not very lady like of you!”
Rachel shrugged and made a face, “Who says I’m a lady?”
“You know who I’d like to get to know more?” Melody nodded back at the lacrosse team, “Jefferson Williams. Talk about hot.”
Rachel laughed, “I don’t know he’s so serious all the time. Is that really something you’re attracted to?”
“He’s dark and mysterious.” Melody grinned, “I could warm that cold heart of his.”
“ Oh gosh, you’re terrible.” Rachel laughed at her friend, feeling odd she wasn’t more upset someone else found an interest in Jefferson. For a moment she had been attracted to him, had even talked herself into believing that there was something there between them, something she might like to be a part of, but it seemed to have disappeared the instant she met Ryan.
Whatever she thought she had felt for Jefferson was over in an instant. She only wished later he could have felt the same.
Agoura Hills, California
June 8th 2010
Ethan
Ethan sat on the back steps with his legs out in front of him, his hands jammed into the clammy fabric of his jeans, praying for a miracle.
He had made up some bullshit story about him and Kelly working on the van just to get Logan off his back and now he was left completely alone, the heat from the summer sun burning down on him in an angry blaze that mirrored his own mood.
Ethan didn’t want to feel this way. He didn’t want to know that every turn he took was in the wrong direction, he just wanted to be right for once. Wasn’t that enough? Couldn’t life just give him that?
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Wasn’t that what they said all the time? Ethan sighed. Well, life had sure given him some rank ass lemons to deal with.
He considered the option of driving back to Hartford that night, of leaving his dad and Rachel and their smug sense of self-importance behind. He thought of the way he would leave a note behind that would just read, ‘Bye shit heads.’ and then he would be out of there, gone, never to be heard from again.
Ethan bit his lip and kicked a rock near his right shoe; that wasn’t the way that he was supposed to handle things anymore. He needed to get his life together, and in order to do so, he needed his dad, no matter how much he didn’t want to admit it.
Ethan tried to push the frustrated feelings down and pretend like they weren’t there, but he knew they would come vomiting back up at a moment’s notice. Probably in Rachel’s face, or his father’s, whichever one decided to insult him first.
Ethan cleared his throat and grumbled a little, he wasn’t really mad at Rachel. He needed to stop lumping her in with him. She was going through a lot, even if no one wanted to talk about it.
That new thought brought on another wave of anger for Ethan. Why wasn’t anyone talking about it? What was the deal with that? From where he was standing, Rachel was a hero and everyone needed to know. Why couldn’t they just bring it up? Why did they let the families of Phillips just sweep it under the rug like that?
Rachel deserved credit and recognition for what she did, not what she was getting. Sure, a car was nice and all, but it wasn’t enough. It didn’t tell the full story.
Did their dad buy it just to make himself feel better? Was it a strange form of hush money? Was he buying Rachel’s forgiveness?
Ethan was angrier now than when he had sat down, he had hoped to calm down, but everything was a giant mess of bullshit and he didn’t want to deal with it anymore.
Why couldn’t they talk about it? Why had everyone let Phillips cover it up? Pretending like they could sweep this under the rug… this wasn’t just a bunch of spoiled posh kids misbehaving, this was a big deal, and they were just going to let the sociopath walk. For what? Because they had to protect the Phillips name? And what about the other people involved?
Kelly had told them the whole thing. Even down to the part that Ethan
Rachel shrugged and made a face, “Who says I’m a lady?”
“You know who I’d like to get to know more?” Melody nodded back at the lacrosse team, “Jefferson Williams. Talk about hot.”
Rachel laughed, “I don’t know he’s so serious all the time. Is that really something you’re attracted to?”
“He’s dark and mysterious.” Melody grinned, “I could warm that cold heart of his.”
“ Oh gosh, you’re terrible.” Rachel laughed at her friend, feeling odd she wasn’t more upset someone else found an interest in Jefferson. For a moment she had been attracted to him, had even talked herself into believing that there was something there between them, something she might like to be a part of, but it seemed to have disappeared the instant she met Ryan.
Whatever she thought she had felt for Jefferson was over in an instant. She only wished later he could have felt the same.
Agoura Hills, California
June 8th 2010
Ethan
Ethan sat on the back steps with his legs out in front of him, his hands jammed into the clammy fabric of his jeans, praying for a miracle.
He had made up some bullshit story about him and Kelly working on the van just to get Logan off his back and now he was left completely alone, the heat from the summer sun burning down on him in an angry blaze that mirrored his own mood.
Ethan didn’t want to feel this way. He didn’t want to know that every turn he took was in the wrong direction, he just wanted to be right for once. Wasn’t that enough? Couldn’t life just give him that?
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Wasn’t that what they said all the time? Ethan sighed. Well, life had sure given him some rank ass lemons to deal with.
He considered the option of driving back to Hartford that night, of leaving his dad and Rachel and their smug sense of self-importance behind. He thought of the way he would leave a note behind that would just read, ‘Bye shit heads.’ and then he would be out of there, gone, never to be heard from again.
Ethan bit his lip and kicked a rock near his right shoe; that wasn’t the way that he was supposed to handle things anymore. He needed to get his life together, and in order to do so, he needed his dad, no matter how much he didn’t want to admit it.
Ethan tried to push the frustrated feelings down and pretend like they weren’t there, but he knew they would come vomiting back up at a moment’s notice. Probably in Rachel’s face, or his father’s, whichever one decided to insult him first.
Ethan cleared his throat and grumbled a little, he wasn’t really mad at Rachel. He needed to stop lumping her in with him. She was going through a lot, even if no one wanted to talk about it.
That new thought brought on another wave of anger for Ethan. Why wasn’t anyone talking about it? What was the deal with that? From where he was standing, Rachel was a hero and everyone needed to know. Why couldn’t they just bring it up? Why did they let the families of Phillips just sweep it under the rug like that?
Rachel deserved credit and recognition for what she did, not what she was getting. Sure, a car was nice and all, but it wasn’t enough. It didn’t tell the full story.
Did their dad buy it just to make himself feel better? Was it a strange form of hush money? Was he buying Rachel’s forgiveness?
Ethan was angrier now than when he had sat down, he had hoped to calm down, but everything was a giant mess of bullshit and he didn’t want to deal with it anymore.
Why couldn’t they talk about it? Why had everyone let Phillips cover it up? Pretending like they could sweep this under the rug… this wasn’t just a bunch of spoiled posh kids misbehaving, this was a big deal, and they were just going to let the sociopath walk. For what? Because they had to protect the Phillips name? And what about the other people involved?
Kelly had told them the whole thing. Even down to the part that Ethan
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