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Copyright © 2017 by B. D. Fresquez
All Rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of required fees you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this book. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known, hereinafter invented, without express written permission of BLVNP Inc. For more information contact BLVNP Inc. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content. This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. While reference might be made to actual historical events or existing locations, the names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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This book is a work of FICTION. It is fiction and not to be confused with reality. Neither the author nor the publisher or its associates assume any responsibility for any loss, injury, death or legal consequences resulting from acting on the contents in this book. The author’s opinions are not to be construed as the opinions of the publisher. The material in this book is for entertainment purposes ONLY. Enjoy.
Praise for Outcasts
This book is so amazing It definitely deserved to be published! I recommend it to everyone!
—Jasmine, Goodreads
This book is awesome. I will keep reading it without getting bored.
—Vaishnovi, Goodreads
I love this book so much, and I’m so happy it’s getting published.
—Sidra, Goodreads
Oh my God, best book ever. I read it 2 times; it was that good.
—Aria Sultani, Goodreads
Outcasts
By: B. D. Fresquez
ISBN: 978-1-68030-898-3
©B. D. Fresquez 2017
Table of Contents
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
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Epilogue
For my Aunt Ruby, who I know is watching over me and celebrating this achievement with me. You inspired me every day with your strength. I love you, Auntie.
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Chapter 1
There’s something oddly satisfying about sitting at my desk and seeing the same pencil-written letter K that’s scrawled in the upper right corner. There’s always a nice feeling of familiarity to it. When I sit at my desk again today, it’s not there. The desk seems to be wiped clean; the pencil marks and eraser shavings are nowhere in sight. This bothers me. I like familiarity, and now this desk doesn’t even seem like it’s mine anymore. Even though I didn’t write the K in the first place, I became accustomed to seeing it.
Familiarity always seems to get me through the long school days. It might bother other people to see the same thing and the same people over and over again, but it soothes me. Change is something I don’t like.
It’s like walking down the hallways of Fairfield High and seeing the same groups of people standing in the middle of the hallway like they don’t have a class to get to in the next three minutes. This is the familiarity of high school. Every day, I hear people talking about last weekend’s party, the homework they had to cram on Sunday night, and who’s hooking up with whom. I push past these people to make it to class on time. Grades are all that matters to me right now. I don’t play any sports, so I can’t depend on my athletic ability to get me into a decent college. I want to get the hell out of this town, and I have to work hard to do it.
Jesus, I am a nerd.
I waltz into my last class of the day, and I pray time will go by quickly. Exhaustion has taken over my body, and I just want to go home and lay on my bed. Thankfully, class goes by swiftly, and I’m soon gathering my things. My teacher, Mrs. Clarke, stops me on my way out and hands me a book she thinks I’ll like. I thank her and walk home. I’ve never bothered my mom for a car. My house is within walking distance from the school, and I never go anywhere outside of school, so what’s the point?
As I round a corner, I open the book Mrs. Clarke has given me. I start to read the first chapter. When I hear footsteps behind me, I don’t think anything of it. But the footsteps increase in speed and sound like they’re getting closer. Before I can turn around to investigate, I’m knocked to the ground, and my book falls out of my hands onto the side of the road.
“What the hell?” I say as I frantically stand up to dust myself off. My only injury is the scratch on my forearm. No blood seems to be gushing anywhere, so I whirl around to face the person who knocked me down.
Aiden Callaway, Fairfield High’s known troublemaker, is standing in front of me and looking around wildly. His eyes travel to the ground where my book is still laying. He hastily picks it up and shoves it in my chest. “Here,” he grumbles.
He runs into me and has the nerve to snap at me? I feel like giving him a piece of my mind, but I decide against the idea. He isn’t someone I want to be acquainted with in any shape or form. His whole demeanor screams trouble. Instead of yelling at him, I simply walk away without saying a word.
“What? No ‘thank you?’” I hear him ask me.
“Thank you,” I say without turning around. This ends up being a big mistake. I know when to pick my battles, but he clearly doesn’t.
My shoulder is yanked back, and I’m facing Aiden yet again. The irritation on his face is evident as he says, “You don’t have to be bitchy about it.” He glances around suspiciously before looking at me again.
I scoff. “I think I can. You’re the one who ran into me and never bothered to apologize or ask if I was okay.” The nerve of this guy!
“Stay out of my way next time.”
“Or next time you can run around me like a normal person would.”
“Like you would know anything about being normal.”
“Excuse you?” I say loudly. “You’re being rude, and just for that, you’re not a normal person either!”
He stares at me, and I’m immediately embarrassed by my lame comeback. He bursts into laughter, and I feel
my cheeks heat up even more. “Wow,” he chuckles. “You really aren’t normal.”
“There he is!” someone yells in the distance. I glance behind Aiden’s tall figure and see two guys running in our direction.
“Shit,” Aiden mutters when he sees them. He grabs my arm and starts to run, bringing me along with him.
I run with him until I realize what a stupid idea it is. I try to pull my arm away, but his grip tightens. “Let go!” I yell at him.
“Stop struggling and run!”
A car halts and the passenger side window rolls down, revealing a driver with sunglasses and a baseball cap. “C’mon, Aiden!”
Aiden jerks the door open to the backseat of the car and the panic rises in me. I try once again to tug my arm away from Aiden’s grip, but I can’t match his strength. He pushes me into the backseat and flings himself in next to me. The car takes off, and Aiden quickly shuts the door.
I sit up in the seat and start to breathe heavily. I glance around, thinking of ways I can escape. There is no way in hell I’m getting kidnapped today.
“Jesus, calm down,” Aiden says to me. He leans back in his seat, seemingly unbothered that he was just chased down by two crazy people.
The anger wells up inside me, and my fists connect with his arm repeatedly. “Do not tell me to calm down. I just met you, and you pulled me into a speeding car while being chased by two maniacs! This is practically kidnapping!”
My small hands do little to no damage; he doesn’t even flinch. He laughs instead then says, “Relax. Those guys are gone.”
“Why were they chasing you in the first place? Who were they?”
“Just some guys I owe money to.” He casually shrugs.
I look out the window and see that we’re going in the opposite direction of my house. I groan and slump into the seat.
Chapter 2
“I heard the weather is supposed to be weird for the next couple of days. It might rain one day and the next it might get up to eighty degrees.”
“Can we talk about something else, perhaps?” The guy driving groans. His sunglasses were off, giving me a better look at him. He drove as if Aiden and I weren’t just chased by two psychos. Well, chasing Aiden.
I cross my arms defensively before letting out a long sigh. It’s not my fault I tend to talk a lot when I’m bored. At first, it was strange being in here, but now it’s just boring. We’ve been driving around aimlessly, and it’s getting late.
“Just shut up and drive, Alex,” Aiden tells him. He then looks at me. “Seriously, why are you talking so much?”
“I talk a lot when I’m bored.” If I ever do get kidnapped, hopefully, I’ll talk their ear off to the point where they’ll get annoyed with me and they take me back home. “Besides, what else am I supposed to do? And where are we going anyway? I need to get home and feed my dog.”
“We aren’t going anywhere specific,” Aiden says as he looks out the window.
“I still don’t understand why you had to drag me along with you. That was your problem, not mine,” I say to him. “I’d like to go home now if you don’t mind.” I don’t say this out loud, but I have too much homework and I can’t waste time doing absolutely nothing.
Aiden leans forward in his seat. “Drive to your house. I’ll take her home after we drop you off.”
Not going to argue with that. I lean back in my seat and relax a little.
About ten minutes later, Aiden is in the driver’s seat and I’m sitting in the passenger’s. He asks for my address and I reluctantly tell him. He glances at me and smirks. “I live on the same street.”
I cross my arms. “Good for you. It’s a decent neighborhood.”
“Are you always like this, or did I catch you on a bad day?”
“I’m not always like this. When you’re dragged along with someone you just met while there are two guys chasing after you, wouldn’t your mood turn sour also?”
His gaze lowers to my chest, and I almost call him out until he turns his eyes back to the road and says, “Nice shirt, by the way.”
My Led Zeppelin t-shirt has proven to be very comfortable in this dire situation. “Thank you,” I tell him. “And my house is the second one, right there.”
He parks along the sidewalk and I quickly unbuckle my seat belt. “Well, it was just lovely meeting you, Aiden. I doubt we’ll ever talk again, so have a nice life.” I smile and nod at him before hustling out of the car. I rush into my house and I lock the door behind me.
Sassy, my Pomeranian, runs up to me and I pick her up immediately. “Let’s get you some food!” I say in an embarrassingly high-pitched voice.
After Sassy is fed, I run upstairs to my room to start on my homework. My mom is still at work and won’t get home until later, so I still have a couple of hours to myself. My dad left us when I was about three years old, so I don’t remember him too much. Mom never talks about him and I never bug her about it. We’ve done pretty well without him, so it doesn’t bother me too much.
The walls of my room are covered in band posters, abstract paintings, and some sketch drawings that were supposedly drawn by my great, great grandma. My favorite posters display bands such as Led Zeppelin, The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, and Nirvana. I plug my iPod into the dock on my nightstand, and my music softly plays throughout my room. A little background music usually helps me focus.
Today is different, though. My mind is still racing with flashbacks of what happened earlier with Aiden. I’m still not sure what possessed him to drag me along with him, but I’m so sure Aiden isn’t a person I want to encounter again.
***
When I wake up the next morning, I feel physically and mentally exhausted. My body is running on about four hours of sleep, so my morning starts off slower than usual.
Once I’m ready to leave, I make sure I have everything I need for the day. I drag myself outside the front door, locking it behind me. The air is cool, but it feels good against my tired skin. It’s like a natural wake-up call. I make my way down the driveway to the sidewalk where I head to my next destination: hell. Or in other words, school.
I enter the main building and I prepare myself for the day. As I weave my way between everyone, I realize Fairfield isn’t really the stereotypical high school you see in movies. Our football players aren’t cocky and arrogant, and our cheerleaders aren’t snobby. Our soccer players and our volleyball players are actually a bit more intimidating, but I can’t complain.
I guess we sort of have the typical “it girl.” Her name is Nicole Sanders. She’s not the cheer or dance captain, but she is Fairfield’s own student body president. I hear she can be a really sweet person, but get on her bad side and she can turn into a major bitch. Obviously, she has a boyfriend. First-string running back on the football team and overall nice guy, I guess: Ryan Dixon. It’s obvious why those two wound up together. Both of them are popular, attractive, and are seemingly Ivy League-bound. Every girl in school drools over Ryan and his bright smile and blue eyes. Every guy wishes Nicole would give them the time of day.
When lunch finally rolls around, I figure a stop at my locker is much needed to switch my textbooks. Once they’re nicely shoved into my locker, I shut it and start to walk in the direction of the library. I hear a crashing noise that makes me jump in surprise. I glance around to see where the noise came from, but everything seems intact. I continue to walk down the hall, but it’s not long before I hear the noise again.
This time I round a corner to the next hallway, but I stop dead in my tracks when I see Aiden and another guy, who is currently on the floor in front of Aiden. The guy on the floor has a bloody nose. He stands up swiftly and leans against the lockers next to him. A black eye is forming on his face already along with a busted lip. My gaze shifts to Aiden and notice that his clothes are disheveled and he has a busted lip also. He doesn’t look as bad as the other guy though.
Aiden delivers a deadly glare to the guy until he finally speaks, “Get the hell outta here.”
The guy pushes himself off the locker and heads in my direction. I hide behind the corner as Aiden’s human punching bag disappears down another hallway. I lean against the wall and release a breath I’d been holding.
“How much did you see?”
I jump when I hear Aiden’s voice. I look to my left where he’s now standing. I’m at a loss for words. Nothing comes to mind as my excuses get jumbled. I didn’t even hear him walk over here.
I blink and clear my throat. “I didn’t—I mean, I just got here,” I stammer. I want to kick myself for coming up with such a lame excuse.
“You aren’t going to tell on me, are you?” He steps closer to me. His tone is challenging yet mocking.
I shake my head, not trusting my voice.
He walks around me without a word and I sigh in relief. He’s now starting to live up to the reputation everyone else has placed on him. I don’t think I want to know what he does in his spare time to keep that rep up. Once my body recovers from the shock, I quickly walk towards my sanctuary: the library.
Chapter 3
Seeing my mom’s car in the driveway surprises me as I approach my house. When I walk into the house, I hear noise coming from the kitchen. My mom is snacking on some crackers when I peek into the kitchen. She shoots me a smile.
“Hey, sweetie. How was school?” She holds the box of crackers out to me.
I shake my head, denying the crackers. “School was school.” I shrug. “What are you doing home early?” Being a nurse, my mom always works weird hours. I wasn’t expecting to see her until tomorrow morning.
“I decided to take the rest of today and tomorrow off from work. Exhaustion has taken over and I felt like a mini vacation was in store.” She smiles. “Plus, we haven’t had any mother-daughter time in a while.”
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