Hailey Abbott_Getting Lost with Boys by Hailey Abbott

Author:Hailey Abbott [Hailey Abbott]
Format: epub
Published: 2010-07-29T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Cordelia checked her Swatch. Three P.M. On an ordinary Thursday, she would be losing her mind because she was behind schedule, but today, she just felt like coasting. It all started with the morning. Everyone crawled out of bed around noon—no alarms, no wake-up calls. They just got up when they felt like it. (Cordelia hadn’t done that since her last sleepover two years ago and had forgotten how great it was.) Mike had been the last one to slink out of his room. He’d looked like an eighteen-wheeler had parked on top of him for the night, but at least he’d had the decency to beg Cordelia for her forgiveness, which she gave without hesitation. Everything seemed to be back to normal when they dropped Mike off at his apartment. It was 121

Hailey Abbott

after two when they’d hit the road, and Jake was still at the wheel of the Charger, chugging along at speeds that would even agitate elderly drivers.

She’d called Paul once they’d departed to let him know what time they’d be arriving. She’d calculated the distance on her Treo and double-checked it online. Yet once they entered the depths of Death Valley, she was a little worried that they might never make it. At first glance, it seemed as if they were in the capital of Desolationville, population zero. The area had this eerie quality that made it both beautiful and ominous at the same time.

But as they kept going, Cordelia’s concern began to drift off into the cirrus clouds that were scattered in the crisp indigo sky. They drove by mountain ranges—

the gigantic size of them made Cordelia feel really small and insignificant and even a bit lost. Then the car made its way through long stretches of road that were surrounded by either the sandy, golden desert or jagged rock formations that spread out across the canyons. There were natural gorges and huge craters that might have been created by volcanic activity many, many years ago. Every time they turned a corner, some unique piece of breathtaking scenery was just waiting to befall Cordelia’s eyes. She couldn’t predict what was on the horizon or make everything fit into some perfect organized structure or overanalyze 122

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any of it. For once in her life, that was okay. In fact, it was more than okay. It was unbelievably great. Too bad the Charger had to ruin it all.

“Do you hear that?” Jake asked suddenly.

“What?”

“Funny noises. Coming from the engine.”

Cordelia listened. There was a clanking sound she hadn’t noticed before. “Is that bad?”

“Well, it’s certainly not good.” He leaned over the wheel and peered into the distance. “I think that’s a rest stop off this service road up ahead. Hope we can make it.”

So did Cordelia. Breaking down in a place called Death Valley was anything but appealing. The glare on the windshield was particularly strong, so the last thing they needed was to be stuck out in the intense heat. The clanking was getting really loud by the time the car pulled up in front of what Jake had thought was a rest stop.

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