Shark Bait (The Grab Your Pole Series) by Jenn Cooksey Read Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Jenn Cooksey
don’t want her to worry when I don’t show up when she expects me to.” My mom would be fine with me hanging out with a new friend, but if I don’t check in, she’d probably have the police send out an Amber Alert for me.
“Let’s go to the park down below school. It’s just below the lower soccer fields...”
“Yeah, I know the one you mean. I used to have big birthday parties there when I was little.”
So, as Kate drove us to the park that is actually not too far from my house, I called my mom. I started by asking how she was feeling, and then listened when she told me her doctor appointment had gone really well, for which I was relieved to hear. Then asking her if she needed me home right away, I explained how I’d made a friend and that we wanted to go hang out at the park. Just for good measure I also threw in that Kate and I were going to be doing some homework for our honors class. Although I didn’t know it at the time, I should mention that this is not a lie per se. My mom sounded really happy to hear I’d found someone I already clicked with and she told me to take my time and have fun. See? My mom rocks hard.
“Is your mom sick or something?”
“You could say that. She has breast cancer. Everyone, including me, keeps referring to me as new, but actually, my sister and I were born here. We moved back from Arizona in May so we could take advantage of our extended family here,” I willingly explained. I don’t mind talking about this stuff. In fact, I find talking about certain things like this to be cathartic. Besides, I really like Kate. I don’t know why, but I just get the deep-down feeling that Kate is good people.
“Aw Camie, that really sucks, I’m so sorry. But if you guys moved back months ago then how come you’re just starting school now?” She asked, politely not pushing for the “other” details.
“Well because my sister and I have been homeschooled our entire lives and my mom insisted that she continue until she absolutely couldn’t do it anymore. We actually thought for a while that she’d be able to keep it up and we’d get to stay home, but the chemo and radiation really beat the crap out of her,” I admitted, not knowing how Kate would react to the information that I was previously homeschooled. I’m hoping it doesn’t make me ineligible to be her friend. I mean I don’t know how these things work; there could be a handbook or something that I just haven’t been given yet.
“Oh, okay. It sounds like you really enjoyed being home…I bet this place is intimidating as hell,” she said, being rather shrewd in her observation. You’ll soon discover, as am I, that Kate has wicked-awesome skills at reading people.
“Being homeschooled was really great…I mean that’s why I’ve gotten to take as many dance classes as I have, you know? When you’re homeschooled you don’t really have P.E. and my parents wanted to make sure my sister and I got plenty of exercise. My sister’s a pretty talented dancer, too, but she just never got hooked on any one thing…she experimented with all kinds of stuff like gymnastics, karate, even boxing,” I said, leaving out my sister’s true talent, which I swear is counter-intelligence. “But I fell in love with dance when I was six and I’ve been doing it ever since. And yeah, I was pretty freaked out about having to come here. Honestly, I had a long list of reasons why it was gonna suck, but, my classes are pretty easy so far, I still get to take dance, and some of the kids are a lot cooler than I thought they were gonna be so my list is rapidly dwindling,” I told her, ending with my own round about way of giving Kate a compliment which she, of course, picked up on and laughed about.
After we stopped laughing though, Kate pulled into a parking space at the very back of the huge park where there was no chance we’d be interrupted. She shut the engine off and shifting to face me, I could see the cogwheels begin to turn
“Let’s go to the park down below school. It’s just below the lower soccer fields...”
“Yeah, I know the one you mean. I used to have big birthday parties there when I was little.”
So, as Kate drove us to the park that is actually not too far from my house, I called my mom. I started by asking how she was feeling, and then listened when she told me her doctor appointment had gone really well, for which I was relieved to hear. Then asking her if she needed me home right away, I explained how I’d made a friend and that we wanted to go hang out at the park. Just for good measure I also threw in that Kate and I were going to be doing some homework for our honors class. Although I didn’t know it at the time, I should mention that this is not a lie per se. My mom sounded really happy to hear I’d found someone I already clicked with and she told me to take my time and have fun. See? My mom rocks hard.
“Is your mom sick or something?”
“You could say that. She has breast cancer. Everyone, including me, keeps referring to me as new, but actually, my sister and I were born here. We moved back from Arizona in May so we could take advantage of our extended family here,” I willingly explained. I don’t mind talking about this stuff. In fact, I find talking about certain things like this to be cathartic. Besides, I really like Kate. I don’t know why, but I just get the deep-down feeling that Kate is good people.
“Aw Camie, that really sucks, I’m so sorry. But if you guys moved back months ago then how come you’re just starting school now?” She asked, politely not pushing for the “other” details.
“Well because my sister and I have been homeschooled our entire lives and my mom insisted that she continue until she absolutely couldn’t do it anymore. We actually thought for a while that she’d be able to keep it up and we’d get to stay home, but the chemo and radiation really beat the crap out of her,” I admitted, not knowing how Kate would react to the information that I was previously homeschooled. I’m hoping it doesn’t make me ineligible to be her friend. I mean I don’t know how these things work; there could be a handbook or something that I just haven’t been given yet.
“Oh, okay. It sounds like you really enjoyed being home…I bet this place is intimidating as hell,” she said, being rather shrewd in her observation. You’ll soon discover, as am I, that Kate has wicked-awesome skills at reading people.
“Being homeschooled was really great…I mean that’s why I’ve gotten to take as many dance classes as I have, you know? When you’re homeschooled you don’t really have P.E. and my parents wanted to make sure my sister and I got plenty of exercise. My sister’s a pretty talented dancer, too, but she just never got hooked on any one thing…she experimented with all kinds of stuff like gymnastics, karate, even boxing,” I said, leaving out my sister’s true talent, which I swear is counter-intelligence. “But I fell in love with dance when I was six and I’ve been doing it ever since. And yeah, I was pretty freaked out about having to come here. Honestly, I had a long list of reasons why it was gonna suck, but, my classes are pretty easy so far, I still get to take dance, and some of the kids are a lot cooler than I thought they were gonna be so my list is rapidly dwindling,” I told her, ending with my own round about way of giving Kate a compliment which she, of course, picked up on and laughed about.
After we stopped laughing though, Kate pulled into a parking space at the very back of the huge park where there was no chance we’d be interrupted. She shut the engine off and shifting to face me, I could see the cogwheels begin to turn