Secrets and Lies by H.M. Ward Read Free Book Online Page A

again. “Fifteen hundred dollar.”
    “Uh,” Beth interjects, “why don’t I just spot you the difference. You can pay me back.”
    “Because I don’t have an extra $500, and I’ll never pay you back.”
    She shrugs and looks at the ground. Following her gaze, I notice that her pretty Chinese slippers are covered in mud. “I know that,” she says. “I was being nice.”
    It must be nice to have money and kick it around like it doesn’t matter, but I’m not a leech. “Thanks, but no. I have to do this on my own.”
    “You realize what you’re saying, right?”
    Looking up at the yellow bus, I nod. “Fuck, yeah. I’m going to be the girl who drives around in a burnt-out school bus. Score.”

CHAPTER 9
    I drive the bus back to the dorm and have issues finding a place to park. I head over by the lot where the school has their nice shiny new buses and park it there. No one will notice, right? As I climb down the steps, a guy in a uniform comes over. “You can’t park that here.”
    “Why not? It’s a school bus.” He gives me a look that says to get the bus off his lot. “Fine.”
    I march back up the stairs and drive it back around campus to my dorm. I bet they make me buy three parking permits because that’s how many parking slots I need. After waiting for well over two hours, three slots open up and I manage to pull the thing in.
    Just as I pull the key out of the ignition, I hear a noise. It sounds weird, and it’s not a mechanical machine sound. It’s more like a nail on metal. I walk past the rows of seats and the disgustingly dirty windows. There is so much trash in back that it’s revolting.
    My foot connects with an old Coke can and sends it skittering to the back of the van. It collides with the wall and something stirs. The hairs on my arms prickle just before the wild screech hits my ears and a seriously pissed off raccoon jumps up from the pile of junk on the floor. It claws up to the top of the seatback and hisses at me, its body in a pissed off cat stance, complete with arched back.
    Screaming like a lunatic, I run away, leaving the keys in the ignition, and sprint straight up the stairs into the dorm. When I make it to the third floor, I fall out of the stairwell and gasp at the window, looking down at my bus below.
    I’m close to crying. I spent all my money on a rotten bus with a rabid raccoon in the back. My bottom lip is quivering when Emily steps up next to me. She leans in before I realize she’s there and says, “What are we looking at?” I scream at the top of my lungs and she screams back as my heart explodes, and then she adds, “Well, that was fun. What the hell is wrong with you?” She’s laughing at me and looking out the window.
    Clutching my heart, I stutter, “Don’t do that!”
    Emily plays with the leather strap around her neck and rolls her eyes. I can’t tell if she likes me or if she thinks I’m mental. “You look a little freaked.”
    “I am!” It all gushes out before I can stop. “Nothing is going the way it should be! It’s not just the modeling thing, it’s everything! My boyfriend dumped me, Josh told you guys I’m a whore, my roommate is a bitch, a really hot guy walked out on me last night, and to top things off I bought a bus with a fucking raccoon in the back.” I try to shut up and mash my lips together, but they quiver. “I didn’t know he was back there. I kicked a can and it must have hit him, because he jumped at me with his little paws and…” I’m holding up my hands up like they’re paws and a smile cracks across my face because I look ridiculous and it sounds really funny. Well, it would be if it happened to someone else. I laugh once, and drop my hands and look out the window. “See that piece of shit?”
    Emily steps toward the window. “Yeah. It’s kinda hard not to.”
    “That’s mine.”
    “Bitchin’. And I like how you took up three prime parking spots with your inconspicuous, rodent infested vehicle.” Emily