Finding Allie Read Online Free Page A

color of the beach I just imagined, his fingers practiced with a swift skill. He’s done this a million times before.
    Riding a bike is second nature to him.
    It’s such a part of who he is.
    “I’ll be back!” he hollers as his engine revs, the vibration going straight to my heart. I splay one palm over it, as if I need to keep it from escaping and climbing on the back of that bike, riding off with him. He joins his group and a long line of motorcycles take off, like a flock of Canada geese, following the leader.
    I stare until only my mind imagines Chase is really there.

Chapter Three
    Later that night, after the sheriff comes and takes my report about the bar fight, I sit on my bed, sore and tired. All I want to do is talk to my sister, Marissa. If I tell her about the day, tell her all about Chase, it will make him seem more real. I need him to be real.
    I think he made me a little more real today.
    When I showered earlier I had to be careful. Glass shards were sprinkled in my hair here and there. All that I have to prove it all happened now are tiny cuts on my fingers, red lines where the blood is clotting. Chase watched me lick one of those cuts with a hunger in his eyes. The memory makes me shiver.
    After a second shower to make sure I really get all the glass out, I change into my cotton yoga pants, the ones with Disney cartoon characters all over them, and a purple cami top. Mom gave me these pajamas when I was thirteen. That was five years ago. It feels like forever.
    Combing out my long, black hair takes time. I keep it long because Mom always said it looked beautiful, the waves shimmering over my back. It’s wet when I crawl into bed, but that’s okay. On a hot day like today, it feels good.
    I really need to talk to someone before I go crazy. Am I imagining Chase’s interest in me? I don’t think so, but how would I know? No one has ever looked at me like Chase did. Touched me like that. 
    Seemed to know me.
    The only friend I have in town is David, the nerdiest guy in school, and even then we only see each other here and there. He’s going away to engineering college in a few weeks. David is the kind of guy who will end up working on bridges or jet planes. After getting beaten up constantly by the jocks at school, I think he’s relieved to just get out of town.
    I’m so jealous of him.
    Calling David to talk about Chase doesn’t seem like a good idea. Jeff still hasn’t come home from the bar yet. After the bikers zoomed off, I went into the bar and found him with a bruised eye and an angry look on his face. His friends were groaning with pain, though old Zeke had just hidden in the back office for most of the fight. I stayed and cleaned up and Jeff never said a word to me. Zeke gave me a ride home.
    So the house is empty. It’s often empty, with Jeff working different hours at the bar, but this is a different kind of empty. I feel like something big is about to happen. My nerves are on edge.
    I call Marissa.
    “Allie!” she squeals. Music blasts in the background, and I hear people hooting and having fun. It sounds like a party.  “I can’t wait for you to meet my roommates!” She says something that sounds like “Morty”, but it’s hard to hear. And then she adds, “We’re having a little par-tay here. I wish you were with us!” 
    Me, too.
    “Is this a bad time?” Tears fill my eyes. I don’t know why. I look at the picture of me, Mom and Marissa that I keep on my bookcase. The one right across from the end of my bed in my room. When I talk to people on the phone it helps to look at their picture. The hard part right now is that Mom isn’t alive, and I feel so alone. Her death hits me hardest when I am alone. 
    “Never a bad time for my little sister!” Marissa shouts. I pull the phone away from my ear a little. She’s that loud. A giggle bubbles up from my throat and the tears go away.
    “Sounds like fun over there.” Over there is more than two hundred miles away. Might