Read Online Four Summers by Nyrae Dawn - Free Book Online

I’ll take out anyone who gets you in their sights. You get the flag and we got this, Charlotte.”
    This is not usually how Alec and I do it, but I will be able to run faster without my gun. And…maybe it’s not something I should be thinking, but it feels good to think of him having my back.
    “Let’s do it.”
    He squeezes my hand tighter. I forgot he even had it. “If we win, you have to meet me tonight.”
    My brain tells me to say no, but my heart is beating to say yes. The word is pumping through every part of me. There’s no other option. “Okay.”
    Nathaniel smiles and I think it might be the best smile in the whole wide world. I bet his girlfriend loves that smile, too.
    “Ready?” he asks. “On the count of three.”
    I set my paintball gun down.
    “One,” he says. Pauses. “You can do this. Run fast. I’ll be right behind you.”
    I nod again. Who knows if he can see me but once we step into that field, everyone will be able to. The lights are that bright.
    “Two.”
    Another pause.
    “Three.”
    As soon as the word leaves his mouth, I run. Run with everything I have. My chest hurts. My legs hurt. Nathaniel is right behind me.
    “Keep going. Shooting on your right,” he yells. I hear the pop, pop, pop of his paintball gun. I keep running. Brandon curses. Alec and Nathaniel are shooting at each other. I don’t pay attention. Just keep moving. As soon as I get there, I grab the flag and Nathaniel grabs me and jerks me into his arms. He lifts me up and we laugh, not a drop of paint on either of us.

I sit in the dark, waiting for it to be time to meet Nathaniel. It’s like there’s electricity inside me. A live wire that’s flipping all around because I’m anxious to have another of our nights together and because it seemed so important to him that I meet him. I know it makes me sound bratty, but when he didn’t push for it sooner, it made me feel like it didn’t matter. I think maybe I wanted him to…maybe not fight for me to meet, but to pull for it. To show me he wanted it and he did and that means more to me than the knowledge that this will make it hurt more when he leaves. He’s here now and I don’t have anything else I look forward to.
    I’m taking this.
    Quietly, I push my widow open and crawl out. The “pillow me” is under the blankets. Not like anyone will check on me, anyway. As soon as my feet hit the ground, I hear Mom’s voice surfing on the wind as it drifts from her and Dad’s partially open window.
    “I’m so tired of this place! I tried to make it work, but I don’t want this life, Richard!”
    “We’ve been okay,” Dad replies. “Things have been better. We’ll close for a week or so and take a trip this fall. Get out of here for a while. This is our life, Tabitha.”
    “A life only you want! You and Charlie Rae love it here. This place fits you. I just…I want to take Sadie and go. You can go, too. We can sell and—”
    “No! I’m not selling. This is our past and our future. How can you just want to throw it away? And what about Charlie? You’re going to leave her?”
    “She can go if she wants.”
    I grab my chest. Fight to breathe. Tears fill my eyes and I turn to run. I stumble and fall, but get right back up again. They’re leaving? She wants to take Sadie and leave? Leave me? I stop when hope fizzles in my veins. I could get out of here. How could I want to leave Dad? I don’t. I love him. And it’s not that she really cares if I go or not.
    Her words hit me again and I dry heave. I fall to the ground again and cry. They’re going to leave and I’ll be stuck here. Then the guilt mixes in, making me nauseous. Is here really that bad? I don’t like it, but I would never just bail.
    “Charlotte?” Nathaniel’s voice comes from behind me. “What’s wrong?”
    I scramble to my feet, embarrassed that I’m on the ground crying. All I can think about is the fact that they’ll get out of The Village to find a new life, and then I hate