Early Summer by Carol L. Paur

Author:Carol L. Paur
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Orange Blossom Publishing
Published: 2022-08-11T11:55:48+00:00

Sam, Alexis, and I were boarding the bus. The bus driver swiped his face. I looked behind, but Nick was not jogging toward me. I felt a twinge of disappointment when I sat next to Sam. “Nick and I are not going to prom.”

“Is that what you wrote in that note to him?” Sam asked. “I wanted to hear all about it at lunch, but you were gone.”

“Ms. Cavita had a few things for me to fill out for graduation. In the note I said he should go with himself if he didn’t want to go with Debbie Downer.”

“Does that mean we don’t have to go with Henri and Max?” Alexis sighed. “That’s a relief. I’m sorry I encouraged you to go with Nick. I thought he was nice.”

“Just because a guy gets good grades doesn’t mean he’s worth dating,” Sam said. “I think you were too nice to him. Maybe you should have tripped him when he went out of class.”

Nick was not really what I wanted to talk about so I redirected our conversation. “Did you get the Amber Alert?”

“The whole state of Wisconsin got the alert,” Alexis replied. “I was wondering why a ten-year-old was in Springs Park. I think maybe her dad or mom took her.”

“Or she could be another missing girl,” I said. I wanted to tell them about The Missing Girls of the North website, but knew they would give me grief for wandering on the dark web.

“Yeah. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of so many kidnappings in Wisconsin in such a short timeframe.” Alexis pulled her hair into a ponytail. She stood up to open her window. “I can’t believe these buses don’t have air conditioning.”

Wind pushed into the bus but did little to cool it.

“At any given time, there could be twenty-five—up to fifty—serial killers at large,” I said. “Wisconsin is a hotbed for serial killers.”

“Because there’s nothing else to do.” It was Sam’s turn to pull her hair up.

“Are you trying to tell me something, Sam?” I lifted my hair off my neck but had no elastic band.

Sam pulled one out of her backpack and handed it to me. “No, I think it’s gross and disgusting to kill people. Back to Nick. Maybe you should forgive him. There is a free dinner involved.”

“The free dinner is from my mom and dad, who are hosting.”

“Get out of here,” Alexis said. “How did Nick finagle that one?”

“My mom offered. She loves cooking. Now it’ll just be the three of us.”

Alexis turned toward Connie. “Plus Connie.”

We rode the rest of the way quietly. Maybe Nick was right. I could be a Debbie Downer. My mind was usually preparing itself for the next catastrophe. How fun can that be for those around me? Furthermore, if I was honest, I didn’t always have nice thoughts about Nick. He was a complete nerd. What kind of relationship would this end up being? He thought I was Debbie Downer, and I thought he was a nerdy city guy who spoke too formally.

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.