Back To Normal

Hello again!

Can we have a moment of real talk?

I am over this whole snow thing. Like, completely over it. I know it’s only January, but let’s just skip the rest of this winter stuff and get to the good parts.  The parts with sunshine and grass and pool parties.

Anyway, I’ve been making progress on my next book. Slow and steady wins the race, right? Well, it’s how I roll, anyway. I’ve added a few scenes to the preview on Wattpad. If you have an account, go on over there and check it out.

Then please let me know what you think of Aiden’s side so far.

https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/50995576-shenanigans-excerpt

For the rest of you, here’s a bit of Chapter 7.

Back To Normal

**Age 12, The Fall**

Life was a little different after The Big Bad Thing.

Taryn was different. Quieter. Jumpier.

She pretended like things didn’t get to her, but he saw her fists clench, her eyes squeeze shut. He saw the look as her mind went a million miles away.

He threw a pillow at her head.

She whipped her gaze over to him, mouth open.

“What the heck?” She squeaked.

“It’s your turn,” He pointed to the board game. Kenzie shared a look with him across the table. She was worried, Allene was worried. It seemed like everyone was walking on eggshells. Yeah, things weren’t exactly normal. But she was home. She was with them. They didn’t need their friend to be normal, just okay.

They could deal with anything else.

****

“I don’t know if I can do this.” The tremor in her voice stopped him in his tracks. Aiden looked over his shoulder. There she was, looking up at the school like it was some towering menace- not the same building they’d walked into for years.

“Sure you can,” he said. “It’s just like any other day.”

“No,” she whispered. “It’s not. Not anymore.”

Taryn held on to the straps of her book bag with both hands, clutching them close. He walked back to her side. Around them, people milled about the front steps. Some, especially the little kids, hurried in the doors, ready to start the year. Others hovered just outside, prolonging the inevitable.

Apparently Taryn was hanging out in the Please-God-No camp.

“Okay, what’s up?”

“They’ll know. About this summer.” Her hair caught the breeze and drifted around her face. She batted it back with one hand.

“Will not.” He pushed at the small of her back. “And standing here isn’t going to change anything.”

She held fast, biting her lip.

“T,” he said. “You know I’ve got your back. Kenzie, too.”

She searched his eyes for a second before nodding.

“Okay?” He asked.

“Okay.”

This time, she let him guide her towards the door.

***

Well, day one was a glaring fail. A disaster. A mess of epic proportions.

Bad.

Aiden sat in one of the chairs outside the office, staring at the hallway floor. The tile sure was ugly. It wasn’t even white, some shade trapped between yellow and tan. Was that some desperate attempt to hide dirt and age? Add that to his list of fails. He might as well keep stock on them. There was nothing else to do out in the cursed hallway of doom.

Across the hall was the wide window that looked into the office. If he leaned to the right, he could catch a glimpse of Taryn. She sat next to Sara, both in from of the principal’s desk.

Hooray!

He didn’t have to see him to know who he was glaring at. Sara was sniffling and crying pretty tears, all innocent.

What a load of crap.

Taryn, on the other hand, had her chin up. Eyes were dry and spitting fire.

“She’s in deep shit,” The kid next to him piped up. He scuffed his ratty sneakers against the floor.

“Taryn? She didn’t start it.” Aiden was pulled in as a witness, or accomplice, depending on the principal’s mood.

“Probably not, but Princess Sara NEVER gets in trouble, even if she’s being a spoiled bitch.”

The kid held out a stick of shiny silver.

“Gum?”

It was practically contraband in these walls.

“Nah, man,” Aiden leaned forward for a better look. “I’m in enough trouble as it is.”

“What’d you do?”

“Basically, I didn’t stop that girl in there,” He sighed. The kid arched a brow.

“What did she do?”

“Punched Sara Winters in her spoiled face.”

The kid burst into a loud, barking laugh that echoed down the hall. Mrs. Smitt peeked her head out of her classroom and glared.

“Props to your girl, then.”

Instantly heat flushed his face.

“She’s not my girl,” Aiden muttered. “Just a friend.”

“Cool, cool.” The kid smacked his gum, loudly. Everything he did was just plain loud. It was becoming clear why had been sent to the office.

“I’m Lance, by the way.”

“Aiden.” He nodded.

“So, Aiden,” he said between smacks. “I heard your girlfriend’s crazy.”

“She. Is. Not. Crazy.” Aiden bit out. Day one, and already it was out. Already the sharks smelled blood.

“Yeah, probably.” Lance nodded. “But beating up people isn’t going to help that rumor, true?”

Aiden sighed as he spotted Allene headed their way, charging in like hell in high heels.

“You’ve got a point there, Lance.”

***

“Oh, Taryn.” Kenzie wrapped her arms around her as soon as she got out of school.

“I’m fine,” Taryn muttered. “It’s just an in-school suspension. No biggie.”

Aiden gave her a glare.

“Quiet you. Grandma bought you a huge sundae. We’re totally even.”

“I was lectured. In the principal’s office. Told I needed to hang out with a better crowd.” Aiden held his arms out wide. “On the first day!”

“I’m sorry, okay?” She tossed her candy wrapper at him. “She was being awful.”

“What did she say to you?” Kenzie’s brown eyes were wide, her voice soft, as she put her arm around Taryn. Full on sympathy mode- activated.

“She brought up my parents, ” She said, her voice cracking at the end. “Said she heard about how I spent my summer.”

“Oh, honey!” Kenzie hugged her tight again. Aiden saw the darkness in Taryn’s eyes, the tears welling up. He needed to derail the Bummed Out train quick.

“And what about me?!” He scoffed. “I suffered, too. She called me a loser. A loser! And I had to talk to the principal. On the first day!.” He stressed that last four words as if that was the worst thing to ever happen. Ever. “Whats a guy gotta do to get a little sympathy around here?”

“Oh my god,” Taryn laughed. “You poor thing.”

She looped her arms around his neck and patted his back.

“Practically tortured,” he muttered.

“So abused,” Kenzie agreed as she hugged him, too.

“Well, I’m just saying.”

“Anyway, I need ideas,” Taryn broke up the hugfest. “Mr. Williams says I need to ‘utilize my aggression in healthy ways.’ That’s adult speak for ‘get a hobby’. What should I do?”

“Art!” Kenzie squealed. “We could paint.”

Taryn made a face, just as he suspected. Hurricane Taryn doing still lifes and flowers? Yeah, right.

“Knitting?” Aiden deadpanned.

“Needles could be used as weapons,” Kenzie pointed out.

“Oh, come on!” Taryn glared at them both.

“I need something useful, for the mission, guys. No wasted time, remember?”

“Interpretive dance,” Aiden offered.

She slapped his arm.

“What?! You could weird vampires out until they run away.”

“Or mime them to death… er re-death,” Kenzie tapped her chin. “How does that work?”

“Tap dance.” Aiden added.

Kenzie waved her arms.

“Learn to play the kazoo!”

Taryn crossed her arms and groaned.

“You guys are the worst.”