Lila's Thunder: The Almeida Brothers, Book One by Trevion Burns Read Free Book Online

been his only friend in the world, picking him up during a ti me when he was slipping into darkness and no one else was around to care.  He couldn’t get the nights when he was thirteen out of his mind, nights when it was thundering and raining and he was petrified of being in the brownstone alone.  Nights when he couldn’t get his parents’ untimely death out of his mind and was afraid of what he might do to himself or someone else.  All he had to do on nights like those was call Lila.
    She’d come over and they would study together, cook dinner and watch movies while waiting for Jack to come home.   Some nights he did, some nights he didn’t.  Eventually, Chase had stopped feeling the pang of abandonment whenever his brother didn’t come home because he knew he would always have Lila.  He jammed his eyes shut and tried to ignore the crushing blow of how wrong he’d obviously been.  One word from Jack and Lila was gone.
    Mrs. Jackson came up next to his desk and Chase didn’t look up, opting instead to stare ahead as she dropped his exam down on his desk.
    “See me after class,” she said, before continuing on.
    Chase stared down at the ‘F’ on his exam, and couldn’t have cared less.
     
    -- -
     
    Lila’s heels clicked against the tile floor of the empty hallway and bounced off of the walls, making the sound echo all around her.  The students were all in class and she was struggling to follow Principal Grace White, who was speed walking, in her four inch heels.  Grace was a stern, but fair woman who loved children and the power of education.  She ruled The Dalton School with an iron fist but still managed to convey a message of strength and compassion to the students and faculty around her.  Lila admired her deeply.
    At the moment, however, Principal White was making her feet hurt.   Lila increased her pace to a small jog until she was next to the principal, who was clearly desperate to end the conversation they’d been having. “But Principal White, the kids look forward to this trip every year.  I’ve already put up half of my own money to fund it and they have done everything possible to chip in, bake sells, car washes--the works.  All we need is an extra two thousand dollars, and with the thirty-seven grand a head we charge in tuition I’m having a hard time believing that we can’t scrounge up the cash.”
    Principal White finally came to a stop, tossing her silver bangs out of her eyes as she watched Lila trip over her feet at the unexpected halt.   She waited patiently for Lila to find her footing before adjusting her rectangular eyeglasses. “We simply don’t have the funding this year, Lila.  The parents are already down my neck about how counter-productive a school “grieving club” is, and if I give you the money to take these kids on a vacation while the school library and football team are suffering I might have an angry mob on my hands.”
    “Well first of all everyone needs to stop thinking of it as a vacation.   Sure, it’s a trip to Hawaii, but I can assure you that there will be plenty of educational activity going on.”
    “Uh huh, ” Grace hummed, skeptically.
    Lila held her hands out.   “Maybe you could give me the money under the table.”
    Principal White’s eyes widened.
    Lila stomped her foot and threw her head back. “Dammit these are good kids, Grace.”
    Principal White’s head lifted at the use of her first name.   Lila was the only member of her faculty who got away with calling her Grace.  “Look.  I’ll broach the subject at the next meeting, but I’m not making any promises—“
    Before she could finish Lila threw her arms around the principal’s neck, squeezing tightly.   “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
    A smile sputtered across Grace’s face and she accepted the hug before pulling away.   “All right, all right, enough,” she said sternly, a small blush creeping to her cheeks as she breezed past Lila. “I’ll keep you