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Authors: Natalie Whipple
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stomach growls, so I search my bag for any remnants of school lunches I might have missed. I manage to find a half-eaten bag of pretzels and a smooshed grape. Yum. I guess I can eat my math book if I get really desperate. I laugh a little—I’d love to explain that to Seth.
The desert is dark, but not pitch black. Starlight shines through the window, and I can’t help but step outside and take a look. The canopy of lights takes my breath away. I’ve seen stars like this before, but the sight never stops making me feel small and unimportant. I like that feeling.
The stars twinkle like rhinestones, which reminds me of my mother. Will she worry when I don’t come back? Or will she run to Dad without a thought? We used to be closer. We’d shop for hours at the most expensive places in Vegas. It’s the only normal thing we’ve ever really done together.
I used to like it. I used to think we were bonding like moms and daughters do. She would clap or smile when I came out of the dressing room, and it made me feel beautiful. But then I started to notice something.
“Those clothes look great!” she’d say.
Not
you
look great. Not
you
look beautiful. The clothes did—I didn’t look like anything. I was just the perfect mannequin.
“What about me?” I asked her once. “Do you think I’m beautiful?”
Mom froze, as if she didn’t know what to say, which said everything. “I don’t know, sweetie, but you shouldn’t worry about it. You don’t have to. Women everywhere would kill not to worry about that.”
I nodded, wishing she’d lied and said I was the most beautiful girl in the world. It was then I realized even my own mother didn’t quite see me as a real person. I was a doll, an empty canvas, something to play with when Dad wouldn’t see her.
I started shopping on my own after that. At grungy places she’d never go to, wearing all sorts of strange things. It almost hurt more that she never got mad about it, never asked why I stopped going with her. She just complimented the clothes, like always.
A different light pulls my gaze from the sequined sky—a flashlight. My heart leaps. Miles! I can’t believe he’d navigate the desert in the dark for me.
Then another light comes into view, and my stomach sinks. Miles wouldn’t have brought anyone with him, but Graham might have enlisted backup. If he was at the store alone, then someone was probably watching Mom for him. What if they are coming to take me back?
I rush inside, stripping as I go.
Chapter 10
I have my clothes off in seconds. I’m not sure I should be proud of that skill, but it comes in handy when I need it. Searching for a place to hide my dress, I settle on stuffing it behind the counter. I mentally curse when I remember my bag is sprawled out on the floor. I creep toward it, trying not to disturb anything that could make noise or flare up dust. If I shove the bag under something, no one should know I’m here.
The flashlights cast two distinct beams outside, both growing wider as they approach. Though the light helps me navigate, it also makes my heart thump up my throat. I grab my things as the footsteps grow louder. I pause, confused. There’s more than one pair, but Graham would never touch the ground if he didn’t have to. It’s “beneath him.”
“Do you see anything?” a deep voice calls.
I gasp, dropping my bag in shock. I know that voice, though I can hardly believe it. What in the world is Brady doing out here?
“Uh … nope. Nothing,” another familiar voice says. Seth.
It might not be Graham, but my pulse still hasn’t slowed. I can barely wrap my mind around it. I had no idea they even knew each other, let alone knew each other well enough to run around in the desert together.
“Are you sure?” Brady says. “I thought I heard something.”
I snap out of my daze, grabbing my bag and stuffing it under my plywood bed.
“There it is again. Coming from the building.”
A light shines from the window,
The desert is dark, but not pitch black. Starlight shines through the window, and I can’t help but step outside and take a look. The canopy of lights takes my breath away. I’ve seen stars like this before, but the sight never stops making me feel small and unimportant. I like that feeling.
The stars twinkle like rhinestones, which reminds me of my mother. Will she worry when I don’t come back? Or will she run to Dad without a thought? We used to be closer. We’d shop for hours at the most expensive places in Vegas. It’s the only normal thing we’ve ever really done together.
I used to like it. I used to think we were bonding like moms and daughters do. She would clap or smile when I came out of the dressing room, and it made me feel beautiful. But then I started to notice something.
“Those clothes look great!” she’d say.
Not
you
look great. Not
you
look beautiful. The clothes did—I didn’t look like anything. I was just the perfect mannequin.
“What about me?” I asked her once. “Do you think I’m beautiful?”
Mom froze, as if she didn’t know what to say, which said everything. “I don’t know, sweetie, but you shouldn’t worry about it. You don’t have to. Women everywhere would kill not to worry about that.”
I nodded, wishing she’d lied and said I was the most beautiful girl in the world. It was then I realized even my own mother didn’t quite see me as a real person. I was a doll, an empty canvas, something to play with when Dad wouldn’t see her.
I started shopping on my own after that. At grungy places she’d never go to, wearing all sorts of strange things. It almost hurt more that she never got mad about it, never asked why I stopped going with her. She just complimented the clothes, like always.
A different light pulls my gaze from the sequined sky—a flashlight. My heart leaps. Miles! I can’t believe he’d navigate the desert in the dark for me.
Then another light comes into view, and my stomach sinks. Miles wouldn’t have brought anyone with him, but Graham might have enlisted backup. If he was at the store alone, then someone was probably watching Mom for him. What if they are coming to take me back?
I rush inside, stripping as I go.
Chapter 10
I have my clothes off in seconds. I’m not sure I should be proud of that skill, but it comes in handy when I need it. Searching for a place to hide my dress, I settle on stuffing it behind the counter. I mentally curse when I remember my bag is sprawled out on the floor. I creep toward it, trying not to disturb anything that could make noise or flare up dust. If I shove the bag under something, no one should know I’m here.
The flashlights cast two distinct beams outside, both growing wider as they approach. Though the light helps me navigate, it also makes my heart thump up my throat. I grab my things as the footsteps grow louder. I pause, confused. There’s more than one pair, but Graham would never touch the ground if he didn’t have to. It’s “beneath him.”
“Do you see anything?” a deep voice calls.
I gasp, dropping my bag in shock. I know that voice, though I can hardly believe it. What in the world is Brady doing out here?
“Uh … nope. Nothing,” another familiar voice says. Seth.
It might not be Graham, but my pulse still hasn’t slowed. I can barely wrap my mind around it. I had no idea they even knew each other, let alone knew each other well enough to run around in the desert together.
“Are you sure?” Brady says. “I thought I heard something.”
I snap out of my daze, grabbing my bag and stuffing it under my plywood bed.
“There it is again. Coming from the building.”
A light shines from the window,
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