Rebirth by Laura Marie

Author:Laura Marie [Marie, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

9

On Wednesday Chloe, Reece and I sat outside. The sun beat down on our backs. A cool breeze from the ocean made the heat bearable, and our next subject was History, which meant Chloe and I would just talk through the whole class again.

“Where are your football buddies?” I asked Reece.

He pulled up his shoulders. “Who knows?” He glanced at Chloe.

There were times Reece didn’t hang out with his friends. He was Safety Beach High’s favorite, Mr. Popular. But it seemed to me like sometimes he was trying to escape. Between him and Chloe, nothing about the social dynamic in this place made sense.

“Well, it’s nice of you to hang out with us,” I said.

Reece laughed. “You make it sound like I’m doing you guys a favor. But you guys are real. Sometimes it’s all I need.”

Real? I glanced at Chloe. It was weird that he spent time with us when Chloe was the definition of fake. She hid behind makeup and sunglasses so much, I doubted anyone really knew who she was. But I knew what Reece was saying. Even though Chloe was hiding behind a façade, being around her made me feel at home, too. After I had been treated like a freak for a while, that was saying something.

“So, I hear you made quite the impression yesterday,” Reece said to me.

Chloe cleared her throat as if she was uncomfortable with the situation. Or maybe she didn’t want me to answer. I couldn’t always read her signals.

“Not really,” I said. “They were looking for shit, and it was unnecessary.”

“People usually stay out of other people’s business around here,” Reece said.

“Which is weird, considering it’s a small town,” I said.

Chloe and Reece both blinked at me like they had no idea what I was talking about.

“You know, in small towns everyone is always in everyone else’s business.”

Chloe and Reece looked at each other.

“That doesn’t happen here,” Chloe said.

I nodded. It was the first time I noticed that rumors didn’t spread like wildfire, here. Usually, there were no secrets in small towns. But it seemed to me, in Safety Beach, secrets were all there were.

Brooke and her posse arrived and passed us close enough that she could glare at Chloe. Chloe looked down, avoiding eye contact with all of them. When they were gone, she sighed.

“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “She’s just looking for trouble.”

Chloe nodded. “She’s never going to stop.”

“What happened?” I asked. “They are acting like you’re the enemy.”

Chloe pulled up her shoulders. “We used to be best friends, Brooke and I,” she said. “There was a time she would stick up for me, no matter what. But I guess things change.”

“Like what?” I asked.

Reece shook his head at me, telling me not to push this further. But I wanted to know what had brought Chloe so close to a meltdown yesterday. If I hadn’t stepped in, I’m sure she would have lost it.

“I changed,” Chloe said, looking up at me. I couldn’t see her eyes through

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.