The Year Falling in Love (Alternative Version) (Sunnyvale Alternative Series Book 2)

by Jessica Sorensen

  I kind of want to hug him right now because I’m smiling and hardly thinking about Lynn, my dad, and how awful it’ll be if they end up sending me to Montana.

  “Game on, dude.” I comb my fingers through my hair as I catch sight of my reflection in the mirror. Ugh. I haven’t had a chance to clean myself up since the whole meltdown thing yesterday. Between the smeared eyeliner and the runny mascara, I look like I’m trying to go goth. “Just one sec.”

  I retrieve my brush from my bag and pull my hair into a ponytail as he gets out of the car and grabs a basketball from the trunk. I use one of my shirts to wipe the day old makeup off my face. I consider reapplying it, but I don’t want to make Kyler wait on me. It’s been a while since I’ve gone this natural, and I’ll admit I feel a bit self-conscious. Still, I hold my head high as I get out of the car and hike toward the courts with Kyler. I’m not going to feel bad for being me and looking like me. I’ve already spent too many days feeling like that.

  As we near the edge of the grass, Kyler inches toward me. “You have the cutest freckles.” He brushes his fingers across my cheek. “I’ve always thought that.”

  I have to remind myself to breathe. With the way he touched me, so intimately, I’m not sure how to react. It’s strange that the thing he thinks is cute about me is the thing I’ve been covering up with makeup.

  I’m not sure what to make of what’s going on between us, but I definitely smile. The smile vanishes, though, when I notice a dark blue car with tinted windows driving by the park at an exceedingly sluggish pace.

  At first, I don’t pay too much attention to it, but as it rounds the park for the third time, almost slowing to stop beside the courts, unease stirs inside me. What if it’s someone looking for me? Like maybe my parents? It’s not their car, but I wouldn’t put it past them to borrow one just to surprise attack me. Or could it be an unmarked police vehicle?

  “What are you staring at?” Kyler asks as he jogs across the court, going in for a slam-dunk.

  “I…” I peek back to the where the car was, only to find it speeding off toward the main road. “There was this car driving around, but I guess it was nothing.”

  He dribbles the ball, his brows knitting. “Do you think it was your parents?”

  “No, I don’t think so… It wasn’t their car, and I don’t think they’d look for me here.” They don’t know me well enough to.

  I shrug the uneasiness off the best I can and raise my hands in front of me, focusing on the game. Still, something doesn’t quite feel right, like the calm before a storm. I just wish I knew what kind of storm was coming.

  Chapter 5

  Kai

  “A thousand bucks? A thousand bucks?” Big Doug repeats the same thing over and over again with a look of astonishment on his face. Finally, he sits down in the chair in front of his cluttered desk, his eyes wide as he shakes his head. “Kai, how the fuck did you end up in this mess? I thought you were being more careful.”

  “I was being careful.” I sink down in a folding chair. “But then I vouched for Bradon even though he has a shitty rep. I figured, since he was my friend, he wouldn’t screw me over.”

  Big Doug reaches for a bag of opened chips propped against one of his multiple computers. “Dude, Bradon screws everyone over, friend or not.”

  I lower my head into my hands. “I’m realizing that now.”

  “You’re too nice, man.”

  “Is there such a thing?”

  “Um, yeah. When you try to help people you know are going to get you into trouble, that’s called being too nice.”

  “All right, I get it. I made a bad decision. Tell me something I don’t know.” I raise my head. “But I need to focus on fixing the problem. What’s done is done, and now I need to come up with a thousand bucks before I get my ass kicked. T plays dirty. He’ll probably get a bunch of his buddies to jump me. He won’t give a shit if it isn’t a fair fight.”

  He munches on a handful of chips. “I have a couple of small jobs I need done. It won’t get you a thousand, but it’s a start.”

  I wish I had a better solution, but right now, Big Doug’s offer is the only thing I’ve got. “I’ll take whatever I can get.”

  “Okay, let’s get you started.” He spins the chair around, facing the largest computer screen. “I have to ask, though, why not just ask your parents for the money?”

  “They wouldn’t give it to me, even if I did ask,” I mutter, rubbing the heels of my hands against my eyes. This shit’s giving me a headache, but it’s mild in comparison to what would happen if I don’t come up with the cash.

  The keys click as he taps his fingers against them. “Even if you explain the situation to them? Maybe you could tell them the truth. I mean, I know it’s not ideal, but I’m sure they’d rather help you than see you get hurt.”

  I refuse to feel the wave of hurt washing over me. “Trust me. My father wouldn’t care. He’d probably tell me that I deserved whatever was coming for me.”

  I can hear him now. “You got yourself into this mess, so you can get yourself out of it. It’s not my problem. You’re not my problem.” He’s right, too. This is all my fault. Every dumbass choice I’ve made has led me to this point in my life.

  I force thoughts of my dad’s disappointment out of my head. “What exactly are these jobs?”

  “The first one’s pretty simple.” He clicks the mouse a few times, opening multiple programs. “I just need you to deliver something for me.”

  “That doesn’t sound too bad.”

  “It doesn’t sound bad, but this delivery is super fucking important. You can’t mess it up at all, okay, man?” he says and I nod. “It pays a hundred bucks, and gas is included.”

  “Gas?” I rise to my feet as the printer turns on. “How far am I driving?”

  He wheels the chair over to the printer. “To Mapleview.”

  “But that’s, like, a two-hour drive each way.” I run my hand over my head as I pace the length of his basement.

  Normally, I wouldn’t give a shit about taking a four-hour drive, but with everything going on with Isa, I want to be close in case she needs me. She hasn’t called yet, and she promised me she’d call after she was done talking to her dad.

  “If it’s too far, I can get someone else to do it.” His tone implies I should keep my mouth shut and be grateful he’s doing me a favor.

  “No, I’m good. I just needed to do something, but it can wait, I guess.” I take my phone out of my back pocket and check my messages.

  Nothing.

  I decide to message her to see if she’s okay.

  Me: Hey, just wanted to make sure everything is okay. You never called me, but maybe you’re still talking to your dad. I’m actually headed out of town for the day, but I’ll be back later today.

  Isa: Oh, my God! Sorry I forgot to call you! All crap hit the fan when I went home, and I completely forgot! I’m okay. I’m not even at the house right now. I ran out after Lynn threatened to send me to some reform school in Montana. I’m actually going to be staying with Grandma Stephy for a little bit until we can figure out what to do, but she promised me she wouldn’t let them send me away.

  Anger simmers inside me. Dammit. Her parents are such assholes.

  Me: WTF??? They’re trying to send you away to Montana? What the hell is wrong with them?

  Isa: Well, Lynn said it was because of my violence problem because, apparently, pushing her once means I have a violence problem. But honestly, I have a feeling she’s been planning this for a while. She had all these papers printed out, and she was all ready to ship me off tomorrow morning.

  Me: God, I hate that woman… What did your dad say?

  Isa: The usual, that he agrees with Lynn. I’m not surprised. He always agrees with Lynn when it comes to me. I’m guessing it’s because he feels guilty I’m the product of an affair.

  Me: I don’t care if he feels guilty or not. He’s your dad, and he needs to act like one.

  Isa: I wish h
e did, but I honestly don’t think he ever will. I’m starting to make peace with that, though. I’m just lucky I have my grandma Stephy. She’s practically like a mom and dad to me. I don’t know what I’d do without her. And Indigo, too.

  Me: You know I’m here for you if you need anything.

  Isa: I know. You’ve really been awesome to me lately, Kai. I appreciate it. I really do.

  I want to be there for her today. After what happened with her parents, I’m betting she could use someone to talk to.

  Me: Are you with your grandma now?

  Isa: No. She’s actually out of town, but she’s flying in tonight.

  There’s no way she should be alone right now.

  Me: Want to take a little drive to Mapleview? I could use a driving buddy.

  It takes her a minute to answer, and the moment the message buzzes through, I know I’m not going to like her answer.

  Isa: I’m with Kyler right now. We’re supposed to hang out until my grandma gets home. Why are you going to Mapleview? If you need me to go with you, I totally will, especially if you want to talk about whatever’s going on with you and that T guy.

  I open and flex my fingers. She’s with Kyler? What the hell? Did he just wait around the house so he was there to jump in when Isa needed rescuing then cleared his entire schedule? I know for a fact that he had plans later today after he took Isa to breakfast. I heard him talking about it with his friends on the phone after Isa left our house, saying something about needing to get some practice hours in.

  Me: Nah. It’s okay. I think I’m just going to ask Big Doug to drive with me.

  It’s a complete lie. Yeah, it hurts like a bitch to think about her and Kyler hanging out, doing God knows what, but I don’t want her to come with me just because she feels sorry for me. I’ve had too many girls do that—hang out with me because they felt bad for using me to get to Kyler.

  Isa: Okay… If you change your mind, let me know. I think we should definitely talk about what’s going on with you. Can we hang out tomorrow?

  Me: Yeah. Maybe. I’ll text you later and let you know.

  I leave it at that and put my phone away, trying not to think about what she and Kyler could be doing. But it’s all I think about. Fuck, I have way too vivid an imagination. Seriously. I swear my mind’s trying to torture me to death with images of Isa and Kyler and what they could be doing.

  “So, who is she?” Big Doug’s question rips through my thoughts.

  “Huh?” I take the manila envelope he’s holding out to me.

  “The girl who’s got you all worked up,” he says, swiveling the chair around. “You look like you’re about to lose your shit.”

  “No, I don’t.” Stamped across the top of the envelope in bright red letters are the words DO NOT OPEN along with a smiley face sticker. “What’s with you and these stickers? You put them on everything.”

  “They’re my mark,” he answers simply. “It lets people know where I’ve been and what work is mine. I don’t want other people taking credit for my shit.”

  I give the envelope a shake, noting it feels really light. “What’s in this?”

  “Don’t worry about that.” He waves me off then continues on with his questioning. “Is it that girl from the party? The one who needed me to find info on her mom?” When I reluctantly nod, he adds, “How’d she take the news about her mom?”

  I tuck the envelope under my arm. “I haven’t told her yet.”

  He blinks at me in shock. “Why the hell not?”

  “I was planning on it, but then some shit happened with her family… I’m worried she might not be able to handle it right now.”

  “It doesn’t matter what you think. She deserves to know, and the longer you sit on this, the more pissed she’s going to be when you do tell her.”

  “I know.” I crack my knuckles as his words sink in. He’s right. Even if Isa is going through a ton of family drama right now, I need to tell her as soon as I can. “Dude, you’re starting to sound like Dr. Phil.”

  Big Doug tucks his arms behind his head. “I watch that show all the time.”

  I give him a really look. “Are you being serious?”

  “What? I got nothing better to do between jobs. Besides, I learn a lot from it, like when to tell a girl you’re obsessed with that you know something about her family. Something, I might add, that she asked for help with.”

  “All right. I get it. I’ll tell her. Just stop Psych 101-ing me and drop it.”

  He holds up a finger. “One more thing.” He opens a drawer to a filing cabinet, collects a folder with a smiley face sticker on it, and hands it to me. “I felt bad about being the bearer of such fucked-up news, so I decided to do some more research on this Bella woman and found out more about her case.”

  “What’d you find out?” Considering Big Doug rarely does favors for people, I’m shocked he did this.

  “Some pretty interesting stuff. I’m actually kind of surprised the woman was found guilty. Then again, some of the stuff I pulled up wasn’t used in the case and isn’t accessible to the public. She filed for an appeal a couple of times, and I think her most recent one got approved, but it might take a while for anything to happen. I’m still looking into a few more things, but I thought I’d give this to you for now. It might give Isa a little bit of peace of mind until I can find out more.”

  “Wait. Did you hack into the case records or something?” I peek into the folder and cringe as I skim over the top page.

  Before I can get too far into it, he slams his hand down on top of the folder, closing it. “You can look at that later. Right now, we work.”

  Then he jumps right in and gives me a list of instructions to follow when I deliver the package. After hearing the list, I realize it is a bigger job than I originally thought, and I feel even more uneasy about what the hell’s in the envelope.

  Under no circumstances am I to look into the envelope.

  Before I pull up to the set location, I’m to drive around the block three times.

  If I see anyone who looks even a bit suspicious, I’m supposed to drive off and head home without dropping off the envelope.

  Keep my car door locked at all times. Even when the guy comes to pick up the envelope, I’m only supposed to crack the window and slip it through.

  The guy picking it up will be wearing a hoodie and brass knuckles.

  The second I give the guy the envelope, I need to leave Mapleview. But don’t drive straight home. I need to cruise on the back roads for about an hour before getting on the highway.

  I can’t take my cell phone with me.

  “What?” I say after he rattles off number seven. “Why the heck not?”

  “For tracking purposes.” He sticks out his hand. “Hand it over, man.”

  I retrieve my phone from my back pocket, but don’t hand it over. “Just a second.” I hurriedly type a quick text to Isa, deciding it’s time to tell her.

  Me: Yeah, let’s definitely get together tomorrow. Just let me know what time to pick you up.

  Before I receive a response, Big Doug snatches the phone from my hand.

  “Dude, give me that back,” I gripe, reaching to take it back.

  He spins the chair around, shoves my phone into a desk drawer, and then locks it away. “I’ll give it back to you when the job’s done. And the hundred bucks.”

  When I hear my phone vibrate inside the drawer, I grind my teeth. “Just let me check that.”

  He shakes his head. “You have the envelope. You’re officially on the clock.”

  I consider telling him to fuck off but stop myself since he’s doing me a huge favor.

  “See you in five hours.” He starts the timer on a computer.

  Sighing, I turn toward the door, feeling unsettled about what I’m about to do. Yeah, I’ve done some shady things over the last year. I’ve broken into cars, partied, done some illegal stuff like helping hack into security systems, bought weed off T and dealt for him a couple of times.
The whole drug thing was a little too intense for me, though. I was nervous and panicky making the drops, and I quickly stopped both buying and selling. When Bradon tracked me down at a party, it’d been months since I had seen T.

  “I need a favor,” he said, nervously glancing around at the people drinking and smoking around us. He was so twitchy I wondered if he was on something.

  At first, I just shook my head. A favor for Bradon usually meant trouble.

  But then he begged and pleaded. “Please, Kai. My family’s in some serious financial trouble, and I need the money, like, really bad, or we’re gonna lose everything.”

  He looked upset, and I started to feel sorry for him.

  “What’d you need?” I asked.

  “For you to vouch to T for me,” he said quickly. “Just tell him that he can trust me.”

  “Can he?” I question because Bradon was never the trustworthy type. He was either stealing from people or stealing and lying about it.

  “I won’t screw you over,” he promised. “I just need to do a couple of jobs for him so I can earn some cash fast. But he needs someone he knows—like you—to vouch for me.”

  Every one of my instincts screamed at me not to do this, that Bradon was going to end up screwing me over, but then he gave me this whole speech about his family losing their house and car, and I caved like a sucker.

  In the end, Bradon ended up selling the drugs for T and never giving him any of the money. At first, I didn’t get too pissed off, because I thought maybe he did it in a panic move to bail his family out of their financial trouble. But a couple of days ago, I found out that was all a lie.

  Bradon has gotten into some pretty hardcore drugs and needed quick cash to feed his addiction. From what I understand, his parents gave him an intervention yesterday, and he took off to rehab. I feel like an idiot for believing his sob story and not seeing his drug problem had gotten that out of hand. But there’s nothing I can do about it now. T warned me that, if Bradon screwed him over, his debt would fall on me.

  I just hope whatever I’m about to do isn’t going to end with me being in even more trouble.