Everly (Everly Series Book 1)

by Meg Bonney

  Ignoring the pain in my left elbow, I propped myself up as Mr. Hillman crouched down next to me. “Oh, kid. I am so sorry. Everything happened so fast. We’ll get that elbow looked at, too.”

  I nodded. People were still crowding around, even though they had been told to disperse.

  “Just don’t move, okay? There’s glass everywhere. That lunatic came out of nowhere. Good thing, though, I suppose. You’re okay, right?” Mr. Hillman spoke fast and his eyes were wide and frantic.

  “I’m okay.” A few teachers ran over to clear the students out. The new history teacher stopped and bent over me. Her brown hair fell forward as she leaned down.

  “What’s your name, dear?” she asked sweetly.

  “Rosewood. Madison Rosewood.”

  “Don’t worry, Madison, we will call your parents,” the teacher said sympathetically, patting my shoulder.

  “Yeah, I don’t have any of those,” I replied abruptly. My voice sounded hoarse now.

  “I’ll take care of it. Hang tight, okay?” Mr. Hillman insisted and stood. He walked the clueless teacher away from me and leaned closer to talk to her. He was giving her the lowdown on my lack of parents, no doubt.

  I shifted but stayed put. It wasn’t as if I could actually go anywhere. The floor was covered in broken glass. And to make matters worse, the blood from my arm had mixed with the water that was pooling under me, making it spread over the white tiles of the pool house floor.

  Despite Mr. Hillman’s efforts to get them to leave, many of my classmates remained. Just staring. Gawking at me. Joy.

  “Mr. Hillman?”

  He hurried back over to me. “What is it?”

  “Did I pass?”

  Mr. Hillman let out a solitary chuckle and smiled sympathetically down at me. “Shut up, Rosewood.”

  CHAPTER 2

  I walked sluggishly to my locker, taking my time. The lockdown was lifted almost immediately. It was decided that my rescuer wasn’t a threat. He saved my life. By now, the entire school had heard about the mysterious window-smashing dude who had pulled me from the pool. It was all over social media, with a bunch of people recounting how “terrifying” it was for them.

  These were the same people who didn’t even know me other than the fact that I was a runner. The ace runner in the 100 meters. Madison “Mad Dash” Rosewood. It was all I was known for at this school and in this town. Being known for something that you find incredibly dull is as lovely as it sounds.

  Apparently, nearly drowning had its perks, though. My aunt Ruth chewed Principal Grayson a new one and demanded that I be sent home to rest. We lived two blocks from school, so footing it home was no big deal.

  I rummaged through the contents of my locker. With the end of school near, I was finding myself less and less motivated to keep it clean or organized. There was really only one thing that I needed from my locker today, my eighteenth birthday. I carefully pulled out a plain thin manila folder.

  Inside this folder was the key to finding my parents—my real parents. Today, I was a legal adult, which meant that I could go file the paperwork requesting the release of my adoption file.

  Aunt Ruth had adopted me as a little girl because my parents couldn’t take care of me. My mother was her sister.

  That was it. That was all I knew about my real parents. Two lousy sentences.

  But not now! Now, I didn’t have to ask Aunt Ruth. I didn’t have to attempt to get closer to her and her icy personality to find answers. I was going to find them on my own. It was something I had thought about almost daily. Every time I won a race and my parents weren’t there to cheer me on. Every holiday. Every birthday, I thought about them.

  And now, I could find them. I had the power to find my parents. That notion gave me more excitement than any race I had ever been in. It was how I planned to spend all my time now that I was eighteen. It was all that mattered.

  The bell rang loudly overhead. I stuck the folder in my messenger bag.

  “Hello, gorgeous! I heard you went for a swim!”

  The curls of my damp ponytailed hair caught on my eyelashes as I turned.

  “Yes, I do love a good swim, you know.”

  It was my best friend, Jason Vega. He was the picture of high school perfection as he adjusted his varsity letterman jacket. He smiled, but I could see the apprehension in his deep brown eyes. His eyes always gave him away.

  It was the same look I would have if it had been Jason at the bottom of that pool. Actually, no, I would probably just look pissed and ready to kill whoever pushed him.

  “Seriously. Are you okay, Mads?” He lowered his chin and his shoulder-length dark hair fell from behind his ears.

  “I’m fine,” I insisted. “It was that idiot Shawn Milton, I know it. He pushed me and I wasn’t ready. And I got this handy souvenir!”

  I held up my elbow to show him the large beige bandage that the nurse had put on it.

  “Yikes.”

  I shrugged. “It barely hurts.” A total lie. It hurt every time I moved my arm.

  “Well, that’s good. And I have seen you try to swim. Ready or not, you sink like a rock.” Jason raised his eyebrows. “What about that dude who busted through the window to save you?”

  “Bite your tongue, sir. He didn’t save me. I would have gotten to the surface eventually,” I lied, lowering my voice. The other students were leaving their classrooms and scattering into the hall. I could feel their eyes on me, something that I hated on a normal day. This was worse somehow.

  “Well, I’m glad you’re okay.” Jason clamped his arm firmly around my shoulder. “Can’t have my little Maddy stuck at the bottom of the pool!” He nuzzled against my cheek.

  “You are so bizarre. You know that, right?” I asked with a chuckle and pushed his face away from mine.

  “Something’s wrong.” Jason’s face fell serious. He knew me too well, so hiding anything from him was a waste of time, really.

  “You’re going to think I’m crazy,” I warned.

  “Already do, but go on,” he replied.

  “Okay, so I was in the pool house, and I saw this guy outside—the guy who ended up pulling me out of the pool—and then I heard this really loud ringing noise, but it was like nobody else heard it. And then when the guy pulled me out of the water, he asked me if I had heard it, too,” I recounted.

  “I thought the crazy part of this story would be that you nearly drowned. But ringing, huh?” He looked at me with genuine concern. “Are you okay, like, seriously? Do you want me to walk you home?”

  “No, I’m okay, really. It was just super weird.”

  Jason paused and chewed on the inside of his cheek, like he always did when he was worried.

  “I’m fine.”

  He sighed and squinted at me.

  “Subject change?” Jason asked.

  He always knew. “Yes, please,” I answered gratefully.

  “We need to talk about your yearbook entry.”

  “Okay, what about my entry?” I turned to lean on a locker as two sophomore girls walked past and pointed at me. Gossiping, the two girls stared as I promptly held out my middle finger and glared back at them.

  “Maddy, you listed ‘none’ under your interests,” Jason said as he lowered my offending hand without comment. The two girls scoffed and continued walking.

  “Yeah, so? Lots of people listed ‘none,’” I shot back.

  Jason laughed. “Yeah, but Maddy, you are the captain of the school’s track team. You are the reigning state champion in the 100 meters. You are the fastest runner in the state of frickin’ Florida. And you listed your interests as ‘none.’”

  “Well…running doesn’t interest me.” I shrugged.

  Jason pressed his lips together. “I know you don’t love it like I love playing sports, but come on, Mads.”

  “Nope. I just do it. It doesn’t interest me.” I shook my head like a stubborn child.

  “You’re g
oing to college on a track scholarship, and you’re competing in the statewide championship meet this weekend to defend your title.”

  “Correct.”

  “But running isn’t one of your interests.”

  “Ding, ding, ding.” I pointed my finger and poked him with each ding.

  Jason pouted and rubbed his forearm with his palm. “Ow! Stop it. You know I bruise like a peach.”

  “So sorry.” I laughed as we started walking down the long bustling hallway.

  “We have to get you out of this funk, Maddy,” Jason insisted.

  “Funk shmunk.” I shook my head.

  “I have Yearbook now, and then I’ll be headed your way. Are you going home now?”

  I nodded. “Yep. I get to go relax and recuperate in an empty house. Best part of all of this.”

  My cousin Lacy waved from the other side of the hall. “Hey, guys! Pardon me,” she said to a group of people blocking her path to us.

  “Move!” I shouted at them.

  The tallest kid turned to eye me, and I gave my best stink eye. The rest didn’t even turn around before they got out of Lacy’s way. She was too sweet to yell at them herself. The clump moved along like a tiny unwashed herd of sheep.

  “Sorry, thank you!” Lacy called after them and gave me a scowl. She was too nice to tell them to get out her way. I wasn’t.

  Lacy shoved a yellow flyer in my hand and then turned to give one to Jason.

  Judging by her lack of concern-filled hugs, Lacy hadn’t heard about her boyfriend trying to drown me earlier. That’s right: scumbag Shawn Milton was dating my angel-faced cousin Lacy.

  “What’s this?” Jason asked, examining the flyer.

  “Mayor Milton’s Energy Crisis Rally,” I read aloud. “Is this flyer my present? Because, wow, it is just so not what I wanted for my birthday.”

  “Mayor Milton is hosting an event to discuss the island’s energy crisis!” Lacy said enthusiastically. “It will be right in the town square, and no, you big nerd, that is not your present. Here.”

  In her hand was a little black box. I took it as she jumped up and down.

  “I was going to give it to you at home, after my swim practice, but I just couldn’t wait. Open it!”

  I felt my cheeks flush. “Lacy, I was just joking, you didn’t ha—”

  “Open it!” she shrieked.

  I smiled and nodded without saying another word. I carefully opened the little box. In it were two little silver lightning bolt earrings.

  “Wow, Lacy, these are great. Thank you!” I showed the box to Jason. They really were adorable. I didn’t wear jewelry often, but these were just my speed.

  “Those are cool,” Jason said.

  “Get it? Because you’re so fast!” she exclaimed as she took the box from me and put the earrings in my typically vacant pierced ears. Lacy stepped back and clapped once. “Perfect! Happy birthday, Mad Dash!”

  “Thank you, Lacy,” I replied, trying not to cringe at her use of that stupid nickname because I was fairly confident that she was the one who came up with it in the first place.

  “You are very welcome. Now, I’ll see you guys at the rally, right?” Lacy practically sang. When she got excited, which was almost hourly, her joy couldn’t be contained.

  Jason groaned dramatically. “Does your mom know you’re getting into politics?”

  “That sort of gets in the way of her agenda of turning us into her little super soldiers, doesn’t it?” I asked sarcastically.

  “It’s not politics. The mayor is just hosting. And I do not need my mom’s permission to care about the energy crisis! I’ll still have time to go to my mom’s gym and teach self-defense classes all summer long, don’t you worry! This is just important to me. Mayor Milton is going to make some real changes on Greenrock Island! Yes, I realize that the mayoral election is next month, but that’s not what this is about. This is about the people around here being so reliant on energy. Boating and cars and blasting the air conditioning all day, every day—it’s insane. And with all of the city’s blackouts, how can you not see that there’s a real problem here?”

  “Whoa. Save some of that judgmental berating and anger for the other constituents.” I held my hands up and grinned at her.

  Lacy rolled her big blue eyes. “Will you come? Please? Look, I’m not asking you to join the campaign team or anything, but at least come and hear what Mayor Milton has to say,” Lacy urged us.

  It was hard to say no to her when she wanted something, but it was fun

  to try.

  “Meh,” I shrugged. “And are you sure that your sudden interest in the town’s political race has nothing to do with the fact that you’re currently dating Mayor Milton’s horrid son?”

  “There will be food!” Lacy beamed as she so cleverly tried to appeal to me and my greatest love of all while simultaneously dodging my question.

  I raised an eyebrow. “Intrigued.”

  “Maddy, this is important. Mayor Milton is going to talk about his plans. The island needs to stop relying so much on electricity. We need to find ways to conserve power and—”

  “Bah! We’ll be there, Lacy, just stop talking.” I held my hand up.

  “Can’t wait!” Jason gave a thumbs-up.

  “Thank you, guys. This is really important to me. And, Jason, bring your boyfriend! The more the merrier,” she said in her cheeriest voice. She adjusted the thin black headband that held back her meticulously straight ice-blonde hair.

  Jason looked up at the black-framed clock on the hallway wall. “Speaking of, I have to go. I told Caleb I’d meet him and walk to Yearbook together. Mads, I’ll come over right after school. Bye, Lacy.”

  I waved as Jason jogged off in the other direction.

  Lacy cleared her throat. “Hey, are you excited about the race this weekend?”

  “Um, sure. Running is running.” I nodded.

  “I checked your race times, and you’re so early that I don’t know if I can make it. Mom and I have that lame Saturday morning class to teach. Don’t worry, I’ll talk to her.”

  “I don’t think I passed my gym test, so I may get disqualified from competing. I’ll still have to go, though.”

  “Doubtful, Maddy. You would have to do something really big to get disqualified—like, really big. I don’t think a unit in gym class is reason enough.”

  Crap! It would be way easier to go over to the courthouse if I were disqualified. I could try to slip away while everyone was competing and be back in time for my race.

  Of course I wasn’t disqualified; Lacy was right. This school banked on me winning everything. My near-death experience in gym class would likely be the loophole that let me compete this weekend.

  Damn loopholes.

  My cousin hooked her arm through mine and I tried not to wince. I didn’t tell her that she was rubbing her arm against my injury. That would just launch her into a frenzy of worried questions, and I didn’t want to deal with that.

  Lacy smiled at me as she spoke. “I am so proud of you. You’ll win! I know you will. And, my stars, even if you don’t, you already have a full scholarship for track. You’re set, Maddy.”

  “Right. Set,” I agreed half-heartedly. Truth was, I wasn’t as excited as everyone else that my future was all set. I was good at running, sure. I had won every race I had ever been in.

  Nobody could beat Mad Dash. Joy of joys.

  Lacy was my biggest cheerleader when it came to running. For my last race, she had decorated our shared bedroom with streamers and balloons. She was always so proud of me. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I didn’t give a rat’s ass about this race.

  “I have to get to class. See you at home! Love you, Mad Dash!” Lacy leaned over and kissed my cheek before she disappeared into the crowd.

  Time to go home. I pushed open the doors and walked outside into

  the sun.

  Nine more days.

  CHAP
TER 3

  Navigating the lawn outside school between classes was always a bit of a debacle. And it was even harder near my big races. It was like a really annoying, unfun game of Frogger.

  Most of the top jocks at my school enjoyed the attention and couldn’t wait for somebody to bring up the big game. Me? I would rather punch myself in the face. I suck at small talk and, for some reason, all these kids take an interest in me when it comes to me winning state titles.

  A light tap on my shoulder made me stop. “Hey, Madison! I heard you almost died and this guy, like, busted through the window to save you!” Joe Gomez, an impossibly tall boy on my track team, exclaimed.

  I smiled and nodded and kept walking. We were teammates, but I barely knew the guy outside of his race times and his constant chatter on the bus rides to meets. Even if I was in the mood to discuss it, which I wasn’t, I knew better than to get stuck in a conversation with him.

  I kept walking and decided to avoid all eye contact until I made it home.

  “Oh my gosh! Why aren’t you at the hospital, Mad Dash? Are you okay?” a girl’s voice asked from behind me.

  I groaned to myself and didn’t stop walking or turn around, but to my annoyance, someone stopped right in front of me and blocked my path.

  “Hey, Mad Dash,” she started. “I heard you almost died and some guy pulled you out of the pool and had to resuscitate you!”

  I looked up to see a familiar-looking girl whose name I couldn’t remember.

  “Shh, I don’t like you,” I replied, and walked around her.

  “Rude,” I heard the girl say as I hurried toward my freedom. I stopped and switched paths to avoid a cluster of people a few feet ahead of me.

  I passed more people. More eyes. More whispers. I crossed my arms and kept my head down. I exhaled a long, frustrated lungful. My throat still hurt from the whole pool thing.

  “Mad Dash! I heard you died!” another person yelled.

  Christ.

  Before I could respond, I heard voices murmuring behind me. I spun on my heel to face the small crowd that had formed behind me.