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me. They had lacy pink bows on the toes.
Shading my eyes, I looked up, and was slightly
shocked to find Briar smiling down at me. Hi,
I nodded, Hey.
She shifted her books, glancing around. Uh, mind if I
join you?
Seriously? I nodded and she sat on her knees next to
me. How s your day so far?
She shrugged and took a sip of the diet drink she
pulled out of her purse. Well, no one is giving me a
hard time.
What about your parents?
We re not speaking to each other&
Really? I thought they d be all over her.
Because they are pretending like I don t exist, just
like everyone in school. She laughed, shaking her head.
The people I used to hang out with won t even look at me.
Assholes, I said. It was probably best no one could
really see us here. We were blocked by a low wall and
walkway. Last thing either of us needed was to be hassled.
Only two hours left.
Thank god, she sighed. So what was your high
school like back home?
I was home schooled. I opened the paper bag and
pulled out a sandwich and a bag of trail mix.
Sounds nice. She smiled.
It was. I missed it. Did you bring a lunch?
No, I don t normally eat.
I raised my eyebrows, thinking that I d heard everything
now. You had a burger and fries the other night&
No, I mean. I don t eat in front of people at school.
She looked a little embarrassed and nervously sipped
her drink.
Why?
Well, since I joined the cheer squad, Rachel decided
we should diet.
You re kidding. I didn t mean to stare, but Briar
looked good to me, maybe even a little thin. So what was
the point of being on a diet when she clearly could use a
sundae and a slice of pizza?
We need to fit in our uniforms. She set her drink
down, crossed her arms and glared at nothing particular.
And then a few weeks ago Alex said my butt looked big in
my jeans.
I wasn t going to even touch that.
What do you think?
Oh, hell. It looks normal to me.
That s what I said!
I held out half of my sandwich, Hungry?
She wrinkled her nose. I m good.
Okay, more for me. I watched her mouth twist into a
shy smile and she scooted closer. I temped her a little. It s
got all the bad stuff on it.
How bad?
Cheese, mayonnaise, sweet pickles, bologna&
She held out her hand, I hate pickles, but I can t
pass up anything that bad.
The rest of the week Briar and I had lunch together.
She d pack something, I d pack something, and we d have
a picnic of sorts by the band room. We started to see each
other after school too.
I began to think it was fate I found her in the park.
She was unlike anyone I d ever met. She was sweet, but
she had sass too. She d make a bold statement, then reel
herself back in, a little embarrassed.
Briar Elizabeth Thompson was a firecracker waiting
to go off.
I could see it in her bright green eyes. She d be a
hell of a handful once she let go, but it was better than her
acting like she was reserved and timid. She always tried to
say the right thing and be the good girl her mother
expected.
I knew the second Briar s fuse was lit there d be no
stopping her. She d take the world by storm and have a hell
of a lot of fun doing it.
She was still naive, and way too sheltered. The night
we went to the beach, she never realized the man asking
for drugs had had a gun on him. The small automatic had
been shoved in the waistband of his pants and covered by
his shirt.
Where I came from, everyone had a gun. If you
didn t, then people thought something was wrong with you.
Here it was different. Something was wrong if you had a
gun hidden in your pants on a beach at night. Way wrong.
Second I saw that gun, I couldn t get us out of there fast
enough.
And the stairwell& shit. I felt as if five years had been
shaved off my life by the time we got to the truck.
No way I d get used to city living. They were all bat shit
crazy.
But Briar wasn t like the rest of them. I saw
something different in her. She and I would make a good
team. We got each other. Sometimes I didn t have to say
anything and she d smile at me, as if she knew exactly what
I was thinking
We spent the weekend stuck inside because of rain,
but at her Grandma s house there was plenty of fun to be
had making waffles, virgin daiquiris, and watching old
movies. It was also funny to watch Grandma get sloshed
and fall asleep to the sounds of Grandpa s TV and war
shows.
When the week before summer break rolled around,
I was up at five as usual. Throwing the pillow over my head
didn t do anything, sleeping in wasn t something I was used
to.
I slipped out the backdoor and walked across the
yard for the small paddock Ash kept to. He was up and
ready to start the day. Had we been back home I d have
taken him out for a brisk run through the pastures to the
lake. It was our morning ritual. Down here I could only take
him for a trot around the backyard.
My mom knew how attached to Ash I d become over
the years. He d been my father s horse. Had been born a
few years after me. I couldn t leave him behind. Luckily
enough, my mom lived in the part of town where horses
were allowed, and arranged an area for him in the
backyard. I drove down from Montana with him hitched up
in a trailer on my truck.
I had to admit, keeping a horse in this area was
strange, taking him out for a walk like he was a pet or
something. There was nowhere for him to really run. I d
regretted bringing him with me the instant I saw where he d
be living.
Not bothering with a saddle, I swung up onto him
bare back and he galloped in a circle. Pounding his hooves
harder than usual. He was frustrated. Going from miles of
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