into my face. She pushes off the wall, laughing so wildly and
freely that I push off too, laughing through the salty taste in
my mouth. I swim after her, back to the deep end. She’s a good
swimmer and beats me by a longshot, but treads water, waiting
for me to catch up. When I’m close enough, she sets her hand
on my shoulder and tugs me close. She kisses me there, full
on, for all four people in the area to see. Not raunchy or
anything, but enough to steal my breath. If that hadn’t done the
trick, the words she whispers in my ear sure do.
“Let’s go back up to the room and try out that big glass
shower. It’s way larger than mine at home… I want to see how
badly we can fog it up.”
&n
bsp; Chapter 23
Stephanie
I don’t think I’ve known a better Sunday. I woke up happier
than I can remember being in a long time. I feel light. I feel
good. I feel free. I feel like I could step outside and just float
away, up to the sky all on my own. I should have known that
something would happen to ground me. A person can’t ride a
high like this forever.
While I’m frying up eggs and making toast, my mom
walks into the kitchen. She’s like a ghost or a stalker,
something out of those horror movies that give you a real heart
attack. When someone’s not there one second and the next,
bam! They are. She appears so suddenly that I nearly jump
straight onto the stove. The frying pan clatters off the burner, I
bump it so hard. I automatically reach for the handle to steady
it. The eggs are barely even half done, but I turn off the burner
and don’t set them back on the heat. Suddenly, I’m not hungry.