Read Online Little Lost Angel by Michael Quinlan - Free Book Online Page B

because she had real talent. She could play several instruments and had such a good ear that she could play a song on the piano after hearing it only a few times. But by her freshman year Hope had formed definite opinions about what was cool and what wasn’t. And in her eyes, the school band wasn’t. Every once in a while, Hope would talk about forming a rock band, but her initiativesnever evolved into anything more than jamming in the garage with a few friends.
    Hope had also realized that she would never be accepted by the preppy high-school crowd. There was a coarseness about her that kept her outside that circle. Hope had been smoking cigarettes for several years, and when angry she could curse like a construction worker. She liked to hang out at the poolroom in the local bowling alley and she had become a pretty good pool player.
    Hope was not a beauty, but she had a pleasant enough face and a nice figure, as well as a forwardness that boys found attractive. Hope’s older sister, Tina, had gotten pregnant in high school and kept the child. Hope too began having sex at a young age. By the time she was a sophomore she had made love with a number of boys. She never had a lengthy relationship with any of them and liked playing the field.
    Though an average student, Hope had no firm plans to attend college. She expected that she would eventually find a guy to settle down with, have some kids, and raise a family in Madison. But she didn’t give much thought to any of this, since her main concern was having fun.
    It was Hope’s thirst for adventure that had drawn her to Laurie Tackett. While other students at Madison High shunned Laurie and her strange behavior, Hope thought of her as the ultimate rebel, as someone to emulate—in all ways except sexuality. Laurie had confided in Hope that she was gay and, according to Kary Pope, had tried to interest her in a lesbian relationship. Hope had rejected these advances, but this had not damaged the girls’ friendship.
    Hope’s parents, Carl and Gloria, tolerated their daughter’s friendship with Laurie, even though they were put off by Laurie’s punk hairstyles and weird clothes. The Rippeys would rather have seen their daughter spend more time with other friends, particularly Toni Lawrence.
    Hope had known Toni since kindergarten, and though they weren’t best friends they were still good friends. Toni had been acting a little too preppy lately for Hope’s satisfaction, but she shared Hope’s interest in shooting pool and meeting guys so they still found time to be together.
    Toni was the youngest of Clifton and Glenda Lawrence’s three daughters. She lived with her parents and her oldest sister and her family in a brick ranch home a few blocks from the Rippey residence. Although they weren’t wealthy by any means, they enjoyed a modestly comfortable existence. Clifton Lawrence had been a boilermaker until an on-job injury ended his career and he was forced to make ends meet on his pension.
    Toni, slim with light brown hair and glasses, was an average student and was well liked by her peers, though she wasn’t the type to stand out in any crowd. Although generally timid and reflective—she wrote many poems—she enjoyed the company of friends, participated in school activities, and did all the things other girls her age did: went to the movies, shopped for clothes, and talked on the phone for hours on end.
    A year and a half earlier, Toni had gone through the most traumatic time of her life. A boy had raped her while she was at a friend’s house. Toni didn’t tell her parents about it until her mother discovered a letter she’d written to a friend in which she mentioned her attacker’s name. Clifton Lawrence tried to press charges against the boy but ended up seeing him only mildly reprimanded by police as a juvenile. When the story got around school, some classmates took the boy’s side and ostracized Toni for turning him in. Already shy, she withdrew further