Crushing Read Free

asthma.
    That had led to me trying to prove myself by doing things that weren’t always safe or legal. Shinnying down my drainpipe to sneak out onto the golf course at night, stealing a golf cart, and lighting firecrackers and throwing them in the men’s locker room at the country club helped me prove them wrong but got me in a lot of trouble.
    Gage and I had roamed the beaches and golf course as if they were our own personal playground. We got into the biggest trouble at the golf course. My parents were members, as were his grandparents. The people that worked there hated us. Well, most of them. The greens guys were okay, but the pros and the guys in the pro shop hated us. We went to the driving range and purposely tried to hit the guy driving the cart that picked up the balls. We ran amok all over the course at night and did things like fish in the pond and fork the green on one of the holes and egg the pro shop.
    Most of the time we didn’t get caught, but they knew we were the offenders. The worst was the firecracker incident. I was grounded for a month in the middle of the summer, and that was when my dad went on the rampage about me staying away from Gage, so this whole thing was not new.
    “You seem to like the friends I have now, so I’m pretty sure I can decide for myself who to hang out with.”
    He gave me another glare. “Let’s just keep things the way they are. You have plenty of friends. You don’t need to get involved with him again. It’s unnecessary.”
    My parents hadn’t addressed the elephant in the living room. How devastated I was when Gage had left and the aftermath that followed the next year. I think my mother saw I was getting really upset and she stepped in.
    “Rory, we just want you to be wise. You only have this last semester, and then you are off to college. We don’t want anything to get you off track, that’s all.”
    “You mean off the track you want me on, right? Don’t worry—I’m clear on exactly where that track leads, Mom. No one is questioning that.” I rolled my eyes. Really, they were so single-minded. My brothers were allowed to choose their future, but my parents had mine all picked out for me. Go to college, date and marry Dominic Rossi, and live happily ever after with 2.5 children. Ugh. I didn’t want my future decided by anyone but me. I want to be in charge of my own life.
    “Why don’t you just put me in a bubble? Then you can make all my choices for me.” I slouched down in my seat. The headache was full scale now, and I really didn’t feel like arguing anymore.
    “No need to get all grouchy when we just want what’s best for you.” My mother sniffed.
    “Whatever.”
    I would never understand them. I spent the rest of dinner trying to be invisible and wishing my brothers were there.

Chapter 2
     
    The rain fell from the sky in sheets. Hiding in the huge woodpile the golf course drew from when they needed wood for outside fire pits or the fireplaces in the clubhouse meant I would win hide-and-seek for sure. I found this hiding spot weeks ago. Higher than me by a foot at least, I had pulled out some of the wood to make a little niche I could hide in. Not quite big enough for two. I also moved some of the wood in the front out of the way to make a peephole to see out of.
    It was my best hiding spot ever. I could see if anyone came across the golf course toward me, and the forest was to my back. No one knew about it. I could make a run to the clubhouse from here, and no one would see me if I ran just inside the tree line.
    I was about to sneak out of my spot, when a car drove up and backed right up to one of the greenskeeper sheds across the fairway. The shed was kind of off to the side, and I had actually never seen anyone use it.
    Odd. There was literally no one on the course today. Even the greens people had left because of the rain. I decided to stay put. We weren’t supposed to be playing on the golf course. Even though the course was closed