Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 124135 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 621(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124135 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 621(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
I dropped to the ground and stared out over the water. I didn’t even know this place existed, never mind so close to campus.
Easton dropped down beside me. I shoved my mum’s phone call from my head. Pushed the anger over the nosy bastard that was Lewis aside and just breathed.
“I come here when I get like you are now.” Easton leaned forward, putting his arms around his legs and his chin on his arms. “Peaceful, you know? Like there’s no one else out here but you.” He laughed once. “Or us.”
I put my hands in my hair and hung my head. I squeezed my eyes shut, but all I could see was Dad’s face. The last time we spoke. The raised words and his expression as I turned my back on him and walked away. I couldn’t stand it.
I looked out over the lake. I was born in this state, yet I had absolutely no connection to it. The view right now looked nothing like home. It wasn’t green enough, and the weather was too hot. For the first time since I’d been here, I felt homesick. But I didn’t know what for. That place hadn’t felt like my home for a long time. My relationship with my mum had deteriorated and I had no friends. Not real friends, anyway.
It was a long time before I calmed down. Easton had disappeared a while back. When he dropped beside me again, he held out a beer. He put the six-pack between us. I pulled off the cap with my teeth. The minute the beer hit my lips, I exhaled.
“You good?” Easton asked.
I nodded. He clinked his beer to mine. “Wood Knocks. Tonight. We’ll get out of our heads. Help you forget.”
I nodded again, then drank another three beers.
I’d have done anything to take myself away from feeling like that.
* * *
Some girl’s hands moved down my stomach, dipping under the waistband of my jeans. I let my head fall back against the wall. Her lips sucked on my neck as she took me in her hand. “Cromwell,” she whispered against my skin. “I’m gonna enjoy this.”
I stared out into the blackened room. Some cloakroom where students could store their coats in winter. Sawdust covered the floor. Peanut shells were down there too. The girl held me in her hand. Her lips kept pressing against my neck. It was annoying me. “You’re so hot,” she whispered.
I wasn’t doing this.
I rolled my eyes, pushed her off me, and moved her hand away. I ducked out of the cloakroom and into the mass of students Easton seemed to have gathered in the hour between when we got back to the dorm and came here.
I could hear him. I was sure Easton’s voice could be heard from space. I burst out onto Main Street and looked around. There was hardly anyone around. Everyone was inside.
The shops and diners seemed to tilt slightly. I rubbed my hand down my face. I’d drunk too much.
“Where’s Cromwell?” I heard the girl’s voice ask from inside. I took off toward campus before anyone could see I’d smoke-bombed. My feet were heavy as I trudged my way back home. But when I approached my dorm, it was the last place I wanted to be.
I didn’t think. I didn’t even know where I was going until my feet stopped at the music rooms. I stared at the closed door and the card reader that let you in. I breathed hard, as if I’d just run a marathon. I tried to turn around, but my feet wouldn’t listen.
My head fell against the door, and I closed my eyes…
I lifted my hands off the piano and blinked. My head always went somewhere else when I played. It transformed. Turned to color and shapes. Until I finished, and the world came back into view.
The audience burst into applause. I stood up and looked out over the crowd. I saw my mum clapping, on her feet with tears in her eyes. I gave her a small smile then left the stage.
As I loosened my bow tie, the concert’s director tapped me on the shoulder. “Amazing, Cromwell. It was amazing. I can’t believe you’re only twelve.”
“Thank you,” I said and walked toward the backstage area where we could get changed.
I stared at the floor as I walked. I was glad Mum could see me tonight, but the person I wanted to see me wasn’t here.
He was never here.
As I turned the corner, a flash of movement caught my eye. I lifted my head. The first thing I saw was khaki green. My eyes widened. “Dad?”
“Cromwell,” he said, and I couldn’t believe my eyes. My heart beat faster as I ran to him, throwing my arms around his waist.
“You were unbelievable,” he said and hugged me back.