Page 51 of Want to Know a Secret?

He drops his eyes. “Uh, I was thinking it would just be me and Owen tomorrow. Just some one-on-one time. Sorry about that.”

The tears in my eyes are getting dangerously close to the surface. “I see…”

“Look,” he mumbles, “I’ve got to get back to work…”

And then he turns away from me to deal with the bouncy house. Our discussion is over.

Fine. I’ll just eat them myself. Who needs to be able to button my pants?

Nobody stole any food from the bake sale table while I was gone. If anything, it looks like there’s somehow more food on the table than there was before. What am I going to do with all this food? I can’t even give it away.

“Mom! Mom!” It’s Bobby. I haven’t seen him in half an hour, because he’s been off playing with his friends. The fact that he’s returned could mean only one thing. “I need more tickets to go on the bouncy slide!”

I wince. “Bobby, I gave you forty dollars’ worth of tickets!”

“Yes, but everything costs so many tickets.” He pouts. “I need more. Leo and Owen are going… I don’t want to be left out…”

That one tugs at my heartstrings. Especially since I just got left out by Leo and Owen’s mothers. So I reach into my pocket and pull out the tickets I had been planning to use to enter the raffles. “Fine. But this is all I’ve got.”

I guess I won’t be entering any raffles. Not that I would dare go near that raffle table again.

My heart isn’t in this carnival right now. Nobody is buying any of my baked goods, and people look like they’re afraid to even breathe the same air as me. I can barely manage a smile. It’s not like I’m the sort of person who feels like they need to be loved by everyone. But…

Well, maybe I do feel like I need to be loved by everyone.

Maybe I should go. I’ll give Bobby a chance to go on the slide with his friends, then I’m going to abandon my station here and just leave. Nobody will even notice I’m gone. I start to put the money away, and that’s when I hear the loud thump from inside the gym.

All of a sudden, there’s a hush within the gym. Broken only by the sound of somebody shouting to call 911.

Chapter 24

Of course, my first thought is of Bobby.

He’s in the gym. I saw him go into the gym. Bobby could be hurt.

It’s my only thought as I abandon the bake sale table and race into the gym. I feel the same cold fear I did that day when Bobby disappeared from the backyard. Please, God, let him be okay. Not that I want some other kid to be hurt, but I really, really don’t want it to be mine.

And my prayers are answered. As I enter the gym, I see Bobby on the sidelines. He is sobbing, but he’s not hurt. He’s not part of the mob of parents surrounding the injured party. I race over to him and throw my arms around his skinny frame. He’s so shaken that he doesn’t even squirm to get away.

“Did you see what happened?” I ask him.

“Leo…” Bobby gulps. “Leo… fell. Off the slide.”

He must be talking about Leo Bressler. I follow his gaze to the bouncy house slide. The top of the slide is at least eight feet in the air. There’s a mat below, but it’s still a big fall.

Owen Cooper is standing nearby as well. He isn’t crying like Bobby though. He’s looking down at his dirty sneakers. I wonder if the boys were with Leo when he fell. If so, they’re probably both traumatized by the whole thing.

Sean emerges from the crowd, looking a little pale. I still feel the sting of humiliation from the way he rejected me earlier, but I push it aside. “Is Leo okay?” I ask him.

He doesn’t answer right away, which really scares me. “He has a broken arm,” he finally says. “I’m going outside to wait for the ambulance so they know where to find him.”

“Did you see it happen?”

He shakes his head. “I was at the other bouncy house.” He rests a hand on Owen’s shoulder. “Why don’t you come outside with me, Owen?”

Owen’s lower lip trembles. He looks up at his father and blurts out, “Bobby pushed him!”

What?