Читать книгу Time - Roger Reid - Страница 11

???

Talking with my parents

U still going?

Yes

C u in bhm

I’ll text you from the pane

Pane?

Plane

K

Leah was pretty good at text-talk. Me? Not so much. Most of the time I had rather just make a phone call. Maybe it’s because I haven’t had the phone all that long. Leah hasn’t had her phone all that long either, though. Her dad got it for her after Carl Morris and his brothers chased us through that longleaf forest less than four months ago. Less than four months . . . seems like a lot longer than that.

I finished packing and set my duffel bag beside the bed. For a moment I stood there not knowing what to do with myself. I had just passed up the perfect opportunity not to make the trip. The truth is I didn’t think Carl Morris was as stupid as everyone thought he was, so I didn’t think he would come looking for me even if I had punched him in the face with an axe.

And then there’s “the greater truth,” as an old friend of mine would say. The greater truth is that I wanted to see Leah.

Much as I hate to admit it, my sister was sort-of right: I don’t have a lot of friends around here. It’s not my fault. All of my friends are like a year older than me. That was fine until I got to the eighth grade. Then they all went to high school, and I got left behind.

There’s something else, too. When I try to tell them around here about being shot at in a longleaf forest and then again on a mountaintop, they look at me like I’m crazy. Can’t blame them. I still have a hard time believing it myself. Anyway, I’ll be in high school this coming year, so, who knows, maybe we’ll be friends again.