My Wish for You

This is a work of fiction. Names,
characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or
are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to
actual events, locations, organizations, or person, living or dead, is entirely
coincidental.

WCP

World
Castle Publishing

Pensacola,
Florida

Copyright © Destiny Webb 2013

ISBN: 9781938961854

First Edition World Castle
Publishing March 1, 2013

http://www.worldcastlepublishing.com

Notes

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Cover: Karen Fuller

Photos: Shutterstock

Editor: Maxine Bringenberg

Dedication

To
my wonderful Mom, Judy

Without her never-ending love
and support,

this journey would have been
impossible.

Chapter One

“Ladies and
gentlemen, it is my honor and privilege to present to you the graduating class
of two thousand twelve!”

The crowd in
front of us cheered and screamed as my classmates and I threw our graduation
caps up toward the sky. I glanced back at Brian, my twin brother who was a few
rows behind me, and smiled, sharing the moment with him. Diploma in hand, I
started to head in his direction when my principal stopped me.

“Miss Armstrong.
I just wanted to congratulate you for your achievements. Your academic
excellence has been greatly appreciated here.”

“Thank you Mr.
Short.”

“I hear you
intend to attend the University of Pacific.”

“I do.”

“Well
congratulations.”

“Thank you. If
you would just excuse me, I need to go find my family.”

“Oh, of course.
Congratulations again, and good luck at college.”

I thanked him
again and made my way through the crowd.

“Well, look who
it is, Miss Smarty Pants, sitting all the way up front,” Brian said, coming up
behind me.

“Oh hush,” I
told him, trying to ignore my academic achievements.

“Your speech was
really good,” he praised me.

“You sound
surprised.”

“I’m always
surprised when you’re smarter than I am,” he joked, wrapping his arm around my
shoulder. We made our way to find our stepsister Sarah before going to look for
our parents. Of course, even in the throng of people, we didn’t make it far
before I was tackled by my best friend, Cara.

“Ohmigod! I can’t
believe it’s all over! Can you?!”

Cara was very
exuberant. She had been my best friend since the second grade, when she
transferred in and everyone was put off by her eccentricities. I befriended her
and we became inseparable. We’d practically grown up together.

“Are you guys
going to the party tonight?” she asked us.

“Yeah, we are.
Sarah’s coming along too,” I answered.

“Okay cool!” She
gave us both another hug. “I’ll see you guys later!”

Thankfully, we
made our way through the rest of the crowd with nothing more than a few people
saying hi, or congrats, or asking if we would be at the party. Sarah found us
before we found her, and we made our way over to our parents and my oldest
brother, Mitch.

“Oh, my babies
are all grown up!” my mom exclaimed, close to tears. “I’m so proud of you!”

“Thanks Mom,” we
all said, almost in unison.

“I’m surprised
my kid siblings made it through high school alive,” Mitch mocked us, hitting
Brian and me in the shoulders playfully. Mitch went to college out of town; he’d
made a trip home specifically for this occasion.

“Mitch, be nice,”
my mom scolded him. “They were great. And honey, your speech was just beautiful.”

“Thanks Mom.”

My mom turned
away from us to hug and congratulate Sarah. Charles, my stepfather, looked up
from his phone to us.

“Congratulations,”
he said dully. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at him. Charles married my
mother when Brian and I were five, but he was never much of a father figure to
us, and lately, he was more concerned with his “work” than he was with anything
related to his family.

“Thanks Dad,” we
both replied apathetically.

“Okay! Picture
time!” my mom called out enthusiastically. We all groaned at her and she hushed
us.

“I have to take
this phone call.” Charles excused himself, lifting the phone to his ear and
walking away. Annoyance crossed my mom’s face for a fraction of a second before
she turned back to us.

“Mitch, take a
picture of me with the graduates, please.” She handed him the camera and we
smiled, waiting for the flash.

***

We survived the
ridiculous amount of picture taking and the dinner with our parents. Two hours
later, we were sitting in Cara’s driveway waiting for her to come out.

“Honk again,” I
told Sarah. After we honked three times, Cara came stumbling out of the house.
Pausing at the top of the driveway, she waved at us and Sarah pressed down on
the horn again until Cara got into the car.

“That was unnecessary,”
she scolded, buckling her seatbelt.

“You taking
forever was unnecessary,” Sarah retorted, pulling out of the driveway and
making her way towards the house party.

When we pulled
up, it was obvious that the party was just beginning. There weren’t very many
cars and the music was barely audible from outside.

“There are more
people showing up, aren’t there?” I asked Cara.

“Yeah, of
course. It’s supposed to be, like, the party of the summer.”

“I hope so.”

We headed inside
and discovered it was more crowded than we’d thought. The only sounds that
could be heard were the chattering voices, a little too loud from the shots of
vodka and cans of beer. People were everywhere. Many were drinking, but a lot
were standing near the walls, just looking awkward. Neither of those was my
goal for the night though. I just wanted to have fun.

We headed into
the kitchen. Once we had our drinks in hand, we scoped out the scene. As I was
looking around, I noticed that a lot of the party-goers were not two thousand
twelve graduates. A
lot
of people were crashing this party.

“Cara, do you
realize that there are sophomores at this party?”

“Really? Like
who?”

“Like that one
girl, the one who’s been all over Blake since football season. Rebecca
something.”

“Rebecca Myers?”

“Yeah. And that
must mean that Blake is somewhere around here too. Watch out for that mess.”

Blake was an ex
of mine. He was a mistake that I chose not to think about. Ever.

“Speaking of
party crashers, look who just walked through the door.”

Hearing the tone
of disbelief in her voice, I glanced up in the direction Cara indicated and
dropped my drink in shock.

“PARTY FOUL!”
someone screamed from behind me. Cara looked down at the drink, then back up at
me before remarking on the situation.

“Thank God those
are tile floors.”

***

Sean Williams
was the first person I ever liked, and in all honesty, the only person I had
ever
really
liked. We had been childhood sweethearts. The summer before
he went to high school, we were inseparable. During a torturous game of Truth
or Dare, the beans got spilled that we both liked each other, and my brother
sadistically dared us to kiss each other.

Once Sean went
to high school though, everything changed. It was like I hadn’t even existed. I
hadn’t held a real conversation with him since I was a freshman, and hadn’t
even seen him in almost a year. After he graduated, he went out of state to the
University of Pacific. Never in a million years had I thought that
he,
of
all people, would be crashing this party.

I stared at him
standing in the doorway smiling at someone until he caught me. I looked away
quickly and tugged on Cara’s arm.

“Cara come on,
let’s go dance.”

“But no one’s
dancing.”

As I walked over
to the stereo system, everyone watched me like I was crazy. The music was turned
down way too low though, so I ignored them and acted like I owned the place.
After I turned up the stereo so it was blaring, I turned to Cara.

“They will be
now.”

We went into the
middle of the living room and started dancing. Everyone stared for a minute and
then slowly, people started joining us. After that, the party was really in
full swing. People were dancing, playing beer pong, and some were fooling
around in corners and secluded areas. Cara and I were headed back toward the
kitchen to get another drink when everything went quiet.

“Everyone remain
calm! This party is over.”

Someone had
called the cops. I swore and headed quickly towards the door, tugging Cara
behind me. We were almost out of the house when a cop stopped us.

“You two…stop
where you’re going.”

Cara and I
stopped in our tracks. I looked back at Cara, who was still holding her drink
in her hands. I glared at her, then down at the cup. Following my gaze, she
realized her mistake.

“What’s the
problem, officer?”

I watched in
shock as Sean walked up to the officer.

“Sean? Sean
Williams?”

“James? No way.
When did you become a cop?”

“About a year
ago.”

“You liking it?”

“Yeah, I guess.
They put me on a lot of these menial busts.”

“Man, that must
suck.”

“It does,” he
agreed. “How’s college life?”

“Really good. I’m
enjoying the change of pace.”

“That’s good.
Are these friends of yours?”

“They are. Is
there any way you think you can…?”

“Of course,
although technically you shouldn’t be here either,” James laughed, turning to
address us. “You girls understand that I am letting you off with a warning, and
if you repeat the crime, I will be forced to take action?”

“Yes sir,” Cara
and I said in unison.

“Good; you guys
can get on home then. It was good seeing you, Sean.”

“You too, James.
Tell your brother I said hi.”

And with that,
we made our departure. I was still staring at Sean in shock.

“Thank you,” I
said gratefully.

“You’re welcome.
I was friends with his brother; he owed me a favor,” he said, answering my
unspoken question. “You guys have a ride?”

“Yeah. Sarah’s
driving,” I answered. I nodded towards where Sarah was standing talking to a
few friends.

“Alright. I’ll
see you around then.”

And with that,
he retreated in the opposite direction. I glanced up at Cara, coming to an
undeniable conclusion.

“Well, this is
going to be an interesting summer.”

Chapter Two

“Samantha Renee
Armstrong! If I have to call your name one more time, you’ll be grounded so
long, it’ll make your head spin!”

“I’m coming,” I
screamed down the hallway.

I walked out of
my room and made my way down the hall. When I saw him, I stopped dead in my
tracks. Sean was sitting in my brother’s room with Brian and Mitch. Why that
took me by such surprise was beyond me…he and Brian were best friends. I still
couldn’t believe that he had just come in and saved the day the previous night.

Sean was
undoubtedly gorgeous, with shaggy, light brown hair and deep hazel eyes, and
was taller than Brian’s six feet one inch. He looked troubled about something.

“Sam, Charles’s
calling you,” Mitch said, interrupting my thoughts.

“I know. Do you
know what he wants?” I paused and turned to Sean. “Hey Sean.”

“Nope, not a
clue,” he lied as Sean nodded at me. Mitch was such a terrible liar.

“I guess I
should go find out,” I sighed.

Thinking about
Sean, I jogged down the stairs and saw Charles and Mr. W sitting on the couch,
laughing.

“Hello,
Samantha,” Mr. W greeted me.

“Hi, Mr. W. How
are you?”

“I’m fine Sam.
How about yourself?”

“I’m good. What’s
going on?” I asked, turning to Charles.

“We’re going to
be staying at the cabin for the next few weeks; Mr. W and his family are going
to be joining us as well.”

“Okay. What does
that have to do with me?”

“You’re going
too, Sam.”