The Rapids by Melanie Doweiko

Author:Melanie Doweiko
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ABDO
Published: 2018-12-07T16:00:00+00:00

MALA HANDED TAMIKA HER CELL PHONE AT CAMP the next morning. Tamika blinked, too tired to wonder how it was still charged.

“It’s your grandma, kid. She wants to talk to you,” Mala said.

Her grandma . . . ? Bianca! Tamika took the phone.

“You have got to get this lady to stop calling me, Tami.”

“Hi, Grandma! It’s good to hear from you, too,” Tamika said.

“Seriously. Every day. At weird times. Tell her to stop.”

“Yes, I am having a great time with the Harwells.”

In the past few days, Tamika had forgotten all about her alleged grandmother and the lie that had gotten her a spot on this kayaking trip. She wanted to hang up the phone and forget about it again. Every made up response to her “grandma” felt like a spit in Mala and Jesse’s faces.

Wait. Had she said every day? What kind of battery did she have in this thing?

“So, Mrs. Harwell has been giving you updates?” Tamika said. She saw Mala make a face at the name Mrs. Harwell. She would have snickered if she wasn’t so tense.

“Yeah, girl, didn’t you know?”

“That’s so thoughtful of her,” Tamika said, looking Mala in the eye. The guilt gnawed at her gut, fighting for dominance with a wave of betrayal. She knew that adults talked to each other about kids, but calling her supposed “grandma” every day without telling her just didn’t sit well with Tamika.

Mala smiled, which only made it worse, and Jesse walked by to kiss Mala on the cheek as if to emphasize Tamika’s comment.

“Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that you were on the missing kids list.”

“Oh, is that so?” Tamika said. That could be bad, but she doubted they were looking for her here. She and the Harwells were miles from where they had started and the river was pretty far from her most recent foster home, as well.

“I know, right? Took them a whole week!” Bianca said, “Be careful, okay? I doubt they’re looking too hard and it sounds like those people you’re with are good people, but still. Foster kids fall through the cracks all the time.”

“Right, yeah,” Tamika said. She’d been counting on that little fact before all of this, but with the Harwells involved, she counted on it even more. She couldn’t let them get in trouble because she had run away and lied and still didn’t have the guts to off herself.

Did she even want to anymore?

No. No need to think about that right now. Now the authorities were looking for her. Even if it had taken them a week, she had to be more alert to keep the Harwells in the dark.

As much as she hated it, she had no other choice.

“Love you, boo,” Bianca said.

“Love you, too, Grandma,” Tamika said. She hung up and handed the phone to Mala.

“Everything good?” Mala asked.

“Yeah.” No.

“Are you sure?” Mala asked.

“She just wanted to hear my voice.”

“Well, that’s sweet,” Mala said with a soft smile, like she was backing down from something.

Tamika wanted to ask her why she was calling her supposed grandma every day and why she hadn’t told her.

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.