Notes from Ghost Town by Kate Ellison Read Free Book Online Page B

a weird dream last night,” I lie, crossing my arms in front of my stomach, gulping back the lump in my throat. The way she has of dismissing me makes my blood boil up a little beneath my skin. My head feels all swimmy for a second, so I take a deep breath to push it away and keep going. “This weird dream that I can’t stop thinking about.” Full of nervous energy, I pull the rubber band out of my hair, redo the bun; it’s even messier this time, pieces falling out over my shoulders, sticking immediately to my sweaty neck.
    “You know what you need? A
sexy
dream. Maybe tonight you’ll dream that I’m making passionate love with Jonah Twist in the middle of the soccer field. Then you’ll forget all about your nightmare.”
    “Ugh.
That
sounds like a nightmare,” I try to joke, but there’s a knot, twisted around my intestines now, and every second I feel it grip a little bit tighter. “Plus, Jonah Twist definitely peaked in seventh grade. He’s been on a downward slope ever since.” I sigh. “It’s very sad. He had such potential once.”
    “To each their own,” Raina says. She shrugs and smiles in the wicked way that only beautiful girls can get away with. She stretches in front of me and a few boys I don’t recognize watch her hawk-eyed as she moves; she stares them down and they look away. “So,” she says, looking back to me, lifting one of her ankles behind her head. “Stern’s unveiling is next week …”
    My stomach flops down to my toes, bringing my heart with it. “Right,” I mumble.
    “It’s some Jewish thing they do at the gravesite. Everyone comes and they say some prayers and—”
    “I know what it is,” I say too sharply.
    Raina doesn’t react. “So are you going to go? I mean, I know it’s weird, because of …” She trails off.
    “You can say it, Rain.”
    Raina sighs, standing normally now. “Because of your mom.”
    “I think I have to work.” My throat’s all clenched-up, and my words come out like they’ve been pressed between two heavy iron slats. I haven’t seen Stern’s parents since the funeral. I don’t want to see the way they look at me, because I am my mother’s daughter. They blame me. I know that they do.
    She nods, but she looks unconvinced. “Yeah. Okay. Work is … important.”
    I check the time on my cell phone: 4:30. A short wash of relief. “Sure is,” I say. “But it’s over now! Time to head out.”
    “You want to come over and watch a movie or something? Make ice-cream sundaes? Old-fashioned sleepover style?” She lifts her big canvas bag onto her shoulder.
    I hug her, because she’s still my closest (living) friend. “Can’t. I told my dad I’d run some errands for him. Ghost Town bullshit.”
    “Bummer,” she says. She shoots a final, spiteful glance at Cassidy and her circle. “You want me to come with?”
    “I do, but you can’t,” I heave my book bag from the dirt onto my shoulders. “Dad’s been weird about me bringing other people around when he’s not there, and he’s already pissed at me because I ran out on the party early without saying anything.” I look away from her in case she can tell I’m lying. “Call you later?”
    “Sure,” she says, as I walk to the small booth to shut the carousel down. The rows of pale lights overhead blink off all at once; the horses go darker beneath them, duller. After I lock the (mostly empty) cashbox inside the booth, I motion for Raina to follow, and we walk to the outside of the fence surrounding the carousel grounds and lock it up, so no one can even try to go inside without my expert ticket-taker supervision. My final end-of-day task.
    I finish securing the u-lock in the gate and Raina walks me out to the parking lot where my banana-seat road bike is locked to a stop sign.
    “Oh, shit,” she says, looking at her phone. “I forgot Parker’s parents are out of town tonight; he might be having people over. So definitely text me later, okay?” She pulls me into a