Dream Smashers by Angela Carlie Read Free Book Online Page B

this
guy again? Isn’t he, like, old enough to be your dad or
something?”
    “No…no….no…” She burps a ridiculous laugh
this time with snorts and mouth farts. “He’s snot. I mean, he’s
not. He’s like…” She turns to face him. “Dude, how old are
you?”
    “Ha. I ain’t tellin.”
    “Whatever. Come on Rainy. We need to go,” I
say.
    “Ace? Have you met my mom?” Rainy glares at
me. “Mom, this is my new friend, Ace. He ain’t no tight ass like
another friend of mine.” She grabs the beer out of Ace’s hand and
takes a swig off it.
    Nice. I swear I need new friends.
    “Hi Mom.” Ace waves.
    “I’m not your mom and I’m not a tight ass.” I
take a step closer and kneel down. “I’m your friend, remember? This
is just some older guy that doesn’t have a life of his own. What is
he, like, twenty-five?” I lower my voice to a loud whisper just to
be sure Ace doesn’t hear me, even though he seems oblivious to
everything around him. “You know he’s probably going to want to
have sex or something.”
    Her blood-shot eyes squint at me.
    “Come on.” I hold my hand out.
    Her head rolls back then she jerks it
forward. “Nah, I’m good.” Her breath reeks of beer. Ace rubs her
shoulders. “See, he likes me. He’s my boyfriend now, so it’s all
good.”
    “Come on Rainy. Please?” Think, think, think.
“I need you to walk me home ’cause it’s dark out. You know how I am
about the dark.”
    Her eyes light up. “Ace can drive us!”
    Yeah, and kill us in the process. “I didn’t
see his car out front. We’re just going to have to walk. Will you
walk with me?”
    “Dude. He’s just parked down the street.” She
turns to face Ace again. “Are you gonna give us a ride or
what?”
    “Sure, sure, sure.” He rubs his face and
yawns. “Yeah, I can give you pretty ladies a ride. No
problemo.”
    Be nice, take a breath. “That’s okay Ace.
It’s very kind of you to offer. I know you’re tired and all so we
won’t burden you. It’s not far.” I reach to help Rainy out of the
hole. “Come on. I need you to walk with me.”
    She pulls her arm from me so hard that she
slaps herself in the face. “Ouch. Now look what you did.”
    “You’re okay. Here—” I grab her by the other
arm and pull. “—let me help you up.”
    “Don’t touch me. I can do it without your
help.” Her words slur together. She pulls herself out just to slip
and fall, hitting her face on the ground, her body still in the
hole. “I don’t wanna go. Ace?”
    Ace’s eyes snap open. “Huh? What?” He finds
Rainy. “Oh, yeah, what’s up baby?”
    She points at me. “Tell her I don’t have to
go.”
    Ace climbs out of the hole. I take a step
back.
    Please God, help me. Please don’t let him
hurt me.
    “Listen, listen. Mom.” He staggers. “Rainy
doesn’t need to go. She’s perfectly fine here.” Except he doesn’t
pause between words and they are all drawn-out and long.
    My stomach turns into shoe strings lit on
fire. “No, Ace. She’s not. This place isn’t safe—especially with
your drunk ass here. Her parents will ground her for life if she
doesn’t come home. Right now.” I march forward, push Ace out of my
way, and bend down to pull Rainy out of the hole.
    She’s dead weight.
    “You don’t push me.” Ace comes from behind
and shoves my butt.
    I fall forward, knocking Rainy back into the
crawl space. She tumbles onto the dirt ground—out cold.
    “She’s stayin’ here.” He stomps his foot and
pushes my shoulder.
    I jump back out of his reach. Think. There’s
no way I can lift her out of the crawl space by myself. I’m going
to have to get help, even if it means Rainy killing me in the
morning. “Okay, okay.” I hold my hands up and take a step back.
    He says, “That’s what I thought. You ain’t
nothin’ but a chicken shit. You can’t even fight.”
    “I don’t want to fight you, Ace. Besides, why
would you want to fight a girl?” You big dork.
    One eyebrow