Promise Me Something by Sara Kocek Read Free Book Online Page A

arms prickled. “Isn’t that enough of a reason to want her out of my life?”
    “Not if he really cares about her—”
    “Can we just change the subject?” If Olive tried to defend Lucy for another second, I thought I might scream.
    “Fine, jeez.” Olive looked down at her fingernails. “What did you mean before when you said I act quiet around everyone but you?’”
    I leaned back against the headboard, relieved to talk about anything else. “Nothing, really,” I said. “Just that you take your personality and zipper it up around everyone else.”
    She laughed. “Most people bore me to death.”
    I gave her a wry smile. “I’m glad I can provide amusement.”
    She moved toward the bookshelves along the back of the room and pulled out one of Mom’s old tennis trophies. Dust came off on her fingers. “This was your mom’s, wasn’t it?”
    I didn’t answer. It was obvious—her name was on the trophy.
    “How’d she die?” Olive set it back on the shelf. “You never told me.”
    I stiffened, and she came over and sat on the edge of my bed. “Sorry. I know I shouldn’t be so cavalier about people dying. I was just wondering.”
    “You don’t always have to blurt out everything on your mind,” I told her. “You might actually have more friends if you didn’t.”
    Her face softened. “It just means I trust you.”
    “I know.” I relaxed my shoulders and tried to trust her too. “A drunk driver hit my mom when I was seven. On her way home from the grocery store. In the middle of the afternoon.”
    “Shit.” The bed creaked as Olive leaned back and rested her back against the wall. “That sucks. I’m sorry, Reyna.”
    I opened my mouth to say thanks, but she didn’t give me a chance.
    “I’m not romanticizing tragedy or anything,” she said, tucking her hair behind her ear. “But that’s one of the reasons you don’t bore me to death, you know? That you’ve had to deal with shit. Do you know what I mean? We have a lot in common.”
    I wanted to tell her that having a dead mother was nothing like having an alcoholic mother, but I bit my tongue. It wasn’t worth arguing over.
    “Can I see this?” She picked up an old hacky sack that was sitting on my nightstand. As I opened my mouth to tell her it belonged to my mom, there was a soft knock on the door.
    “Reyna?” Lucy poked her head into the room. “Madison’s on the phone. She said she tried your cell, but it was turned off.”
    I jumped up and took the cordless phone out of her hand. “Thanks.”
    “No problem.” She smiled as she turned to leave, like she was proud of herself for doing me a favor. I rolled my eyes at the back of her head.
    She closed the door behind her.
    I brought the phone to my ear. “Hello?”
    “Hey, Reyna!”
    Just by Madison’s voice, I could tell she was with Abby and Leah. She always sounded extra hyper when they were together.
    “Hey,” I said, “What’s up?”
    Turning my back to Olive, I crouched and pulled my cell phone out of my backpack. Then I pressed the button to turn it off silent mode. Madison began babbling on the other end of the line about our annual Halloween party as I scrolled through my missed calls from during the school day. Two were from Leah, one from Madison. I also had a text that said, CALL US ABOUT HALLOWEEN. Every year since third grade, Leah threw a huge party on Halloween weekend, and it was always followed by a sleepover with just the four of us.
    “So anyway, is seven to ten good for the party?” Madison was asking. “Because we have to send out the invites tonight if we want to compete with the other Ridgeway parties—”
    “Um, actually, I can’t come until ten,” I said, realizing for the first time that the Halloween plans I’d made with Olive would overlap with the party. “I’m going with someone to the Springdale haunted house from eight to nine.”
    “Oh!” Madison sounded shocked. “A boy?”
    “Just the girl I was telling you