Back She's Gone Save as PDF
Chapters (95)
  1. Front Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Contents
  5. Video #1
  6. One
  7. Two
  8. Three
  9. Four
  10. Five
  11. Six
  12. Seven
  13. Eight
  14. Nine
  15. Ten
  16. Eleven
  17. Twelve
  18. Thirteen
  19. Fourteen
  20. Fifteen
  21. Sixteen
  22. Seventeen
  23. Eighteen
  24. Nineteen
  25. Twenty
  26. Twenty-One
  27. Twenty-Two
  28. Twenty-Three
  29. Twenty-Four
  30. Twenty-Five
  31. Twenty-Six
  32. Video #2
  33. Twenty-Seven
  34. Twenty-Eight
  35. Twenty-Nine
  36. Thirty
  37. Thirty-One
  38. Thirty-Two
  39. Thirty-Three
  40. Thirty-Four
  41. Thirty-Five
  42. Thirty-Six
  43. Thirty-Seven
  44. Thirty-Eight
  45. Thirty-Nine
  46. Forty
  47. Forty-One
  48. Forty-Two
  49. Forty-Three
  50. Forty-Four
  51. Forty-Five
  52. Forty-Six
  53. Forty-Seven
  54. Forty-Eight
  55. Forty-Nine
  56. Fifty
  57. Fifty-One
  58. Fifty-Two
  59. Fifty-Three
  60. Fifty-Four
  61. Fifty-Five
  62. Fifty-Six
  63. Fifty-Seven
  64. Fifty-Eight
  65. Fifty-Nine
  66. Sixty
  67. Sixty-One
  68. Sixty-Two
  69. Sixty-Three
  70. Sixty-Four
  71. Sixty-Five
  72. Video #3
  73. Sixty-Six
  74. Sixty-Seven
  75. Sixty-Eight
  76. Sixty-Nine
  77. Seventy
  78. Seventy-One
  79. Seventy-Two
  80. Seventy-Three
  81. Seventy-Four
  82. Seventy-Five
  83. Seventy-Six
  84. Seventy-Seven
  85. Seventy-Eight
  86. Seventy-Nine
  87. Eighty
  88. Eighty-One
  89. Eighty-Two
  90. Eighty-Three
  91. The Final Video
  92. Acknowledgments
  93. About the Author
  94. Back Cover

I risk one look up and see Mike Basher, the quarterback on the football team. Everyone likes him even though he’s really a terrible football player, and the fans groaned two weeks ago when the starter broke his collarbone and Basher took over for the rest of the season. He also used to date Chloe. They were a thing for about three months at the beginning of junior year, even going to the previous homecoming together. And apparently Basher and Chloe’s dad, Scott, both share an interest in old cars. About a month after Chloe and I started dating, I went over to her house and found Scott and Basher in the detached garage, bent over the open hood of the ’75 Mustang Scott was restoring. When I asked Chloe, she just rolled her eyes and told me to forget about it. The next time I went over, Mike was in the hallway when I went to the bathroom. Basher apparently walked around their house like he lived there.

Then in the second week of this semester, in creative writing class, Basher wrote a poem about a girl he was in love with, calling her a queen. And the description of the girl in the poem sounded exactly like Chloe. At first, Chloe didn’t think it was about her, but when I went through it line by line with her, she started to come around. Finally, she went to our teacher, Mr. Hartman, about it, and while he listened sympathetically, he said he didn’t think Basher meant any harm.

“It’s his artistic expression,” Mr. Hartman said. “An intense feeling given voice. I’d say there’s no real malice there.”

Chloe felt like I had pushed her to say something when her gut told her not to.

“Now Mr. Hartman thinks I’m a freak,” she said.

A couple of weeks before the accident, Chloe told me she wasn’t going to ask Mr. Hartman to write her a letter of recommendation for college. I asked her if she didn’t want to ask because she still felt weird about the whole Basher poem thing, but she didn’t answer me.

So it’s no surprise when Basher blankly meets my eye that morning. My stupid jealousy flares, even though Chloe claims he’s a bit shallow.

Then Basher does something. He nods his head subtly and gives me a quick thumbs-up.

I don’t know why Mike did that, but he lifted my spirits. Maybe things won’t be so bad. Maybe I can make it through this.