Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 83467 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83467 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
How old was he? My parents wouldn’t allow me to touch a knife. He said bad words and used a knife.
Looking up, he saw me and smiled. “Hey, I’m Kye. What’s your name?”
“Genesis,” I told him.
“That’s a fucking cool name,” he said with an appreciative nod. “You like watermelon?”
“Yes,” I replied.
“I got some sodas!” the other boy called out as he came out of the house. He saw me. “The new neighbor girl,” he said. “I heard Mom say that a family moved into the Mills’ house. You got something on your face.”
“Oh, that’s, uh …” I paused. I did not want to call it a beauty mark, like grown-ups did when they pointed it out.
“Is it, like, a mole or a freckle?” he asked.
“Jesus, you’re an idiot,” Kye said to him, rolling his eyes. “It’s, like, one of those birthmark things.”
It wasn’t a birthmark either. It was a mole, and it hadn’t shown up until a year ago. I hated it, but Mom said I wouldn’t one day. She’d had it checked out, and the doctor had said it was fine. I, however, wished it would go away.
The guy shrugged, then looked at me. “What’s your name?”
“It’s Genesis,” Kye told him. “That’s Bowie,” he said to me. “You want a soda?”
“Uh, no, that’s okay.” I wanted a soda, but my mom hated for me to drink anything but water.
Kye looked at Bowie. “Go get her a soda.”
Bowie rolled his eyes. “It’s your house, Kye. You go get it.”
Kye glared at him, and Bowie threw up his hands in frustration, then turned to go back inside the house.
Kye sliced a large chunk of watermelon and slid it across the table to me. “Here you go.”
I walked over to it. “Thanks,” I said to him. “How old are you turning today?”
He gave me a crooked grin. “Eight. I already had a party too. It was at my dad’s though. Best thing about divorced parents: two parties.” He winked, then stuck a piece of watermelon into his mouth.
Bowie came back outside with a soda and handed it to me. “Here.”
“Thanks,” I told him.
He reached for some watermelon. “How old are you?” he asked me.
“Seven,” I replied. I left out the fact that I had just turned seven last month.
He nodded. “Too bad you’re not a boy.”
“Don’t be fucking rude, Bowie!” Kye yelled at him.
Bowie shrugged. “Didn’t mean to. It’s just if she was a boy, then I’d have someone to play with when you’re at your dad’s.”
“I only go every other weekend,” he replied.
I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at Bowie. “You have a problem playing with girls?” I asked, annoyed.
“Seeing as I don’t like dolls and stuff like that, then yeah.”
I cocked my head to one side. “Neither do I. I don’t even own a baby doll.” Then, wanting to prove myself, I glanced over at the big tree in the corner, where my yard connected with Kye’s. “Bet I can get to the top of that tree before you can.”
Bowie raised his eyebrows, then grinned, showing two missing teeth. “No way.”
Kye laughed. “Dude, if she beats you, I’m telling the whole school.”
Bowie set his drink down and narrowed his gaze as he looked at me. “Say when.”
I was good at climbing trees. It was why I’d made the bet. But I hadn’t climbed that one yet, and it was tall. Much taller than I normally climbed. I looked at the tree and the amused expression on Kye’s face, then turned back to Bowie.
“Go!”
We both took off running, and it was a good thing I was a fast runner because Bowie’s legs were longer than mine. I kept up and only got to the tree a second after he did. I heard Kye cheering me on, and I knew he was doing it to get to Bowie, but it helped me. I did good under pressure. Using my feet, I pushed against the trunk and grabbed the first limb, then pulled myself up. I could see Bowie on the other side of the trunk, and he was struggling to get his longer legs over the limb and stand up to reach the next one. That gave me the advantage. I was up to the third limb when I glanced down to see he’d just gotten on the first one fully. Smiling, I started going up further. Just a few more to go.
“She’s kicking your ass!” Kye called out, laughing.
I was grinning as I made my way up to the next limb when I heard Bowie grunt. I glanced down to see he hadn’t even gotten up to the second limb yet. I was going to prove my point even better than I had hoped.
The sound of my mother shouting my name came just before the limb I was pulling on started to break. I tried to grab something else, but it snapped before I could get my arms around the trunk. There was a moment when I wondered if this was going to kill me as the branches scratched my body while I fell past them, failing to grab hold of any of them. The sharp pain that shot up my arm was the last thing I remembered when I hit the ground.