Dark Realms by Kristen Middleton Read Free Book Online Page B

cheap.”
    Ernie was my mom’s boss; a really nice old
man who’s been very supportive. He’s been like a father-figure to
her, which is good because both of her parents passed away several
years ago, and aside from us, she doesn’t have anyone else.
    “A cabin sounds really cool. Do they happen
to have a boat?”
    “Yes, actually, and Ernie
says he’s caught hundreds of fish on the lake, so we’ve got to check it
out. I’m really excited about staying there. Honey, are you
okay?”
    “Something in my eye,” I muttered as I
pulled down the visor. I blinked until I finally got the eyelash
out.
    I touched my long, unruly hair and frowned.
It had been almost six months since I’d last had it cut; now it was
down to my lower back and I was constantly fighting snarls. “Jeez,
I could really use a haircut.”
    She put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed.
“Don’t worry, honey. We’ll get you one before school starts. Once I
get some extra money, you know?”
    “Sure.”
    I bit my lower lip and
examined my reflection. Sandy brown hair, light blue eyes, and a
pug nose. I’d always considered myself average looking, even though
my mom said I looked exactly like her when she was growing up, and
she turned out to be attractive. In fact, most of Nathan’s friends
said she was a hot MILF, which was pretty gross, but I guess that meant there was
still hope for me.
    I closed the visor and leaned my head back
against the seat. “I wonder what the school is like.”
    I was definitely a little nervous about
going to a new school, although, truthfully, I knew I wouldn’t
particularly miss the old one much. In fact, you could say I was
sort of a loner. Sure, there were a couple of girls I’d hung out
with back home occasionally, but I preferred to be alone most of
the time, or hanging out with Nathan.
    “Ernie didn’t say much, but honestly, I
don’t expect him to know. He’s in his seventies and never had
children.”
    “I’m sure it will be fine.”
    I really didn’t want my mom to worry about
me. She was the one who needed the extra support from us and I
wasn’t about to make her feel any more guilty about moving than she
already did.
    She slapped her fingers on the steering
wheel. “Oh, I forgot to tell you, they have a computer, so you can
surf the Internet.”
    “Really? That’s cool,” I smiled. Although we
used computers at school and my mom had her own laptop, I’d been
nagging her forever about getting me one of my own.
    “Yes, but you’ll have to share it with your
brother. I’d let you guys use mine, but…”
    I smirked. “I know, you have too many
important files and you don’t want anything happening to your
computer.”
    “Now you have one to use,” she answered.
“And I won’t have to listen to you two badger me about it,
anymore.”
    “At least I can download books from the
library,” I replied. “We’ll be in the middle of nowhere out here
and I’ll need something to do.”
    “Oh, I’m sure you’ll find plenty of things
to do. Wait until you start school and meet some new friends. Or,”
her face lit up, “maybe even some cute boys.”
    I rolled my eyes. “Right. I doubt very much
that’s going to happen.”
    “Why in Heaven’s name would you say that?
You’re a very pretty girl, Nikki. Don’t sell yourself short.”
    The truth was, I couldn’t care less about
meeting anyone at the moment. Most of the girls at my old school
had been constantly stressed out because of their immature
boyfriends and I wasn’t about to go down that road, especially in
my last year of high school. “It doesn’t matter.”
    She frowned. “Sure it does. You’ll want to
go to all the dances, and then there’s the prom. You don’t want to
miss out on all the fun. You’ll regret it later.”
    “Didn’t you go with dad to the prom?” I
asked, then immediately felt rotten when I saw the bitterness
reflected in her eyes.
    “I did,” she said slowly. “But, he wasn’t
always so…