The Tramp (The Bound Chronicles #1) by Sarah Wathen

Author:Sarah Wathen [Wathen, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: LayerCake Productions, LLC
Published: 2015-04-12T23:00:00+00:00

chapter twenty-four

Candy bounded from her front porch to John’s waiting car. The passenger door was already ajar and she ducked inside under the ragtop. “Good, you put the top up.”

“Yeah, looks like rain,” he murmured, still sleepy-eyed and sedate. He watched Candy bounce in her seat with a bemused look.

“I’ll finally arrive somewhere without being a crazy, wind-blasted mess.”

“I thought you did that on purpose.” John smiled and eyed her artfully tousled hair. “Fine line between careless and tangled, I guess.”

“Yeah, there is, Mr. Un-tucked Yet Miraculously Un-wrinkled Oxford Boy.”

“Mmmm.” He looked down at his wardrobe and lifted a shoulder in assent. “Grandma Pearl frowns on wrinkles.”

“I bet she does, is that where you learned it? So, first day of school—are you ready? Did you get all your books? Of course you did.”

“Forgot how electrified you are in the morning.” He caught his empty thermos off the passenger seat, under her butt-cheeks and in between bounces, and tossed it into the back.

She frowned at the flying metal cup. “Coffee? You don’t drink coffee, do you?”

He glanced at the discarded drink container absently. “Protein shake. Ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be. I mean, I’m excited to see some people again that I haven’t seen all summer. And people I’d just like to see more often, you know?”

“Oh yeah, like who?” John swiveled around in his seat, put the car in neutral, and let it roll down the driveway into the street.

“Just some friends.” Candy’s mind settled on one friend in particular, but she decided not to mention Sam yet. John would meet him soon enough and the thought sent the butterflies in her stomach into conniptions. “I guess, the first day back I just dread all the polite small talk, the cagey remarks, the searching questions. Especially at lunch—the lunches are broken into two sessions, and you never know who you’ll get or who you’ll miss.”

“Can’t be that bad?” John turned to face forward again and caught sight of the worry in her face. She was wringing her hands in her lap. “Didn’t forget anything inside, did you?”

She shook her hands out and laughed. I’m being ridiculous. “Nope, let’s go.”

Candy’s house was a little out of the way for John, but she needed moral support on the first day of school and he said he didn’t mind picking her up. He turned off Forest Lane and onto Hemlock Drive, easing down the winding trail, listening to Candy chat about her class schedule. His dad must have taught him to downshift into the lowering grade of the road instead of burning up the brake pads, and he concentrated intently, still unused to the terrain. Finally, they reached the intersection with the state road, which leveled out into the valley. John came to a full stop and turned to Candy, who had grown pensive and quiet. “What are you thinking about?”

“Hm? Oh, just ticking off lists in my head. You know, school supplies and stuff,” she lied. All she could think about was Sam and how strange it would be to see him at school.

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.