AllFreeNovel
Share Us
And now Charlie was making her feel like an even greater fool. “I...I’ll buy you something downtown. I’ve got money in my backpack,” she pleaded.
It was meant for her lunch ticket, but she’d been too nervous to approach the lunch ladies at noon. Not knowing what to do—afraid of looking stupid—she’d just sat at a table in a corner by herself.
Remembering her own clique of friends back home, she knew they’d been just as cool to newcomers and made things just as hard. Being on the other side hurt a lot.
“Do you want a hamburger? A sundae? You know Dad is always late.Please.”
Athamburger,Charlie was on his feet. Bysundae,he was already at the end of the block.
Her cheeks burning, Annie started after him. They’d walked the entire four-block length of town before she realized something truly awful about Garrett Bluff.
They hadn’t passed one fast-food place. Not a single ice-cream store. Not even one theater. Like, people actuallychoseto live here?
Charlie stared up at her, then looked down the rest of Main Street. It trailed through the town, turning into a highway that led past scattered bars, a few gas stations, and a big grain elevator.
Almost every vehicle parked in town was a pickup truck with a gun rack across the back window and a big dog waiting like a sentinel on the front seat.
“What do peopledohere?”he whispered. “There’s nothing here!”
A wave of dizziness washed through her and made her go weak. Her stomach hurt. She was tired and really thirsty, and now they had to trudge all the way back to the school if Dad didn’t happen to see them as he drove past.
A lump the size of a tennis ball filled her throat.
But...a fourteen-year-old girl did not sit down and cry. Not with cars driving past and other people walking along the dusty sidewalk.
Not with a pesky brother who would tease her to death about being a big baby.Oh, Mom, I wish you were here...
But her mom had died a long time ago, and now she was trapped at the end of the earth.
“Hey, look,” Charlie said, his voice rising with excitement. “Over there! It’s the llama lady!”
Across the street a woman in old jeans and a denim shirt bent over some straggly flowers in front of a building. She tugged vigorously at some weeds, flung them to one side, and reached down for more.
Barely looking for cars first, Charlie darted across the road. A car jerked to a halt a good twenty feet away, but from the look on the elderly driver’s face, he had just taken ten years off her life.
The woman sat frozen in her car, hands white-knuckled on the steering wheel long after he reached the other side.
“Charlie!” With a quick wave at the poor woman, Annie ran across the street after him. She snagged his jacket collar and hauled him to a stop on the sidewalk. “You need a leash,” she snapped. “Either that or iron bars.”
He twisted out of her grasp and made a beeline for the lady in blue jeans. “Hi!”
She turned and shaded her eyes with a gloved hand. “Why, hello there. Are you just getting out of school?” She shifted her attention to Annie and smiled. “You must be Charlie’s sister.”
Annie nodded awkwardly, unable to think of anything to say.
“This is Jolie,” Charlie announced. “She has the really cool llama and the sheep. Remember? I went up the road and saw her last week.”
“Which got us both grounded.” Annie scowled at him. “Thank you very much.”
The lady gave her a sympathetic look. “Do you keep track of your brother while your dad works?”
“Like anyone could. C’mon, Charlie. We need to get back so Dad can find us.”
Stubbornly shaking his head, he moved to the door of the building to peer inside. “Is this a store?”
“A clinic. It’s been empty for a while, so there’s a lot of work getting it ready.”
He looked up at her in awe. “Are you avet?”
