The Year We Fell Apart Read Online Free

The Year We Fell Apart
Book: The Year We Fell Apart Read Online Free
Author: Emily Martin
Tags: Romance, Contemporary, Young Adult
Pages:
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so much harder. Of course, I have no reason to expect he would want to see me, either. Not anymore.
    “You two have fun painting.” I toss the pillow back into place. “Maybe we can go to the quarry Tuesday?”
    “I’ve got swim practice.”
    “Oh . . . right. Of course.” It’s dense, this silence between us. Weighted down by the loss of what made us friends in the first place.
    Cory stands and scratches his arm. The chlorine makes our skin chronically dry. Honestly, I don’t miss it one bit. “Tomorrow?” he asks.
    “Summer school.”
    “Ah, yeah.” He grabs his wallet off his desk. “Which class are you taking again?”
    “Photography.”
    “Right, right. Well, that could be good. Maybe you’ll meet someone cool.”
    “Yeah, I’m sure it’s the place to be,” I retort.
    We head downstairs and out the front door, parting ways on his lawn. Maybe it’s for the best he has plans. Because all I really want to do is crawl back into bed and never, ever come out again.

Three
    MY PLAN TO HIDE OUT between my Jersey cotton sheets lasts only until the next morning. Mom bursts into my room at seven thirty, travel mug of coffee in hand.
    “Up.”
    “Don’t want to,” I mumble. “Personal day.”
    She takes away my covers. “Up,” she says again. “Up or I’ll go get a squirt gun.”
    She will, too. So it begins.
    Walking into the art studio at the Carson Community Center is like being back in elementary school. The white cinder-block walls are splashed with pastel chalk portraits, and simple crayon drawings done by younger kids are taped on the cupboard doors. The smell of paint permeates the room. And just like the first day at a new school, I don’t recognize a single person. I’m not even sure how that’s possible in a place like Carson, but apparently it’s only the case for me. In the back corner, students are clustered together, animatedly recounting the first few days of summer. I suppose I could join them, make some effort to be social. . . .
    I slide into the chair closest to me and pull a pad of paper and pencil from my bag. I start doodling, trying to look busy while I listen to the chatter. A few minutes later a couple girls take the seats to my left.
    “. . . grab a salad after, or a gyro,” a pretty blonde is saying. Almost doll-like in the symmetry of her features, she immediately reminds me of Betty from the Archie comics. “Ooh, or maybe pizza.”
    “As long as it’s not from that place on Ninth,” her friend replies. “They use weird cheese.” She’s wearing her black hair in a tight knot on the top of her head. Her dark eyes are outlined in darker kohl liner and her lips are stained crimson. She catches me staring at her, and I spin back to the page in front of me.
    “True. I think it might be vegan,” the blonde says.
    I keep my head down, but the scary dark-haired girl is still watching me. I can feel it. “Hey,” she leans toward me to say. “I’m Gwen. Do you have any gum?”
    “Oh, um . . . yes.” I reach into my bag and hold a pack out to her.
    “Ugh, bubble gum.”
    And yet, she takes a piece anyway.
    The blond girl shakes her head, sending a ripple through her hair. She’s dressed head to toe in vintage clothing, and even her ponytail has that original Barbie curl to it. Her small, Cupid’s-bow mouth transforms into a warm smile. “Don’t mind Gwen, she’s just orally fixated. I’m Mackenzie.”
    “Harper.”
    They exchange a look. “Do you go to Carson High?” Mackenzie asks.
    I swallow and nod. These girls don’t even go to my school. I really wish not knowing anybody meant I was safe from them knowing things about me.
    It looks like Mackenzie is about to ask a follow-up question, but Gwen jumps in.
    “Thanks for the gum. Sorry if I was rude, I just have trouble not blowing bubbles when I chew bubble gum.”
    She blows a bubble and pops it in her mouth. All right, then.
    I nod sympathetically, as if I totally know what it’s like to
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