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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.