Last Chance Summer by Kels Barnholdt Read Free Book Online

my mind but I’m in a weird mood for the rest of the night. And by the time we pull into the driveway and I head up to my room, I still don’t feel right.

    ***
    An hour later I’m still stressed out. My make-up has been washed off, I’m wearing blue shorts and a white tank top, and my hair is up in a messy bun. I’m trying my best to sleep, but all I seem to be doing is tossing and turning.
    I can’t sleep when I have this many thoughts running through my head. I’m just about to give up and go downstairs to get a snack when I hear scratching at my window.
    At first I think it must be a bird or something so I decide to ignore it. But then it becomes almost like a knocking.
    Oh, my God. Someone is at my window! A mass murderer, probably coming to chop me up into tiny pieces. But would a mass murderer really knock? I mean, isn’t that a little bit too polite for a crazy psycho?
    I slowly reach over and switch on the light next to my bed. It’s definitely a person. I can make out their stomach and their shirt and if I squint I can just see their face. It’s…it’s… oh, my God. It’s Alex.
    I start to panic. What is he doing here? At my window? In the middle of the night? While I look like this? Oh, my God. Oh, my God. OH, MY GOD.
    He knocks again and I realize he knows I’ve seen him and that I’ve just been staring at him. I quickly get up and go over to unlatch the window.
    “Have you lost your mind?” I ask him.
    “Well, it’s nice to see you too,” he says, rolling his eyes.
    “What do you want? You can’t be here!”
    “Why not?” he asks, sliding his legs effortlessly through the window and slipping into my room.
    “Because it’s late! At night! And this is my room!”
    “Well, it’s not actually your room, per se…”
    “Oh, shut up! You know what I mean!”
    He laughs and throws himself down on my bed. “Oh relax, Morgan. I’m not here to take advantage of you or anything.”
    “Oh, so now I’m ugly?”
    He laughs. “You’re such a brat.”
    I cross my arms over my chest. “Why not just use the front door then?”
    “I didn’t want Arielle or your aunt knowing I came here to talk to you. Somehow I didn’t think you would talk to me as freely if they knew I was here.”
    “Why are you here?”
    He shrugs. “I was worried.”
    “Worried?” I ask.
    He nods. “When you came back from calling your parents, you seemed.... I don’t know, different. Like something wasn’t right.”
    Oh. So he noticed.
    I walk slowly over to the bed and sit down next to him.
    “It’s nothing. I’m fine.”
    “Then why aren’t you asleep yet?”
    I turn and look at him. “That’s what I was trying to do before someone interrupted me!”
    His eyes meet mine. “If you were going to sleep you would have been there by now. Which means something is on your mind, which means you probably need someone to talk to. Hence the reason I’m here.”
    I’m just about to tell him again that I’m fine when he moves a little closer to me on the bed. “Morgan, you can trust me. I’m not going to tell anyone.”
    Maybe it’s the way he says it, or maybe it’s just that I’m so upset, but in that moment, I believe him. I believe I can trust him. And before I know it, I’m telling him everything -- how upset I am to be here, how I want to go home. About what my uncle said, and how it makes no sense to me. I tell Alex just about everything I’ve been feeling for the past few days. And by the time I’m finished, tears are falling out of my eyes.
    “Hey, hey. None of that,” he says, sliding over on the bed so he’s right next to me. “It’s going to be okay,” he tells me, putting his arm around me and pulling me into his chest. “Arielle and her dad have always had a complicated relationship. From what I know, it sounds like he’s actually kind of a jerk. But Morgan, that’s not your fault and you can’t do anything about it. So beating yourself up isn’t going to help.”
    I nod silently