Page 9 of Never Forever

Annie held on to her mom’s hand and Carrie came on after them. Carrie looked right through me. The sun hit her long red hair and turned it to fire. Fiery gold and bright and beautiful.

“Hey,” I said, the word bursting out of me. She looked at me with eyes that said I was lame. And I’d missed my chance to be her friend because I’d listened to my old man and I would regret it for the rest of my life. “I read a book you would probably like.”

Oh God. I was so dumb. The dumbest.

My chest hurt as I waited for her to reply.

“What book?”

“Twilight. It’s about these high school students who are actually vampires.”

She laughed. “Uh duh. Everybody’s already read that. It came out like a million years ago.”

“Oh.” Right. Her parents would have bought her a copy when it was brand new. “Well, someone left it on the boat. I thought it was cool.”

She turned as if to walk away and I wanted to jump off the boat into the ocean. But then she turned back around to face me and it felt like a life line. “You know there are more books. It’s like a whole series.”

I shrugged. “Figured with how it ended. Guess I’ll have to hope someone leaves the next one on the boat soon.” I said it like a joke but I sounded like some poor ass beggar kid.

She looked over at my dad, who was working hard not to watch us talking.

“Good luck with that,” she said.

The following day someone had left a copy of New Moon on the boat. The owner had put her name on the inside cover.

Carrie Piedmont.

Freshman Year

Carrie

“I don’t like beingin a different school from you,” Annie said as we stopped at WW elementary.

“Why? Are kids being weird with you?” I asked.

Annie liked to dress how Annie liked to dress and it wasn’t necessarily like all the other girls, which I thought made her special, but also made her a target for mean girls and boy bullies.

“No, it’s fine. The days are just long. And you’re going to try out for the Fall play. Then you’ll have to stay after school and I’ll be home alone with Mom and Dad all the time.”

“I’m just a freshman. There is no way I’ll get a part. All the seniors and juniors get them.” She shot me a cut the crap look. My sister’s faith in my acting ability made me feel a million feet tall. “But if I do, we’ll work something out. You can come to rehearsals.” God, I hated seeing her so down. But the situation at home was getting worse every day and my quirky sister was extremely sensitive to Mom and Dad’s fighting.

I was old enough now to know what was coming. Divorce. It was just a question of when, and what that was going to look like. Sharing custody. Having to spend weekends or even longer with just Dad?

Hard pass.

But there was no point in borrowing trouble until it was here.

“Okay,” my sister said, taking a deep breath like a soldier going off to war. “See you after school.”

I watched her walk up the path to school. She wore a blue skirt with black netting underneath, combat boots and a hoodie with mouse ears. I mean, she was amazing. I wore what everyone else in high school wore. Jeans, a tank top with a cardigan over top and ballet flats.

But I wore it best.

“Hey Carrie, wait up.”

I froze. I knew that voice. I always knew that voice. I turned and really hoped I was smiling and not looking like a deer about to bolt off into the woods. He almost never initiated our conversations.

Weeks of leaving books for each other on the ferry and we rarely talked.

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