Larger-Than-Life Lara by Dandi Daley Mackall

Author:Dandi Daley Mackall
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JUVENILE FICTION / Social Themes / Peer Pressure, JUVENILE FICTION / Social Themes / Bullying
ISBN: 9781496418357
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Published: 2016-11-01T04:00:00+00:00

“What the deuce’s doggie do you think you’re up to?” My middle big brother, Matt, snuck up on me in the living room.

I had come home to an empty house right after school and curled up on the living room couch to learn my lines. I was surprised to see how it was almost dark outside. That’s how hard I’d been trying to memorize, not that it had done me much good. Adeline’s words refused to stick to my brain.

“Where’s Luke?” I asked, not answering Matt’s question on purpose because he could tear up a script faster than a math book. And it would matter more.

“How the fiery blazes should I know?” Matt turned on the TV and headed for the couch.

I escaped before he sat on top of me.

I looked out the front window at the dark shadows over our lawn. Luke should have been home. I would have called Daddy, except for he should have been home too, and I didn’t know where to call him.

I spent about fifteen minutes worrying before I saw Daddy’s truck drive up, and Luke got out. When they came in through the kitchen, Luke was crying, and Daddy was yelling at him.

“You get on upstairs!” Daddy shouted. “And if I ever catch you doing that again, you won’t be able to get. You hear?”

Luke ran by me, bumping into me in the doorway. He was still crying, and he didn’t look up at me.

This is the kind of trouble I don’t mess in. So I can’t tell you what happened to Luke. Or why our daddy picked him up and brought him home late. And if that makes for suspense, then you should know straight up that you’re not going to find out in this book. And I’m just sorry about that. But that’s the way it is.

Matt made himself scarce. In the kitchen, Daddy slammed things. Cupboards, fridge, drawers.

I tiptoed up to my room and tried to memorize lines. But I might as well have been out hunting snipes. I fell asleep trying to learn Adeline.

When I woke up, I still had my clothes on. My script was wrinkled under one leg. I changed some of my clothes, washed up, grabbed my wrinkled script, and ran all the way to school in the dark before dawn.

I have this secret place behind the school, outside the backstage door. Sometimes when Daddy’s been drinking, or Matt’s meaner than usual, I go there and do homework. Or not. Sometimes I just sit on the step and maybe think about being an actress and moving to New York City or Hollywood.

That’s where I headed now—not New York City or Hollywood. My secret step. I needed to practice. Today was tryouts, the day when my whole future could get decided.

I ran around behind the school and slipped past the big evergreen bush.

In all my years at Paris Elementary, I never saw even one single person besides me sitting on that step. Only today there was. Larger-Than-Life Lara.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.