We Are Here by Marshall Michael

Author:Marshall, Michael [Marshall, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781409133292
Publisher: Orion
Published: 2013-03-13T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 37

Kristina wasn’t alarmed when she realized someone was following her—only surprised it had taken so long. Truth be told, she’d been wandering around in the hope it might happen. She would prefer not to be called upon to tell that truth, though. She’d rather stick with what she’d told John, that she was heading over to Swift’s to collect the book for next week’s reading group. Which she dutifully did before taking a long walk uptown and back, including both Bryant and Union Square Parks and getting nothing for her trouble but feet that were sore enough to be a real pain when it came to working that evening.

She’d been convinced that somewhere along the way she’d have company. Lizzie, hopefully, but if not then one of her friends, who could presumably lead her to Lizzie. Eventually she got bored and headed for home. Well, maybe bored wasn’t quite right. It was …

Disappointed.

And more than that.

Back when she was sixteen there’d been this party in Black Ridge. She hadn’t really known the girls throwing it—they’d been Ginny’s pals—but she’d run into them a couple of times on the street and on nights when Kristina and Ginny and Henna had managed to slip into bars (not an impossible feat in the mountain backwoods of Washington State, if the three of you are tall for your age and, let’s face it, somewhat cute). They hung out all the time, at one another’s houses, at the Yakima mall when they could get a ride. They did everything as a group back in the days when it was essential to feel people had your back and were walking side by side with you into the strange rooms of adulthood. Henna and Ginny lived up the road, two houses apart, and the unspoken arrangement was they’d come walking down toward town, pick Kristina up, and head together into what passed for the bright lights of Black Ridge, there to behave as badly as possible within the limited options available.

Anyway, this party had been set up and the word was it was going to be major. It was even themed—everybody had to turn up dressed in black, white, and red. This presented a challenge for Kristina. Her mother was not one of those maternal souls who relished guiding her daughter toward adulthood. She had other things she wanted to inculcate in her, but not that. Kristina was forced to pick up the basics by herself, which frequently left her feeling that she hadn’t got stuff quite right. She didn’t have many clothes, certainly nothing that would look sufficiently kick-ass at a party that—Kristina was sure—was going to be life-changingly grown-up. Word was a bunch of boys were going to be there—new boys, different boys, not the ones who always hung around or who you saw at school.

Kris gathered together what she could. She had a black skirt that she thought she looked kind of okay in. She found some red stockings cheap in town. She had a white blouse.

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