Cry of the Sea Read Free Page A

“She ‘friends’ everyone because she wants to have the
biggest number to show how popular she is. She never actually
responds to anyone else’s stuff.”
    “I can’t believe you bother to read what she
writes,” I said. “She’s an idiot.”
    “She’s President of the Student Council, and
without her support tomorrow we have no club. I don’t think we’re
going to get it. She hates you.” Then her voice weakened as she
looked away from me, “Us.”
    I wished I didn’t recognize the hitch in her
voice. Poor Haley. I remember when she was ten and new in town.
Cute, blonde, and bubbly. The kind of girl who could feel
comfortable in any crowd and should have been popular. She should
have had lots of friends. But she had the bad luck to stand up in
class on her first day of school and introduce herself as my new
next-door neighbor. Cursed forever by that mistake, she had no
choice to be my best friend because if she didn’t hang with me she
wouldn’t have anyone to hang with at all.
    “I’m sorry, Haley,” I said.
    “When we do this presentation tomorrow, can
you just try to convince them that you’re not like your parents?
That you’re not going to do anything weird or obnoxious? We just
want to put out some recycling bins and help people know what can
and can’t be recycled. We’re not going to go rioting across campus
and hijacking people’s backpacks looking for recyclables.”
    My throat knotted up. Did Haley really see my
parents like that? After all these years, did she really worry that
I would behave like that? I embarrassed her. “Tell you what. I’ll
let you take the lead on this. You do most of the talking.”
    Haley smiled and nodded enthusiastically.
“That sounds great! Oh! And remember to wear your brown and green.
We’ll be Earth Sisters!”
    “Got it.”
    “The Student Council might think we’re dorks,
but that doesn’t matter.”
    “No, it does not,” I agreed. “They’re
popular, mean, hateful, and selfish, but they’re not entirely
stupid. We—you—can convince them to let us have our club.”
    Haley wished me luck with my dad before
hanging up and closing her blinds. I half wanted to go on the
computer and see if Regina Williams would ‘friend’ me , but
then I decided it wasn’t worth it.
    Dad never did call me to dinner or to “talk
things out.” Instead, he did one of his famous stand-offs, where he
wouldn’t speak to me until I apologized and gave in to his wishes.
I didn’t, though. I didn’t feel like letting him win this time. I
was mad too and could be just as stubborn if I wanted to be. I
planned to wake up the following morning and leave for school
without so much as a nod to the man.
    Mom’s frantic call in the middle of the night
changed everything.
     

 
    Chapter
Two
     
    No good calls ever came at two o’clock in the
morning. Only ones that wipe out any hope of having a normal day.
On this particular morning, it wiped out hope of anything ever
being “normal” again.
    The piercing scream of the phone yanked me
out of my dream. One moment I was swimming with dolphins in the
warm, blue waters of Waikiki. The next, I found myself on my
stomach, arms above my head, sheets and pillows everywhere except
covering me and keeping me warm.
    I bolted upright and faced the clock on my
bedside table. My movement was so quick, I wasn’t even fully aware
my eyes were open until I registered the digital numbers clicking
into place. 2:03.
    By the time my hand touched the receiver the
phone had stopped ringing. My sleepy brain wanted to believe it
hadn’t actually rung at all, but the soft murmur of Dad’s voice
coming from his bedroom across the hall assured me that it had. He
answered so fast, like he expected the call. When Mom was out of
town, I think he slept with his hand wrapped around the phone in
case it was her.
    Getting calls like this wasn’t that unusual.
My dad’s business was a nonprofit organization called EE Alerts, a
website and call