Riley's Redemption (A Moon's Glow Novel) (33 page)

“Oh
my God, Sarah. I forgot to tell you.” Her green eyes were alight with
excitement. “Guess who I saw this weekend when I was shopping in Langton with
my mom.”

I
stared at her, my mind blank. I had no idea who it could be. “The president?”

She
chuckled, waving her sandwich at me. “No, dummy. Stephanie.”

Just
the sound of her name gave me the chills. “Lucky you.” I grinned, thinking
about the last time I saw her at the beach. My brown hair was still short after
my unwanted cut, but styled in a cute spiky bob. My friends and I were enjoying
a day of sun. Her mouth popped open in shock when she noticed me. Derrick, who
knew about what had happened, draped his arm around me and whispered in my ear
as though we were a couple. Of course we weren’t—he was my best friend—but she
didn’t have to know that. A few of his buddies were also there, dressed only in
swimsuits, showing off their tanned muscular bodies.

To
her, it looked like I was surrounded by three hunky guys all vying for my
attention. So I wasn’t surprised that she stared at me coldly, shooting daggers
in my direction. I just smiled and waved at her, making her so angry, she
stomped off the beach with her puppets following her.

“Who’s
Stephanie?” Derrick asked, but before I answered, his eyes widened. “Isn’t she
that witch who cut your hair?”

Since
he caught me with my mouth full, I just nodded.

“You
really need to get back at her.” He shook his head, staring down at his soda
can.

I
swallowed. “Why, she’s a spoiled rich snob. I don’t care what she thinks.” I
took a sip of my drink. “Besides, wouldn’t that be stooping to her level?”

“Who
cares, she deserves it,” he shot back at me. Emma and I exchanged glances as he
creased his brows in thought. “You know what you should do?”

I
chuckled, never having seen this side of him before. “What?” I asked.

“Dye
her hair green or her skin blue. Hell, a little hair removal in her shampoo
bottle would do her some good.”

Who
knew he could be so vindictive and utterly girlish? All that was missing from
his suggestions was hair pulling. I raised an eyebrow instead of answering. He
shrugged. “So I watch too many cheesy chick flicks, it’s your fault.”

Emma
laughed at him then turned to me. “So Sarah, what are you going to do about
Lucas’ book?”

Derrick
glanced at her and answered for me. “What’s the big deal, just go up and tell
him that you have it. He’s sitting right over there.” He gestured with his
hand. I looked over to where he pointed. Lucas was sitting with Andy and Kyle
two tables away. I hoped he hadn’t heard us talking about him.

Emma
was glaring at Derrick like he’d lost his mind. “She can’t just go over there,
he won’t talk to her.”

“What’s
the big deal?” he asked again, shrugging his shoulders.

“You
are such a guy.” She tossed the crust from her bread down on the table. Emma
was the only seventeen-year-old I knew who still didn’t eat the crust on her
sandwich.

I
decided to interrupt them. “Oh my God, it’s not a big deal, I’m going.” They
could bicker back and forth for hours if I let them. I just wished they’d
finally kiss and get it over with.

I
stood up and headed over to where Lucas and his friends were sitting. I could
feel Emma and Derrick’s gazes on my back.

As I
approached their table, Kyle and Andy smiled and nodded to me. Andy asked if I
was finished with my homework for our chemistry class and I said yes. While we
were talking, Lucas never looked up from the paperback he was reading. “Lucas?”
I couldn’t keep the slight tremble out of my voice. Nothing; he still didn’t
look up. “Lucas!” I said a little louder.

Andy
and Kyle just shrugged. “Dude!” Andy smacked Lucas’ shoulder.

He
finally glanced up at me, his glasses falling forward a bit. He pushed them
back then glared at me with his deep hazel eyes. He was quite good-looking when
you were close enough to notice. He was tanned and his long brown hair suited
him, giving him a rugged look. He had a strong jaw and a sprinkle of freckles
along the bridge of his nose.

“What?”
he said, interrupting my thoughts.

I was
a little flustered at his annoyed expression. “Um…I don’t know if you know me?
My name is Sarah”

“I
know who you are,” he interrupted.

“Well,
you dropped your book when I bumped into you this morning. I didn’t bring it
with me, but if you want to meet me at my locker, I can give it to you.”

He
looked at me like I was speaking a different language. “Why don’t you just
bring it with you to history next period and give it to me there.”

I was
shocked. “You’re in my history class?”

Now
he looked even more annoyed. “I sit behind you in the back corner and you
probably didn’t notice me because you’re always talking to Emma.”

I
felt a twinge of guilt, but it was quickly replaced by irritation. Why would it
matter to him if I always talked to Emma? To my knowledge, he didn’t even know
I existed before today. “Fine, I’ll do that.” My voice was cold, but I didn’t
care.

I
nodded to the other guys and walked back to our table. “You were right. I shouldn’t
have gone over there. He’s weird.” I told them what happened.

As I
knew she would, Emma gloated with an “I told you so.”

Acknowledgements

Again, I have many
people that helped with this new novel. First, I would like to thank all of my
family for all the support and allowing me to run my ideas by them.

I’d like to thank my
cousin Tracy, My mother and Mother-in-law for pre-editing this book.

Thanks to Christina
Hickey for her medical input and making my own attempts more believable.

To Ashley Stoyanoff,
author of
The Souls Mark: Found
, for taking time from her busy schedule
to give me her opinion on the first chapter.

To my very first Beta
reader Jonel Boyko, her advice and opinions were very helpful.

Again, to my husband
Brad and children, Josh and Megan. Thank you for being patient with me while I
was locked up in my room writing. I love you all.

And to Stephanie
Mooney for creating such a great cover and Heather Sowalla for doing the final
edit.

And to all my readers
who waited patiently to find out how the series ends. I hope you all like it.

About the Author

Christina Smith grew
up in Kingston Ontario, Canada and after getting married, moved to a small
rural town in the country. She lives there with her husband, Brad, two kids, Josh
and Megan and their dog, Bailey. Even though the house is peaceful, surrounded
by nature and the occasional deer, she’s still a city girl at heart. She misses
civilization and visits with her mother and two sisters.

She spends a lot of
free time writing and has numerous ideas for future novels for both young adult
and adult fiction.

Catch up with Christina for more information about her books on:

Twitter @CSmithbooks

Facebook-
https://www.facebook.com/christina.smith.7161953
or Christina Smith-Author

Christina’s website: www.christinasmithbooks.com