Page 13 of Crashing Waves


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It was obvious Ricky didn’t believe me. And it was also obvious he didn’t know what to say. I had made him uncomfortable, talking about how not okay I was. And I could understand why he didn’t think I was telling the truth. I acted scared; I probably looked scared. But I meant it. I wasn’t scared, not for myself. What I was scared of was what my father would do to Lucy and Grace in my absence. If I wasn’t there, if I didn’t cook dinner and they were there to face his wrath, I wasn’t sure they could take it whenIcould.

I was bigger, I was stronger, and my skin was so much thicker.

It was only five years until Lucy and Grace were eighteen. Five years, and maybe we could get out of there. Maybe, by then, I’d have a job to support us all. Maybe, by then, I’d stand up to my father and tell him how I really felt.

I hate you.

And I did.

I hated him.

But it wasn’t forever.

That was what I kept telling myself anyway.

CHAPTER THREE

My last year of high school rolled around with an unexpected surprise.

The juniors and seniors shared a lunch period.

Ricky was thrilled for the extra time to spend with his girlfriend, Molly.

And I got to meet Laura.

Now, I had met Laura Jensen before, but that had been years ago, when we were still in junior high—when she had been a sixth grader with braces and I had been a seventh grader with little interest in anything but disappearing into fictional worlds.

I hadn’t been given the time to get to know her then, not that I would’ve taken the opportunity. But now, at seventeen, she took my breath away the moment she walked up to our lunch table. And somehow, just like that, there was light illuminating the corners of my dull, sad little life the moment I saw her smile.

I guessed those braces had paid off.

Or maybe I just hadn’t noticed how beautiful she was back then.

“Earth to Max.”

Ricky’s elbow jabbed at my ribs, and I jolted with a start, my cheeks on fire.

“Wha-what?” I stammered, tearing my eyes from Laura to look at Ricky’s taunting smirk.

He barked with a laugh, slinging his arm around Molly’s shoulders. “Oh boy,” he said, shaking his head as he took a bite of his apple.

“What?” I repeated, sliding my eyes back to the spot across the table, where Laura sat, her cheeks bright red and her bottom lip trapped between her teeth.

“Oh, nothing, bud. Don’t even worry about it.”

I sighed and picked up my half of Ricky’s sandwich. Ever since that day last year, he’d made it a point to share his lunch with me. I still brought my own, just in case he happened to change his mind one day. But so far, he hadn’t.

He really was a great friend.

But on that first day of our senior year, I was quick to realize that there was a problem with having Molly and Laura join us for lunch, and that was Ricky’s inability to multitask. With his attention solely on his girlfriend, I felt I had little to do, and Laura didn’t seem to care much to have a conversation with me as she focused entirely on her lunch.

So, I opened my backpack and pulled out my favorite book.

Dracula.

Since my fourteenth birthday, I had lost count of how many times I’d read it. It was worn and well loved. The pages were now as familiar as the friend who’d given it to me.

It was my most treasured belonging, and I protected it as fiercely as I protected my sisters.