Genre: YA Contemporary Fiction
Release Date: March 1st 2016, Cascade Press
AMAZON
AMAZON
Ethan will never be as cool as his twin brother Alex. Alex is a star football player and president of the senior class, while Ethan was born with cerebral palsy and needs crutches to walk.
Laura will never be as cool as her perfect older sister Nikki. Nikki is everything Laura isn't—confident and gorgeous… until one night when Nikki is brutally raped and hospitalized, and Laura finds comfort in her new friend Ethan.
Together, Ethan and Laura realize maybe you don't need to be cool to be happy. Or to fall in love.
And then a revelation about the attack shatters everything…
And then a revelation about the attack shatters everything…
I see her out of the corner of my eye. Elsie Kahn. Elsie of Mr.
Watson’s chemistry class fame, the girl who (accidentally?) set her homework on
fire with the flame from her Bunsen burner. She got about as red as I’d ever
seen a person get as Mr. Watson chewed her out in front of the whole class.
It seems like Elsie isn’t having a better day today. She’s
running for the last of the school buses, but the driver doesn’t see her, and
it’s obvious this is going to be a major fail. Her hair is whipping behind her
head and her cheeks are all pink with exertion. She’s screaming, “Wait! Wait!”
It probably needs to be said about Elsie: she isn’t pretty. I’m
not saying that in a mean way like my brother would, just in a factual way.
She’s not. Her body is pretty nice, or at least it was the day of the chemistry
fire, when she was wearing a maroon skirt that fell just above her knees and a
clingy black shirt. And she’s got nice hair too—strawberry blond and silky. But
it’s obvious even from where I’m standing that Elsie had been born with a cleft
lip, and it didn’t get repaired right. You can see where the pieces of her
upper lip don’t quite come together evenly.
So Elsie isn’t pretty. Big deal. The fact is, she’s something
even better than pretty.
She’s attainable.
Owen comes out of the school at that moment, and I can see the
pit stains on his shirt under his open jacket. He apparently worked up quite
the sweat running to five different classrooms. But the good news is, he’s
holding his Spanish book triumphantly above his head. “It was in the bathroom!”
he declares.
The bathroom? Are you kidding me? And now this book is going to
be in my car? Lucky for him, I’ve got other things on my mind.
“Hey…” I nudge Owen. “Elsie missed her bus. Maybe we should
offer her a ride home.”
Owen looks up in Elsie’s direction. He makes a face like he’s
not thrilled about the idea, but then shrugs and sprints for the car. “I guess
so. But she has to sit in the back.” Did I mention Owen has already claimed
eternal shotgun?
I look over at Elsie, and all of a sudden, I’m really nervous.
If Elsie says yes, she will be the first girl to ride in my car, with the
exception of my mom. I try not to drive myself crazy with the possibilities. I
run my tongue over my teeth, because I don’t want there to be any spinach stuck
in them (or whatever that green stuff was at lunch). Then I tighten my grip on
the handles of my forearm crutches, and start limping awkwardly in Elsie’s
direction.
Elsie’s got her phone in her hand and she looks like she’s
seconds away from bursting into tears. “Elsie?” I say. And of course, my voice
cracks, like I’m freaking thirteen years old. I clear my throat, hoping she
didn’t notice.
Elsie looks up in surprise. “Yes?”
“Uh…” I can feel the heat in my face—I’m sure Elsie can see it
too. I focus on getting the words out and not on how silky Elsie’s hair looks.
“I’ve got a car, so, um, if you need a ride or something…”
Elsie is staring at me, which if you ask me, is kind of bad
manners. First she stares at my face, but I’m okay with that. There’s nothing
wrong with my face. All right, I’m not, like, Mr. Handsome or anything like my
brother, but I’m not a guy who walked into a wall either.
Then her eyes drop and she’s looking down at my crutches and my
legs. That part I’m not thrilled about. I’ve got braces going up to the knee on
the right and up to the hip on the left. Even with the braces, my left leg
always seems to rotate inward so that my left foot points about forty-five
degrees toward the right one. Elsie keeps on staring for what feels like five
hours, but if I’m being honest, it’s probably more like fifteen seconds. Not
that it makes much difference. It’s long enough, anyway.
Elsie glances over at a group of girls standing nearby, watching
us curiously. “No, thanks,” Elsie says, then she turns back to her phone.
Rejected. Ouch.
Elsie turns away from me, letting me know that there’s zero
point in trying to persuade her. Yeah, as if I would. If Elsie doesn’t want to
be in a car with me, then I’m not going to beg. Let her find her own goddamn
ride home at this hour. Good luck with that, Elsie.
I make my way over to my car, where Owen is waiting. He’s
leaning against the hood, probably making a huge dent in it. “So is she
coming?”
I dig my keys out of my pocket and shrug like I couldn’t care
less. “She found another ride,” I say.
1 comment:
Ce coperta...interesanta si in acelasi timp ciudata. :))
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