[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

parents. You lied to me.
 Maybe I m just too much like you,
Kylie said, still reeling at the thought
that her dad hadn t shown up.
He d known how upset she d been.
Why hadn t he come?
 What does that mean, Kylie?
 You told dad you didn t know
what happened to his underwear.
But you d just flame-broiled his
shorts on the grill.
Guilt filled her mother s eyes and
she shook her head.  Dr. Day is
right.
 What does my shrink have to do
with tonight? Kylie asked.  Don t
tell me you called her. God, Mom, if
you dare bring her down here
where all my friends 
 No, she s not here. But it s not just
about tonight. She inhaled.  I can t
do this alone.
 Do what alone? Kylie asked, and
she got this bad feeling in her
stomach.
 I m signing you up for a summer
camp.
 What summer camp? Kylie
clutched her purse to her chest.  No,
I don t want to go to any camp.
 It s not about what you want. Her
mom motioned for Kylie to walk out
the door.  It s about what you need.
It s a camp for kids with problems.
 Problems? Are you freaking nuts? I
don t have any problems, Kylie
insisted. Well, not any a camp could
fix. Somehow she suspected going
to camp wouldn t bring Dad home, it
wouldn t make Soldier Dude
disappear, and it wouldn t win Trey
back.
 No problems? Really, then why am
I at the police station at almost
midnight picking up my sixteen-
year-old daughter? You re going to
the camp. I m signing you up
tomorrow. This isn t up for debate.
I m not going. She kept telling
herself that as they walked out of
the police station.
Her mother might be bat-shit crazy,
but not her dad. He simply wouldn t
let her mom send her off to a camp
filled with a bunch of juvenile
delinquents. He wouldn t.
Would he?
Chapter Three
Three days later, Kylie, suitcase in
hand, stood in the YMCA parking lot
where several of the camp buses
picked up the juvenile delinquents.
She freaking couldn t believe she
was here.
Her mom was really doing it.
And her dad was really letting her
mom do it.
Kylie, who d never drunk more than
two sips of beer, who d never really
smoked one cigarette, let alone any
pot, was about to be shipped off to
some camp for troubled kids.
Her mom reached out and touched
Kylie s arm.  I think they re calling
you. Could her mom get rid of her
any faster? Kylie pulled away from
her touch, so angry, so hurt she
didn t know how to act anymore.
She d begged, she d pleaded, and
she d cried, but nothing worked. She
was about to head off to camp. She
hated it but there was nothing she
could do.
Not offering her mom one word,
and swearing not to cry in front of
the dozens of other kids, Kylie
stiffened her back and took off to
the bus behind the woman holding
the sign that read SHADOW FALLS
CAMP.
Jeez. What kind of hell hole was she
being sent to?
When Kylie stepped on the bus, the
eight or nine kids already there
raised their heads and stared at her.
She felt an odd kind of stirring in her
chest and she got those weird chills
again. Never, not in all sixteen years
of her life, had she wanted to turn
and run away as much as she did
now.
She forced herself not to bolt, then
she met the gazes of& oh, Lordie,
can you say freaks?
One girl had her hair dyed three
different colors pink, lime green,
and jet black. Another girl wore
nothing but black black lipstick,
black eye shadow, black pants, and
a black longsleeve shirt. Hadn t the
goth look gone out of style? Where
was this girl getting her fashion tips?
Hadn t she read that colors were in?
That blue was the new black?
And then there was the boy sitting
almost at the front of the bus. He
had both his eyebrows pierced. Kylie
leaned down to peer out the
window to see if she could still see
her mother. Surely, if her mom took
a look at these guys, she d know
Kylie didn t belong here.
 Take your seat, someone said, and
stepped behind her.
Kylie turned around and saw the
bus driver. While Kylie hadn t
noticed it earlier, she realized even
the bus driver looked a little
freakish. Her purple-tinted gray hair
sat high on her head like a football
helmet. Not that Kylie could blame
her for teasing her hair up a few
inches. The woman was short. Elf
short. Kylie glanced down at her
feet, half expecting to see a pair of
pointed green boots. No green
shoes.
Then her gaze shot to the front to
the bus. How was the woman going
to drive the bus?
 Come on, the woman said.  I have
to have you kids there by lunch, so
move it along. Since everyone but
Kylie had taken their seats, she
supposed the woman meant her.
She took a step farther into the bus,
feeling as if her life would never,
ever be the same.
 You can sit by me, someone said.
The boy had curly blond hair, even
blonder than Kylie s, but his eyes
peering at her were so dark they
looked black. He patted the empty
seat beside him. Kylie tried not to
stare, but something about the
dark/light combination felt off. Then
he wiggled his eyebrows, as if& as if
her sitting beside him meant they
might make out or something.
 That s okay. Kylie took a few
steps, pulling her suitcase behind
her. Her luggage caught on the row
of seats where the blond boy sat
and Kylie looked back to free it.
Her gaze met his and her breath
caught. Blond boy now had& green
eyes. Bright, very bright green eyes. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]