Silver Tides (Silver Tides Series) by Susan Fodor Read Free Book Online

better with him, to be funnier, braver, smarter and more beautiful. It wasn’t that I was a slacker, I tended to coast off my natural intelligence but John made me want to be so much more. He made me want to be worthy of him.
    I drove to Tammy’s house and found Jaimie and Tim were still sleeping. By the time Jaimie and I returned, showered, changed and minus Tim, John was pacing the floor. The room was just as I’d left it, with the fluorescent lights and pristine sheets, but John being awake seemed to fill the room.
    “That took forever,” John chided, folding his arms across his flimsy hospital gown.
    “Falafel!” Jaimie replied, stopping to stare in the doorway.
    “What?” John asked, turning his head askew.
    “She’s trying to cut back on swearing,” I explained.
    “Myyyyyyyaaaaa!” Jaimie complained. “You don’t share stuff like that.”
    “Not before we’re introduced, anyway,” he smiled disarmingly. “I’m John, or so the nurses have named me.”
    “Jaimie.” She giggled like the proverbial schoolgirl.
    “Still no progress on your actual name?” I asked, chewing my lip.
    “Nope, but the doc says it’s mild brain swelling and should clear up soon.” He winked.
    “So, you’re going to be hanging out here till then?” Jaimie asked, breathlessly.
    “No.” He shook his head. “There is a social worker coming to get me a temporary foster care situation, till I remember or turn eighteen, whichever comes first.”
    “So, you’re seventeen?” Jaimie asked like it was the location of buried treasure.
    “I don’t know.” He shrugged, unfazed. “They just don’t want to release me into the universe alone and uncared for.”
    “That would be criminal.” Jaimie sighed, smitten.
    I laughed at the interchange. “Tim who?” I joked.
    Jaimie giggled without taking her eyes off John. “You’re just so interesting.”
    “They’ll have me in foster care and school by Monday,” John shrugged.
    “How is that possible?” I asked, surprised. “These things generally take so long.”
    “I guess people just like to rescue me,” he joked, elbowing me gently.
    “I’d rescue you,” Jaimie offered, dreamily.
    John and I exchanged a look, and Jaimie laughed at herself over how weird she sounded.
     
    ***
     
    Mum was pretty cranky on Sunday night after I’d spent the majority of the weekend in the hospital. We sat at the table in our dining room with the mismatched table and chairs, all hand-me-downs from people who were upgrading. Countless family photos littered the kitchen hutch that overcrowded the dining area.
    A vegetarian lasagna was laid out on the table with a fresh salad and homemade bread; Dad tucked into the lasagna, oblivious to the missing meat.
    Mum was trying to save our planet by reducing our carbon footprint; vegetarianism was her newest addition to the crusade. Dad still hadn’t caught on after almost a month. Even if he suspected, he probably wouldn’t say anything because he didn’t want to hear the activist sermon that went with it.
    Mum was prone to her hippy rants, and Dad was quite happy to let her do whatever, as long as he didn’t have to post bond at jail for Mum and me again. After we were both arrested at a protest against building an oilrig off the coast of Australia, Dad had insisted that we never get arrested again; I had been thirteen at the time. My family was unconventional, but they were mine, so I tried not to be too embarrassed.
    “Maybe we should take John in ourselves,” Mum suggested, annoyed. “Then we might actually see you.”
    “Really?” I asked, excited.
    “Of course not really!” She shook her head in disbelief. “You missed the sarcasm? You’re a teenager—you’re supposed to be the queen of sarcasm.”
    “Sorry,” I apologized, disappointed. “It was an emotional weekend.”
    “What do you think it was like for me? I was alone with him all day,” she replied, pointing her thumb toward Dad.
    “Hey!” Dad objected,