Read Online The Tension of Opposites by Kristina McBride - Free Book Online

into my purse and pulled out my camera. I ran my fingers along the frayed strap, pressed the chipped bottom edge into the palm of my hand, pulled the forty-year-old camera to my chest. “But the thing is, I’m kinda freaked out. I don’t know what I’m going to say. I mean, what if everything I think of is just wrong?”
    â€œWhen you see her, you’ll do fine,” Darcy said confidently. “Sorry it’s been so rough.”
    â€œIt’ll have to die down sometime, right?” I asked.
    â€œSure.”
    â€œOf course it will,” Max said. “Eventually.”
    I flung the Nikon’s strap over my head and stood, needing to get away from the conversation, away from my own brain, which was screaming this warning that when I had my chance, I was bound to screw it up. “I’m gonna go take some pictures.”
    Max reached for his camera. “Want some company?”
    â€œNah.” I shook my head.
    â€œYou sure?” Darcy asked.
    â€œYeah,” I said. “But thanks.” I turned, walked to Mr. Hollon’s desk, and grabbed a pass.
    When I made my way into the hall, I took one last glance into the room before I closed the door behind me. The first thing I saw was the top of Max’s head as he shuffled through pictures on his desk. Then there was Darcy’s hand perched on Max’s shoulder as she bent forward to stare at what he wouldn’t share with me.

Saturday,
    October 10
    6
My Name Is Elle
    I sat at my computer, staring at the screen. I felt like throwing up and crying and screaming all at the same time. But the only thing I could do was blink at the words in front of me and hope they would somehow disappear.
    I’d been excited when I’d sat down, sliding a memory chip out of the digital camera I’d borrowed from Mr. Hollon and popping it into the little slot in the tower standing next to my desk. My parents had been trying to talk me into a digital camera for over a year, and maybe they were right. A digital camera would be fun to have so I could see my pictures immediately. Like the one I’d snapped of Max yesterday in class.
    But it felt like some kind of betrayal. My grandfather’s Nikon was sacred, a physical link to the man I missed so much, and I would not let my parents talk me into putting it aside for some newer, better version. This week, I hadn’t had a choice. Mr. Hollon’s latest assignment required a digital image.
    Impatient with the length of time it was taking for the photographs to download to the folder on my desktop, I’d clicked on the Internet icon and watched as the Yahoo page popped up.
    I don’t really know what I thought I’d see, maybe news of the latest celebrity breakup. All I can say is that I wasn’t ready for what appeared.
    The first thing I noticed were the eyes. Deep and black. Lifeless. Staring right at me.
    Then the matted hair, the scruffy face, the thick chin.
    Charlie Croft.
    My computer made a plinking sound to let me know that the download was complete, and I snapped out of it long enough to catch the headline and skim the body of the article. That’s what really did it, what brought on the whole freak-out feeling that kind of fuzzed the edges of my hearing and sight. Pulling me away from reality for a few minutes and threatening to sink me into one of my panics.
    I looked away. Took a deep breath. Waited until my hearing came back, which felt like swimming to the surface after plunging far into the deep end of a pool, and then I looked again.
    The headline hadn’t changed. ONE OR MANY? it asked.
    The words that followed also remained the same:
    In a press conference held late yesterday afternoon, Cuyahoga County prosecutor Ronnie Pundt announced that Charles Croft, who has been charged with kidnapping a minor, will face an additional twenty-seven felony counts, including rape and producing child pornography.
    Sheriff Paul Shott stated that new