Reach Me
Authors: J. L. Mac,Erin Roth
Reach Me
Copyright © 2014 J.L. Mac Books
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written permission of the author.
Cover design by:
Robin Harper-Wicked By Design
Edited by:
Erin Roth-Wise Owl Editing
Formatted by:
Angela McLaurin-Fictional Formats
Images copyright
Used under license from Shutterstock-www.shutterstock.com
Thank you so much for reading
Reach Me
. This story is a companion novella that can be read as a standalone but is recommended after reading
Wreck Me, Restore Me
and
Accept Me. Reach Me
unfolds over two separate volumes that are approximately 20,000 words each. Thank you again for reading and enjoy.
For all my Wrecked series readers. Thank you all for loving my characters as much as I do.
Journal,
Today was officially the worst day of my life. Worst!
I learned a big lesson today. I learned that a lot can happen in thirty lousy seconds. A half a minute. Apparently that’s about how long it takes for some jerk to destroy a girl’s self esteem. I mean, it took a crapload of courage for me to finally talk to him at all. And what did he do? He made me feel like a freakin’ joke.
I’ve had a crush on Jonathan Greene for this whole stupid school year! It’s practically the end of sixth grade and it seems like I’m the only girl without a date to the spring dance. It’s my first dance and I should be excited but I’m not. There is just so much pressure surrounding this whole dance. I’m not sure how to act or what to say or what dress to pick or even how to pick a dress. I’m not thrilled about going but not going just isn’t an option. If Sarah Copeland finds out that I don’t have a date, she’ll tell Katy that it’s because none of the boys wanted to ask me. Katy will tell Shauna because Shauna is new and listens to everything Katy says like she’s her mom or something. Then Shauna will blab it to the rest of Harrison Middle School just to strike up conversation with anyone who will listen. Skipping out of the whole thing would suck but not going would definitely suck more.
I waited until Jonathan was done with his lunch tray before I walked over. Thinking about it makes me cringe all over again.
“Ahem. Jonathan?” Why the heck was I doing this to myself? I thought my heart would explode any second.
Jonathan was standing by the trashcan looking so cute in his Timberland boots and Tommy Hilfiger jeans, his blue and white plaid shirt hanging open to show his white undershirt. He turned to face me completely and I could feel the eyes of the entire sixth grade on me. Oh God! What am I doing here?
“Lindsay? What’s up?” he said all coolly, which was no surprise. He glanced around us and I did the same only to confirm what I already knew.
Everyone was staring.
Shoot! Say something, Linds!
“Ah, well, it’s just that you know… the d-dance is coming… and I was just um, you know, wondering if you maybe needed a d-date?” I stuttered out as I shifted from one stupid foot to the other.
“Oh.” He looked over at the lunch table that all of his rotten friends sat at and I could see a couple of the boys snicker and shake their heads. This had bad, bad, bad written all over it. “Nah, no thank you.” He smiled his easy smile and walked out of the lunchroom just in time for the bell to ring. My classmates laughed and murmured their comments as they filed out of the cafeteria, tossing their plastic trays in the big trash cans as they went. I was frozen in place. The laughs and finger-pointing comments swirled around me like that scene in Snow White where the trees seem to be attacking her in the dark forest and she has to run and fight and struggle to get away. The difference between me and Snow White is she’s a PRINCESS who did what she had to do to get away from the bad guys. I just stood in place like the idiot I am.
My gut turned queasily and I wanted to fake being sick so the nurse would just send me home. “Nah, no thank you?” What was that? I offered to go with him to the dance. It wasn’t like I offered him the garbage off of my tray!
I should’ve listened to Dad. He told me at the beginning of this school year that all boys are punks and to stay the heck away from them. He’s right. Guys are nothing but trouble. If I lose my mind and try talking to a boy again, remind me to save myself the trouble and go ahead and check into the nuthouse before the middle school career-ending embarrassment happens again, okay?
Thanks,
Lindsay
There’s this state of being called “happiness” and as far as I can tell, it’s an illusion. Somewhere deep inside, I guess I associate happiness with magic. There’s sleight of the hand and optical illusion, but when it comes right down to it, magic is all about appearance. And so is happiness. Happiness is most definitely an illusion—you think you’re happy, that you’re doing well… at least from the outside. But on the inside, where it really counts, it’s all sleight of hand; you’re just showing your audience what they want to see, which is that you
appear
happy. Ergo, happiness=magic. Simple.
And let’s face the facts on that notion, shall we? I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there’s no such thing as magic. It just doesn’t exist. Saying something is magic is just a nice way of admitting you got played. Tricked. Duped. Scammed. Conned. And every time you put on that “happy” façade, you’re just playing yourself.
I know this firsthand. I’m no stranger to being conned and everyone in this town knows it. Or at least that’s how it feels. Bottom line: if magic doesn’t exist, happiness doesn’t exist either. For me, anyway. I might as well add luck to the list too; I know my maker skipped over me the day he was giving that out.
I have exactly four things going for me. No more. No less. My son, Trey, my dad, and my over-opinionated gay younger brother, Brian. Oh, and, uh, this other…
thing
. A long-standing friendship with a person I can never have but could quite possibly be utterly and irrevocably in love with. We have this
thing
and it’s crazy but we keep coming back to each other. Day after day.
So maybe 3.5 things. I’m not sure this
thing
qualifies, since I don’t really know whether it’s coming or going.
The thing about having a
thing
is there’s always some other
thing
that comes along to muddle it all up. I have these four things and I’m trying damn hard to keep them all headed in the right direction, but it seems that Central Issue forgot to dole out my battle gear at the start of this fight called life. I’m pretty much a mess.