by Seven Steps
Seven Steps
Copyright ©2019 by Seven Steps
All rights reserved by the author.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locals, or persons, living or dead, is wholly coincidental.
No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, recording, by information storage and retrieval or photocopied, without permission in writing from Seven Steps.
Edited by Angela Campbell, C. Marie, and Emily Lawrence
Proofread by Genevieve Scholl
Cover Photo provided by Shuttershock
Proudly Published in the United States of America
Created with Vellum
Contents
Also By
Foreword
Til There Was You
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Stealing Hearts
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
The Golden Boy
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Rebels, Love Letters, and the Secret Crush
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Also By
Afterword
Also By
St. Mary’s Academy Series (Clean YA Romance)
The Boyfriend Agreement (Book I)
Chasing Mermaids (Book 2)
The Golden Boy (Book 3)
Stealing Hearts (Book 4)
The Secret Lives of Princesses (Book 5)
The Trouble With Kissing Frogs (Book 6)
Rebels, Love Letters, and the Secret Crush (Book 7)
Clean New Adult Romance
The Last Rock King
Clean Adult Contemporary Romance
Peace in the Storm
Clean Historical Western Romance
Adam’s Bride
A Touch of Grace
Clean Sci-Fi Romance
Venus Rising
The Escape
Fire In The Sky
Foreword
Thank you for reading the St. Mary’s Academy Box Set. Please enjoy, and don’t forget to leave a review on Amazon.
Happy Reading!
—Seven Steps
Til There Was You
1
I, Poppy Pritchett, was in big trouble.
My parent’s dog - a spoiled, cantankerous, purebred, snow white Pomeranian named Janice - was gone.
Poof.
Disappeared.
And when my parents found out, they were going to go nuclear.
Panic consumed me as I stood outside of my apartment building. It was a late Spring day. Sweat dripped down my neck as I pressed my pink bedazzled cell phone to my ear.
Where was Mya? I needed her. This was a best friend emergency!
Mind racing, heart pounding, I paced the concrete sidewalk, walking in nearly perfect circles in front of the potted plants. My world was on the verge of collapse, and yet, not one of the passersby even blinked at me. Not that that was odd. No one looked at anyone here. I could have painted my face purple and worn the bottom half of a gorilla suit and no one would have noticed. This was New York, after all.
I cursed the ringing phone and bit my already nubby fingernails.
Where was Mya?
My calm was quickly slipping away.
The line rang four more times before Mya’s sleepy voice answered it.
“Hello?”
I could hardly get the words out fast enough. “Janice is gone!”
Mya groaned in confusion as if I’d suddenly begun speaking Mandarin. “Wha? Janice who?”
“My parent's dog!”
“The snowball?”
“Yes, the snowball. She’s gone!”
After a year of begging, pleading, and perfect behavior – well, perfect for me – my parents, Tom and Sarah Pritchett, had finally agreed to buy me my very first car, with certain stipulations of course. First, I had to stay out of trouble for the rest of the school year, something I’d done to the very best of my ability. I hadn’t gotten into any arguments with my fellow students – well, not that my parents knew about – or played any pranks on my teachers – well, not the teachers that were most prone to tattle – and I most certainly didn’t get into any fights with Christina Lopez – though I had dreamed of it every time Christina rolled her eyes in my direction. I’d ensured that my grades were up, and my behavior was the best it could possibly be.
When they told me that my new car hinged on me taking care of Janice for the weekend I nearly leapt for joy. And now, not even eight hours later, Janice was gone. She’d run off when I was holding the lobby door for Ms. Hardwick. And she’d taken my parent’s trust and my dreams of a new car with her.
“Where’d she go?” Mya asked, her voice getting clearer as the sleep ebbed from it.
It shouldn’t have surprised me that, at two in the afternoon, Mya was still sleeping in. My best friend viewed sleep like a competitive sport. Daily naps during the school year were her training. Spring Break was her Olympics. The girl could be counted on to sleep up to twelve hours a day if allowed to.
I tried to hold my hysteria at bay. “She ran into Central Park!”
“The big green, huh. That sucks. You hate that place.”
She was right. Some people are afraid of spiders or crossing bridges. I was afraid of going into Central Park. When I was six, I watched a Law and Order episode where a serial killer lived in a tent hidden somewhere in the Park. It’d scarred me for life.
“Mya, listen to me very closely. When my parents find out that Janice is gone, they’re going to kill me.”
There was a pause as Mya began to assimilate the information.
“Janice is gone?” Mya said slowly, drawing out each syllable as if it were a glob of silly putty. “Wow, you’ll never get your car now.”
“Mya!”
Mya groaned. “I’ll be over in a sec.” I heard the rustling of sheets as Mya rose from her no doubt darkened room. “Did you call Caleb?”
“I’m calling him right now.”
I mashed the end button then called Caleb Conners. Best friend number two.
He picked up on the first ring.
Thank God for Caleb.
“Aloha.”
Caleb was not Hawaiian, but he did say aloha and wear Hawaiian shirts a lot. This
not only dropped our popularity ranking, it also single handedly made Caleb a prime target for every bully in school.
“Caleb, I need your help.”
Worry laced Caleb’s words. “What’s wrong?” That was Caleb. A worrier.
“Janice ran away,” I said.
“Did you see where she went?”
“Central Park.”
“Oh no. You hate that place. It’s like your Forest of No Return. Your Pit of Despair. Your-”
“Caleb!”
“Sorry. I’ll be there in a second.”
The line went dead. I imagined him pulling on a Hawaiian shirt, jeans and sneakers.
My two friends were coming. We’d find Janice and my life would be pulled back from the brink of destruction.
Feeling a little bit better, I surveyed my surroundings while I waited.
Tourist in spring jackets walked lazily along the perimeter of the park, some looking at maps while others took in the New York City air, pungent with the smells of boiling hot dogs, car exhaust, and the acrid steam from the subway. A horse whinnied and shifted on its hooves, moving the carriage behind it forward and back while his owner, a man in a black top hat and a cheap nineteen twenties style suit, fed him carrots from a canvas bag.
No white balls of fur appeared between the zooming taxi’s, or among the thick trees and flowering bushes.
I bit my lip and stared at the Central Park sign over one of the Park entrances.
Visions of dead women and a scary, scarred man resurfaced in my mind. Blood, knives and death. Not many people remembered what life was like when they were six years old. I remember seeing my first murder. Three of them in fact. Yes, they were televised but it still scared me.
I bit my thumbnail as my gut twisted. Why did Janice have to go in there? Why did she pick the most horrific place on the planet to get lost in.
I was in full freak out mode by the time I spotted a tall, gangly teenage boy with light brown hair, a Hawaiian shirt, jeans, and sneakers walking out of my building.
The tension in my shoulders eased.
Caleb.
His hands were stuffed in his pocket and he wore a wide smile that showed no teeth.
“So, where’s the fluff monster?” He asked.
I pointed across the street to the park. “There.”
“Did you try looking for her?”
“You know I didn’t.” A shiver wrecked through me and I crossed my arms.
“Come on Pop,” Caleb said. “It’s not so scary. They do Shakespeare and everything in there. There’s even a zoo.”
“Yes, and they also rob and kill people, and chop them up into little pieces. Then, they make a Law and Order episode about it.”
Caleb shook his head, his hair flopping around his ears as if he were a long-missing member of the Beatles. “You have to stop staying up at night watching TV with your dad.”
I shrugged. “It’s what we do.”
My father Tom was a successful mystery author, and, as such, he and I stayed up late at night watching cop shows while my mom, Sarah, snored loudly in the bedroom. Law and Order was our favorite, followed by Criminal Minds. I was ninety percent sure I’d seen every episode of those shows, which explained my obsession with being chopped up into little pieces.
“Did you find the dog yet?”
Mya Randolph walked up to us, stretching and yawning as if it were three in the morning and not two in the afternoon. She looked more like a punk rock movie star than a sixteen-year-old. Her blond hair was pulled up into a messy bun, she wore bubblegum pink sunglasses, a long sleeve ripped jean jacket over a black fitted top, ripped blue jeans and combat boots. Her lip gloss was the same shade of pink as her sunglasses, making her pale skin stand out.
“Not yet,” Caleb said. “Poppy’s still afraid to go into Central Park.”
Mya threw an arm around my shoulder. The material of her jacket was rough against the back of my neck.
“What do you want to do, Pop?” Mya asked. “Brave the Big Green, or tell your parents the dog’s lost?”
“I can’t tell my parents,” I said quickly. “If I do I’ll never get my car.”
“Well?” Mya asked.
I frowned at the park, willing Janice to come out. When she didn’t, I knew there was only one thing left to do.
I swallowed, and rubbed my shaking hands together.
“I don’t want to go in there alone,” I said, my voice barely a whisper.
“You won’t be alone,” Mya said. “And I promise we won’t let anyone chop you up into little pieces.”
I threw my arms around Mya and hugged her tight. She may not have been the brightest bulb in the hardware store but she was my bulb. We’d been best friends since kindergarten when, upon being placed at the same table by Mrs. Harvey, we’d both carefully opened and drank our milk boxes without touching an ounce of our food. When we saw each other’s milk mustaches we knew we could never be apart again.
Caleb flexed his nonexistent muscles.
“If anyone messes with us, they’ll be sorry.”
A small laugh bubbled in my throat.
Caleb had made me and Mya’s duo into a trio in the third grade when his father finally retired from the army and settled in the Central Park South neighborhood of New York City. He was smart, funny, and offered a unique view into the male psyche that Mya and I tapped into from time to time.
I looked at Mya, then Caleb, my two best friends in the entire world. With these two by my side, what bad could happen?
A flash of white dashed between the trees.
“There she is!”Caleb cried, sprinting forward. He ran across the busy three lane street, oblivious of the cars that came barreling toward him.
My heart banged fearfully in my chest.
“Caleb, wait!”
I dashed after him, my feet eating up the pavement. My heart was racing.
Please don’t hit Caleb, I silently begged the cars.
As if by some otherworldly force, the taxis actually swerved out of the way without running him down.
Thank the car gods.
The three of us crossed three lanes of traffic and ran to the park.
I stopped at the entrance, my eyes darting between the overhead sign an the trees beyond.
What waited in this park for me? Something dark and sinister?
My breath came in hard pants. My heart was racing. My vision blurred.
I took a step back.
I couldn’t go in there. What if something happened? What if I got hurt?
Fear
froze me in place.
I couldn’t go in there. But, if I didn’t, I’d never get my car or see Janice again. I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t let fear hold me back from getting the things I waned, no matter how strong that fear was.
I swallowed, and squared my shoulders. Then, took a single step forward. And another. And another.
My entire future hung on the collar of a white Pomeranian with a penchant for fashion. I couldn’t just let her get away.
I had to chase after her.
Even though I was completely terrified.
I steeled my nerves, took a deep breath, and stepped into the Park.
2
I hadn’t died, so that was a plus.
I tried not to think about where I was or the things I’d seen on television as we combed Central Park, looking for Janice.
After nearly fifteen minutes of searching through trees, bushes and paths, my friends and I found no sign of the white Pomeranian.
The trail had gone cold.
Where was she?
I parted a blue flowering bush and peered behind it. At first, I was more afraid that my parents would find out Janice was gone. Now I was worried about the poor dog's safety. Janice was never left unattended, let alone allowed to wander through the park.
Had some kid scooped Janice up and taken her home? Had she gotten trampled by a horse-drawn carriage? Or maybe she’d been made into a hot dog, and
right at this very second someone was covering her with mustard, onions, and relish? That would be the worst thing imaginable.
Janice hated onions.
“Maybe she went back home,” Caleb finally offered.
“Or maybe she’s somewhere else entirely,” Mya said. “She could be in New Jersey by now.”
The wind picked up, and my chocolate hair blew around my face. I smoothed it back with one hand and tied it into a messy knot that I was sure would fall to pieces within the next ten minutes.
Just like my life.
Falling to pieces.
“She has to be here,” I said. “I saw her. We all saw her.”
“We should ask someone,” Caleb replied.
A dreamy smile stretched across Mya’s pink lips. It could only mean one thing. Mya had spotted a cute boy. She pointed to somewhere in the distance. “Why not him?”
I followed Mya’s perfectly manicured finger, and my gaze came to rest on a boy about my age standing behind a long white table full of cheap looking purses.
Joshua Summers.