “Well, I’d better go.” I needed to go before I started to cry.

  “Sure thing, Tracy,” said Ilia.

  “Bye,” said Grace.

  I picked up my flowered, denim backpack and walked across the worn tiles toward the exit.

  The outer door was just a few feet away. I could already see the chipped green paint and cracked window. When were they going to repair that?

  “Tracy,” a voice called behind me. Why can’t I get out of here? I thought. I turned around and it was the school counselor. “Tracy, can I talk to you for a minute? I promise it’ll be quick.”

  “Okay,” I said. When adults ask you to do something, you pretty much have to do it. She led me into her office with the tiny window and the door with the splattered paint. I sat down in front of her desk. The walls were off-white and there was a poster of smiling kids graduating from high school. The room smelled like vanilla lotion and looked neat.

  She began to drum her fingers on her polished desk. “So, Tracy, how do you like fifth grade?”

  I had nothing to say, I’d only been here two month. The room was silent.

  “Tracy, let me get down to it,” she began again. “Since you’ve moved here, it seems like you have had a difficult time adjusting. Twice you have had disruptive arguments in the hallway with other girls from your class. What’s going on?”

  I thought about how Amber pretended to be my friend just long enough so she could spread rumors about me. I thought about Carine who stole my phone from my backpack and then acted surprised when she was found with it later. And then Grace, who acted like she really wanted to know me one week and then for the next two weeks, ignored me completely until today.

  “Oh, nothing,” I said. I really didn’t want to talk about it.

  “How about at home? Anything going on there I should know about?”

  Home was the best part of life for me. I got along with my mother, for the most part. My dad was always too busy at work, but then we had the best vacations together. Last summer we had the coolest vacation ever. My dad had won a prize at work and as a result we spent the summer visiting all of the Six Flags parks on the East Coast, for free. It was the most fun I have ever had with my family. That was just before the move.

  “Nope,” I said. “Everything’s fine at home. Hey, can I go home now? I have a lot of work to do tonight.”

  “Sure,” she said. “Feel free to come talk to me if you want. About anything.”

  “Okay,” I said. I couldn’t imagine myself talking to her about all of this, so I got up and left the office.

  Sometimes I confuse people. I might be considered talkative, but I don’t like to talk about very private things. I guess I would rather people think of me as fun.