AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Mom,” Nellie called. “I added a few new flash cards. Can you help quiz me?”
“Sure,” Mom replied, and her voice had a strange note to it. Soft, almost sad. For all I knew, though, she could’ve been reading something on her phone. “What’s the first word?”
“Hey, Dad?” Jamie spoke over them. “Can you help me pop some popcorn?”
“You’re getting old enough to do it yourself, bud,” he said, and the normal tone of his voice grated on my nerves. Of course he sounded okay and nonchalant, as if he hadn’t taken my life away from me.
Jamie hesitated, probably trying to find a counterresponse. “Well, can you show me which buttons to press? I want to make sure I do it right.”
I waited and waited, straining my ears for the noise. And then—there it was. The microwave beeped as someone pressed a button, and then, as quietly as possible, I sprinted down the stairs.
Opening the door was the tricky part. The giant door had a tendency to make a loudclickwhen the locks pulled back, and there was no time to take it slow. At any moment, Mom could look up from the living room, or Dad could pass through the kitchen archway and spot me.
I pulled it open quietly, with only a muffled sound coming out.
When I shut it, though, my grip slipped, and the door let out a loudclick.
I didn’t waste any time. Turning on my heel, I sprinted down the cobblestone walkway to the sidewalk, running toward the Lees’ house. My sneakers slapped the cement, the wind pulling my curls back.
Margot’s car was in sight, and even through her tinted windows, I could see the outline of her behind the wheel. I stuffed myself into the passenger’s seat as quickly as I could, gasping for breath.
“Drive,” I told her, fumbling to buckle my seat belt. “Drive, drive, drive.”
“Jeez, okay, hotshot,” she grumbled, pulling away from the curb. As she did so, her eyes scanned me, lingering on my hair. “What about Stella?”
“She’s been abducted. My parents found out. About everything.”
Shock fluttered along Margot’s face as we pulled off my street, safely leaving my house behind. “I wondered why Nellie called me about the prison break.”
“I guess this is me telling them ‘Screw you,’ huh?”
“I’m proud of you, kid.”
I smiled back at her, noticing for the first time that she didn’t have a suit on. She wasn’t wearing lounge pants either. She had onjeans. “What are you wearing?”
Margot glanced down at herself, shifting in her seat. “Well, I figured a suit might stick out at a club, right?”
“Oh, my gosh, you’re coming inside?” I didn’t hide the excitement in my voice. I hadn’t thought Margot would want to come into a place like Downtown, but then again, I hadn’t thought Margot owned a pair of jeans. “Seriously?”
“Seriously. I’m eighteen, so I’m allowed in. Besides, I’ve never heard Harry Hotpants perform—now’s my chance to see the band in all its glory.”
“You are going tolovethem,” I declared with absolute certainty. “This is going to be so fun.”
Margot took her hand off the wheel to wave it in the air. “Yeah, yeah, so much fun. I hope it’s worth it. But tell me—on a scale of one to ten, how badly did David and Alice freak?”
I gave a humorless laugh. “An eleven.”
We arrived at the club ten minutes before Untapped Potential was set to go on, and a long line had already formed at the door. My name had been on the list, though—Untapped Potential was able to tell them certain people who could get inside in case there was a wait—and Margot and I waltzed right in.
“Wow,” she murmured, looking around at the wide room of people. And there wereso many. The anticipation made me antsy, bouncing on the balls of my feet as my pulse quickened. “We can try to get to the front near the stage.”
I’d wanted to see Harry beforehand, but I didn’t have time. No doubt he’d be getting ready to go on, and since I didn’t have my phone, I couldn’t even text him. It made my heart hurt, knowing that I couldn’t wish him luck, but he didn’t need it. They were going to be rock stars.
A healthy crowd waited for the DJ music to switch over, waited for the band to come on. This waswaybigger than the normal turnout at the coffeehouse. Energy pulsed through me, coupled with a sweet excitement.
“Oh, my gosh, Iknewit!”
When I turned to the voice, I found Addy making her way through the crowd, gaze locked on me. She didn’t have her signature tie on, but a baggy graphic T-shirt that she’d tied off at her waist. By the way it fit her, a part of me couldn’t help but wonder if that was Vincent’s shirt.
