The Space Between (a quantum thriller) by Alexandra Sokoloff

Author:Alexandra Sokoloff [Sokoloff, Alexandra]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-06-28T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

The Starry Lights of the Pepper Trees

Victoria lives on Valencia, street of kings, and princes and princesses of the high school kind.

She had not given Anna an address, in that way school royalty had of thinking that everyone knows where they live and where everything is happening.

But I do know, just like probably everyone else at school knows, from dreaming—the day version—of one day being invited to one of the houses, into the golden circle.

Anna takes the bus, of course, and she gets out several blocks before the actual stop to walk the rest of the way, so no one will see she had to take the bus.

She walks straight forward on the sidewalk, trying not to give in to the shame.

It’s dark, but it’s a good neighborhood, running along the golf course, and the wind and the misty sprinklers on the sloping golf course lawns make it spooky, but the wind also feels like a shield, and Anna is so used to nightly terror by now that a walk in the dark seems a small thing.

Just keep breathing. One foot in front of the other.

The closer she gets to Victoria’s block, the more nervous she gets, and she tries to focus on the sweeping yards and houses around her to keep grounded. And the pepper trees. What she most loves about Valencia is the pepper trees. They are so feathery and magical, the perfect color of green and that spicy smell, and almost every house on the street across from the golf course has them. When she was little she thought that you could tell a rich person’s house by the pepper trees.

Of course, that’s not true, anyone can plant any kind of tree they want…

But somehow it seems that, at least in San G, only the rich people have them.

They are even more beautiful at night, with the streetlights and intricate yard lights shining through the curving boughs.

She can hear the party long before she sees the house.

How in the world does Victoria get away with having a party like that?

The whole neighborhood must know, not just that there is a party, but that there will be drinking and drugs and sex. Maybe parents don’t care because that’s what Normal people do, and they want their kids to grow up to be Normal.

Not freaks like me who only dream of going to parties like this one.

The yard and house have a high stucco wall around them, Spanish-style, with a wrought iron gate in an arched doorway into a courtyard, where music is blasting and white Christmas lights are laced through the pepper trees. Anna can hear people talking loudly and laughing drunkenly.

Her steps slow as she gets closer on the sidewalk. This is crazy, she realizes suddenly, as if she had been asleep and has just been shaken awake. I’m not supposed to be here. Everyone will know I’m not supposed to be here.

What was I thinking?

The archway of the Spanish style gate looms in front of her and she feels a primal and absolute terror about going through.

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