After (Parallel Series, Book 4)

by Christine Kersey

  “What do you want to do now?”

  “I guess go back to Fox Run.”

  She nodded. “Okay.”

  We walked to the bus stop in relative silence, lost in our own thoughts. On the bus ride back I felt less melancholy, but by the time we got to Morgan’s house, I felt a lot better.

  “Do you want to go with me to Tasco’s?” I asked as we went into her house. “He was going to get the parts for the lawn mower.”

  “Sure. I just need to check in.”

  Chapter 23

  Morgan

  “Mom?” I called out as Billy and I walked into the living room.

  “In here.” Her voice came from the kitchen.

  We walked into the bright and sunny room where Mom was putting together a snack. I could see Dad playing out back with my brothers. My gaze went to the food Mom was preparing, and my stomach rumbled at the sight. I turned to Billy. “Are you hungry?”

  He smiled, and the sadness that I’d seen on his face all morning seemed to be lifting. “Yeah.”

  I’d felt so bad for him as we’d walked back to the bus stop. I knew it had been hard on him to see the way his parents in this world had been so obviously devastated by the loss of their son, because I knew that he knew there was nothing he could do about it.

  My heart ached to know that he might never have a family like I did and I wanted to tell him that he was now a part of my family, but I wasn’t sure he was ready to hear that.

  “How’d it go?” Mom asked as she set the sliced apples on plates, her eyes briefly meeting mine, then going to Billy’s face.

  I didn’t reply, wanting to give Billy the chance to say what was on his mind.

  “We saw them,” he said.

  Mom’s eyebrows rose. “Did they see you?”

  “No,” Billy said. “It was at the cemetery and we weren’t close enough for them to see us.”

  “The cemetery?” Mom said. “What were you doing there?”

  “Just checking things out,” he said. “We had no idea that . . . they . . . would show up.”

  I walked to the counter and began making sandwiches for Billy and me. “How did the boys’ games go?” I had the feeling that Billy would rather not talk about our morning, and Mom obviously took the hint.

  “Great. They both won their games.” Mom poured cups of juice. “I need to take Zac to a birthday party in a little while.” She turned to me with a smile. “What about you? What are you doing this afternoon?”

  “Billy promised to fix Mr. Tasco’s lawn mower, so we’re going to head over there.”

  “Okay.”

  Billy didn’t mention the trip to see his parents after that, and I didn’t bring it up either. It was his business, and not something I was going to push him on. Evidently Mom hadn’t yet told Dad, and now that the visit was over and done with, it didn’t seem important to tell him.

  The next week was uneventful—Billy and I worked on our homework together every day, and he seemed to be settling in to the routine of this world.

  On Friday afternoon, as Billy and I reached my house, I saw a car parked out front that I hadn’t seen before. “I wonder who’s here,” I said.

  Billy shrugged.

  We walked through the gate and Goldie bounded toward us. After stopping to pet her, we walked to the porch and I opened the front door. My gaze went to the people sitting in my living room, and when I saw Holly Bennett chatting with Amy, my heart hammered in my chest.

  What is she doing here? I stared at the woman who had been responsible for the agonizing torture I’d experienced, and completely forgetting about the slogan contest, the first thing that came to my mind was that she had somehow found me. I’d gotten away from her, but she’d tracked me down. And now she was talking to Amy because she was going to make Amy take my place in Camp Stonewater.

  “You can’t take her,” I blurted, drawing everyone’s attention to me, their faces showing confusion.

  “Morgan,” Billy murmured in warning, then he put his hand in mine.

  I turned to him, certain my face showed stark terror, but his expression was so calm, so reassuring, that my terror slowly seeped away. I blinked several times, coming back to the here and now.

  “Everything’s okay,” he whispered next to my ear.

  I nodded, then turned back to the group assembled in the living room—a group that consisted of Mom, Amy, Holly, and a man I didn’t recognize. “Sorry,” I said with a self-conscious laugh, but didn’t offer an explanation for my bizarre outburst.

  “Morgan, this is Mrs. Bennett,” Mom said with a look that was a mix of understanding and embarrassment. “She’s here with some news.”

  “Call me Holly,” Holly said as she stood and held out her hand. “You must be Amy’s sister.”

  I stared at her hand a moment, the hand that had pressed the button on the torture device, sending me into throes of agony when I wouldn’t tell her where Jack lived. I felt Billy squeeze my left hand with encouragement, and I forced myself to put my right hand into Holly’s. “Yes,” I said my voice scratchy, then I cleared my throat. “I’m Morgan.”

  Holly released my hand, then recognition came into her eyes. “Morgan. Yes. I think I remember you from the assembly at Fox Run High.”

  A blush rose on my cheeks. I felt uncomfortable to be facing the woman I feared, the woman I’d also confronted in front of my entire school. I didn’t reply to her unasked question.

  “You seemed to feel rather . . . passionate about your point of view.” She smiled, like we were all friends here, but I only felt antipathy towards her.

  I stared at her a moment, then lifted my lips in a slight smile. “Why are you here? What’s going on?”

  She smiled at Amy, then turned back to me. “Your sister won the slogan contest.”

  Oh no. I smiled at Amy. “That’s great, Amy. Congratulations.”

  Her face reddened, and she looked at her lap. “It’s only thanks to you.”

  “What?” Holly said as she looked between Amy and me.

  “It was Morgan’s idea,” Amy said, looking at Holly.

  “Is that right?” Holly said as she sat next to Amy on the couch. Then she looked at me. “You came up with ‘A healthy me is a healthy world’, Morgan?”

  I didn’t, of course. I had no idea who came up with it, and I really didn’t want to take credit for a phrase that had become the bane of my existence.

  “Yes,” Amy said with a smile, filling in the silence. “It was her idea.”

  Denying it would bring up questions that I couldn’t answer, so I didn’t say anything at all.

  “Well, I think that’s terrific,” Holly said. “Don’t you think that’s terrific, Matt?” she said to the man sitting on the chair adjacent to the couch.

  He smiled. “Yes.”

  “Sisters, working together,” Holly said. “I like it.”

  I didn’t understand why she was making such a big deal about it. I’d told Amy I didn’t care about the contest. Truth be told, I wanted nothing to do with it.

  “Mrs. Campbell,” Holly said to Mom. “With your permission, I’d like to use both of your daughters in our local PSA spot.”

  Her use of the word ‘use’ didn’t go unnoticed by me. Of course they would want to use us for their own purposes.

  “What’s a PSA spot?” Amy asked.

  Holly turned to her with a smile. “It’s a public service announcement. It’s the way the government gets its message out.”

  Also known as propaganda.

  “Oh,” Amy said.

  “I’ll need to talk to my husband,” Mom said as she glanced at me before looking at Holly.

  “Of course,” Holly said. “I understand. Not every winning slogan gets the opportunity to do one, but we particularly liked Amy’s, so we’ve selected hers to be the main PSA in your area until we choose a state and then a national winner.” Holly looked at Amy. “Now that you’ve won the local contest, your slogan will go up against others in your sta
te, and the winner of your state will go up against all the other state winners until we come up with a national slogan.”

  My stomach began to churn as I knew that Amy’s slogan would win the national contest.

  Amy smiled, obviously thrilled to be the winner.

  “Now,” Holly went on. “You’ll be presented with the iPad at an assembly at your school on Monday.”

  “What about Morgan?” Amy asked. “Does she get one too?”

  I shook my head, but before I could speak, Holly said, “I’m afraid you’ll have to share with your sister.”

  “That’s okay,” Amy said.

  I smiled at my sweet sister who was so willing to share the spotlight, as well as her prize, even though I didn’t want either.

  “Well,” Holly said as she stood. “I’ll let you get on with your day.”

  The man, Matt, stood as well.

  “Again, Amy,” Holly said. “Congratulations.” Then she turned to me. “And to you as well, Morgan. That was a very clever slogan.” Her forehead creased in question. “Tell me, what made you think of it? I’m curious, especially in light of your impassioned comments at the assembly.”

  My gaze shifted to Mom, who knew the truth, then back to Holly. I shrugged. “It just . . . came to mind.” Which was completely true.

  “Well, I’m glad it did.”

  I wasn’t, but I pushed a fake smile onto my face.

  Mom walked Holly and Matt to the door, and a moment later they were gone.

  “I can’t believe I won,” Amy said as she jumped up from the couch and walked over to me, then threw her arms around me. “Thank you, Morgan.”

  I hugged her back.

  “I’m going to call Cassie,” Amy said before bounding off toward the kitchen, leaving just Mom, me, and Billy.

  “There’s no way I’m going to be in any PSA of hers,” I said to Mom.

  “That’s fine,” Mom said. “You don’t have to be.” She smiled, then left Billy and me alone.

  I turned to Billy with a frown. “I hate that they’re going to use that slogan.”

  He nodded. “Not much we can do about it.”

  That night at dinner, after Billy had gone to Tasco’s, Amy excitedly told Dad about winning the contest.

  “That’s fantastic, Amy,” he said.

  “I told Holly that Morgan thought of it,” Amy said. “And now she wants both of us to be in her commercial.”

  Clearly, Amy thought that was the coolest thing ever.

  “Really?” Dad said, then he looked at Mom.

  “Yes,” Mom said. She glanced at me before looking at Dad. “They’ll need our permission, though.”

  “I think it’s great,” Dad said.

  “I’m not going to do it,” I murmured.

  “What?” Amy said, her expression showing how shocking that was. “Why not? Don’t you want to be on TV?”

  “That would be so cool,” Zac said.

  “I want to be on TV,” Brandon added.

  I’d had enough publicity to last a lifetime—just not in this world. I smiled at her. “I think you should just do it. You’re the one who made the poster, and you’re the one who entered the contest.”

  Amy half-shrugged, like that was true enough. “Okay.”

  “Okay, then,” Dad said. “It’s decided. Amy’s in, and Morgan declined.”

  Mom smiled. “I’ll let Holly know.”

  I hated that Mom said that woman’s name so casually, like she was a friend of hers. Maybe I should let Mom know that Holly was the one who tortured me. But then I decided that wouldn’t be helpful.

  Chapter 24

  Morgan

  Over the weekend Billy and I hung out—Tasco’s kids were visiting that weekend and Billy wasn’t particularly interested in getting to know them. We avoided talking about hot button issues—like his parents, or Amy winning the slogan contest—and just enjoyed spending time together.

  The next week would be Thanksgiving and we only had two days of school before the break, but when I got home from school on Monday without Billy—Tasco had some jobs he wanted Billy to do around his house—Amy was moping around, obviously upset about something.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked. “Didn’t you get your iPad today?”

  “Yes,” she said with a small smile.

  “Then what is it?”

  “I can’t be on TV.” Her smile turned into a frown.

  Though it wasn’t important to me, I knew it was extremely important to Amy, and before I even knew the reason, I blamed Holly. “Why not?”

  She frowned. “Holly said it has to be both of us or I can’t do it.”

  I knew it was because of her. My hatred for the woman went up another notch. “That’s dumb.”

  “I know.” A look of pleading filled her eyes. “Please do it, Morgan. Please.”

  I was so against everything Holly’s Healthy Lifestyles Organization stood for, how could I possibly advocate for them in a public service announcement? I would look like a hypocrite. I would be a hypocrite.

  But when I looked at my sister’s face I found it exceedingly difficult to tell her no. Especially after she’d so selflessly told Holly that she hadn’t even come up with the slogan. For all Amy had known, admitting that to Holly could have completely stripped her of winning. But she hadn’t hesitated. Just like she hadn’t hesitated to fling herself at me when I’d been outed as Morgan Campbell during the lie detector test at Camp Willowmoss. She’d only thought of me.

  My heart pounded and I briefly closed my eyes before meeting her beseeching gaze. “Okay, Amy. I’ll do it.”

  “Yay!” she shouted before wrapping her arms around me. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

  “What’s going on?” Mom asked as she came into the room.

  Amy released me and turned to Mom. “She said yes.” Pure joy filled her voice. “She said she would do the commercial.”

  “Oh?” Mom’s gaze went to me.

  “Evidently they won’t let her do it alone,” I said.

  Mom nodded. “That’s right. That’s what Holly told me. She wants to show that you and Amy are united on this idea of being healthy.”

  I didn’t understand why that mattered, but it was so important to Amy that I couldn’t deny her.

  “I’ll give her a call,” Mom said.

  A short time later Mom came back to announce that Holly wanted to start shooting the PSA on the Saturday after the Thanksgiving weekend. “They want to have it ready to broadcast by the first of the year.”

  Amy squealed. “I’m going to be on TV. I’m so excited. I’ve got to call Cassie.”

  I couldn’t hold back a smile as I watched Amy scamper off.

  “Are you sure about this, Morgan?” Mom asked.

  “Not really,” I admitted. “But it looks like I’m committed now.”

  Mom smiled. “Yes it does.”

  For Thanksgiving Mom invited Billy and Tasco for dinner, and they both came. Tasco’s kids were with their mother for Thanksgiving this year, so he didn’t have anyone to spend the day with.

  I observed that he and Billy seemed to be getting along really well, and it made me rethink my opinion of him. Although I didn’t know if I could ever forget my experience with the other world’s Richard Tasco, it was good to see that this world’s Tasco was completely different from what I’d expected when I’d first seen him walk into our living room.

  “We start doing that commercial a week from Saturday,” Amy told Billy as the three of us cleaned up from our feast.

  “That’s cool,” he said. “What are they going to have you do?”

  “I don’t know,” she said as she loaded the dishwasher.

  “Well,” he said, “It will probably be a lot of fun.”

  I wasn’t so sure about that, but I kept my thoughts to myself.

  When the Saturday of the PSA arrived, Mom drove Amy and me to a local television studio where the PSA would be filmed.

  “Good morning,” Holly said
with enthusiasm as she met us inside.

  “Hi,” Amy said, her excitement clear.

  My smile was tight. “Hello.”

  “We’ll begin as soon as we do hair and make-up,” Holly announced.

  Amy was all-in, and for her sake I forced myself to go along. Holly herded us over to a brightly lit area where we sat in chairs that faced a pair of mirrors. Mom stood nearby, keeping an eye on everything.

  “Okay girls,” Holly said as she held out a sheet of paper to each of us. “Here’s what you’ll say.”

  As two women worked on our hair and make-up, we reviewed our lines, and I did my best not to wad up the sheet of paper and throw it at Holly, who was consulting with her side-kick, Matt, on the far side of the room.

  “This is so cool, Morgan,” Amy said, her face showing how thrilled she was to be treated like some sort of celebrity.

  I smiled and nodded, suppressing my desire to flee.

  “Aren’t you so excited?” Amy pressed.

  “Mmm-hmm,” I forced out.

  “I can’t wait for my friends to see me on TV,” she gushed.

  I couldn’t wait for this to be over with.

  Once we were ready to begin, Holly showed us where to stand. “Okay,” she said, her fake smile brighter than ever. “We’ll hold up cue cards that will have your lines written on them, so just read what’s on the cards when I tell you to.”

  “I can totally do that,” Amy said, the wattage of her smile outshining Holly’s, but at least hers was genuine.

  We ran through the script several times before they began filming, and every time I said my lines I had to force a smile onto my face. Finally Holly said she thought we were as ready as we were going to be and someone called “Action.”

  I was the first to speak. “Who doesn’t love to get a gift at the holidays—or anytime?” I picked up a cheerfully wrapped package and held it out to Amy, who beamed with pure happiness as she accepted it—and I knew she wasn’t acting. She was beyond ecstatic.

  I said, “We love to give gifts to our loved ones, but we need to give a very important gift to ourselves—the gift of good health.”