The (Im)Perfect Escape

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

June 12nd 8:14 P.M.

Abigail pulls into the driveway of one of the houses I saw when we pulled into town. There are a couple of bikes scattered on the bright green lawn, and a few cars are parked in the driveway. It’s kind of freaky to see only a few cars for a “party” compared with the about sixty cars at the last party I went to in Chicago.

After Abigail parks, I slide out of the car and look up at the one-story house with ivy crawling up the side. It’s just so odd to think this is my world now and the tallest building I’m probably going to see is two-story house which apparently is like a zebra around here—you have no chance of seeing one.

Before I go into another self-pity party, Abigail takes off to the front door. Even if I don’t want to go party up a storm, I definitely don’t want to be stuck here alone. Between the real party with real people in it and the pity party with an invitation of one out here, I think I’m going to go with the one with real peeps any day.

After opening the door, Abigail breezes into the house like she owns it. “Guys, I’m here. Where are you?” Her sing-song voice kind of makes me cringe. I quickly realize I just got myself inserted into the popular crowd of this sleepy beach town.

“Everyone’s out of the porch,” someone says in the kitchen.

Walking into the kitchen, I spot a cute guy holding a beer in his hand and tossing an orange up in the air. He then proceeds to catch it and then toss it back in the air. His electric cobalt blue gaze meets mine, and he gives me a slow smile. “Who’s this, Abigail?”

Rolling her eyes, Abigail scoffs. “Did your cousin not tell you the latest gossip? I guess we can’t rely on Noah to get the word around. Genie McQueen’s stepdaughter is spending the summer here with us. I thought it would be nice if she came and met the gang.”

His smile grows, and he sets down the orange and the beer. He wipes his hand on his very loose jeans and walks over to where I’m standing. As he sticks out his hand for me to shake, part of his sandy brown hair falls out from the place it was tucked behind his ear. “I’m Logan. Nice to meet you.”

My hand slips into his, and we shake. Well, let’s see if my streak with freaking out in front of random guys continues.

“Lila. Nice to meet you too.” I give him a small half-smile.

He keeps our hand connected for a few seconds longer than necessary and only releases them when Abigail scoffs again. “We should get you out on the porch, so everyone can meet the new girl.” For a second I had a flashback to the train, when Train Guy said “new sarcastic meat.”

Grabbing my hand, Abigail pulls me out onto the deck. They don’t have a backyard beach like we do, so I say ha to them! My gaze travels to the group of maybe six or so teens sitting at the various tables on the deck. All their head snap up and look over at me with various expressions of shock and excitement. Why are they excited? Make it stop!

“Who’s this, Abs? Is this the new girl?” As she fluffs up her black mop of curls, a girl with a friendly enough looking face gives me a smile. Her skin is almost as white as her pearly whites.

“Yup. This is Lila, Genie’s stepdaughter. See, they listen to me when I tell them the gossip of the day.” She sneaks in a glare at Logan, before she goes back to smiling like she won the Nobel Peace Prize for finding an exotic specimen like myself. Glad to know I rank up there with new species such as the things recently found in the Amazon. That makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.