Sea Glass Island

“Then today maybe you could help one of the kids who’s not as lucky. It might make you feel good to do something for someone else. You could push Trevor in his wheelchair, for instance.”

“Hello!” she said sarcastically. “One arm, remember?”

“And a perfectly good prosthesis on the other,” he said without any hint of sympathy. “Or haven’t you mastered it yet?”

She scowled at the suggestion that a lack of skill was behind her refusal to join the hike. “You know I have.”

He gave her a sly glance. “Then prove it.”

Cass heaved a sigh, clearly aware that she was going to lose in the end. Or maybe even wanting to participate, as long as she could do it grudgingly, as a favor to him. “Fine. I’ll come on the stupid hike. And I’ll push Trevor’s wheelchair so fast he’ll squeal like a little girl.”

Ethan bit back a grin. “Thank you. I’m sure he’ll appreciate your daredevil tendencies.” He gestured across the street. “My car’s right over there.”

“I should probably call my mom and tell her I changed my mind,” she told him.

“Good idea, though I told her I was going to try to convince you to come along this afternoon.”

After Cass made the call, Ethan waited until they were halfway to the clinic before asking casually, “So, anything new in your life these days?”

“I go to school. I go home. It’s not exactly material for a TV show.”

“No after-school activities that interest you?” he prodded, knowing that at one time she’d been active in the drama club. She’d been cast in every play at the middle school and starred in one her first year at the high school. All, though, he realized now, had been before the accident.

“None,” she said flatly.

Ethan glanced over and caught the tear that had leaked out, aware then that he’d hit on something. “I thought you were going to try out for the school play.”

She whirled on him. “Do not mention that stupid play to me, okay? I didn’t get the lead. I didn’t even get a walk-on. I heard Mrs. Gentry tell another teacher it was a real shame to waste my talent, but she thought my prosthesis would be a distraction. She sounded all sad and sympathetic, but it was fake. I think she was glad to be able to give that twit Sue Ellen the lead. Like Sue Ellen will be able to remember her lines,” she scoffed. “She’s so busy batting her eyes at every guy in school, she can barely remember her own name.”

Ethan felt a swell of fury on Cass’s behalf. It was one thing for kids to be inadvertently cruel to each other, but teachers should have more sensitivity. “Sounds to me as if Mrs. Gentry needs to be replaced.”