Chapter 5
Dan took a slow breath, seeking to master his anger. Even then, the challenge sounded clear in his voice when he spoke. “Why aren’t you at school, anyway? There’s not a break in classes in early March, is there?”
The way Darrel’s gaze shifted, Dan knew he was going to hear a lie, or at least a truth-twisted excuse. He clenched his fists at his sides, fighting against letting his barely-contained urge to violence explode.
Darrel mumbled a semi-incoherent ramble about needing extra time to get a special project done, having to do some work on his car and a few other odds and ends that made little sense. “I’ll go back down Sunday afternoon,” he concluded.
“You’d better not be thinking about dropping out,” Dan warned. “If I find out you’ve been kicked out or have quit, you know w
