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Zoe
With her backpack under her head and her sweatshirt for a too-small blanket, Zoe was right on the verge of falling asleep in a pew when she heard something. She tried to ignore it. She wanted to go back to sleep. She wanted to sleep forever. It’s just a mouse, she told herself. There had to be mouse in that basement. Or maybe it was a cat going after the mouse. A cat could easily go in and out thanks to the broken window. Someone should really fix that.
She was almost asleep again when she heard her name. It occurred to her that it was God, and she panicked a little. She turned her head and opened one eye to see the gorgeous Jason DeGrave looking down at her curiously.
Awesome.
She sat up. “What are you doing?” she managed.
“Me? What are you doing? I was driving down the street and I saw you break into a church!” He sounded horrified.
“I didn’t break in. Don’t be so dramatic.” She wanted him to leave, though now that her heart was pounding this hard, she knew she wasn’t getting back to sleep anytime soon.
“If you break a basement window and then go inside to squat, that’s considered breaking in.”
She was incredulous. “I didn’t break the window! Who do you think I am?” As soon as she asked the question, she knew the answer. He had no idea who she was. How could he know? “And I’m not squatting.”
“Sorry.” It sounded like he meant it. “I hadn’t noticed it was broken. I don’t think it has been for long.” He sat down in the pew behind her. “Anyway, are you okay? I heard about what happened last night.”
She tried to exhale but her lungs were empty. “What happened?”
He raised an eyebrow. “You don’t remember?”
She shrugged, trying to play it cool. “I don’t know. You tell me what happened, and I’ll tell you if I remember it.”
He looked amused.
She lay back down and closed her eyes. “I take it you don’t drink.”
He hesitated. “No, sorry.”
“Of course not. Jesus freaks don’t drink.” She sensed his displeasure at her words. “Sorry, didn’t mean it as an insult.” Hadn’t she, though? She didn’t know.
“I haven’t been a Jesus freak for long.” She could tell by the way he spoke the words that the phrase was new to him. “But even before I knew Jesus, I had self-respect. And I’m an athlete, so I can’t really afford to just be an idiot and trash my body.”
She didn’t know if she’d ever heard a more condescending tone, and at first it rankled her mightily, but then a thought occurred to her. Surely the good kids—the athletes and the scholars—in her old school had thought the same thing. Maybe even said it out of earshot. But they’d never said it to her. They’d never cared enough to. She dragged herself back to a seated position.
“Sorry, that was kind of harsh.”
“No,” she said quickly. “It really wasn’t. I appreciate people who say what they’re thinking.”
He chuckled. “That’s usually not me.”
She raised an eyebrow. “So I just bring it out of you?”
He seemed to be considering it. “I don’t know. Or maybe I’m just changing. Anyway, I wanted to tell you, though you might already have figured it out, Nelson is kind of a dirt bag.”
“I sensed it. You said he wasn’t so bad.”
“I was trying to give you a good impression of Carver Harbor. Sorry. So, anyway, apparently you showed up at the Cove, no big deal, but then you drank a lot of moonshine, and—”
“Moonshine?” she cried. Moonshine? People still made moonshine? Why would they do that when stores on every corner offered an endless supply of booze? “Are you serious?”
He nodded. “Nelson’s family makes it. It’s awful. I don’t think he even drinks it, but he brings it to parties to dare people to drink it. And apparently, you accepted the dare.”
“I didn’t accept anything. I didn’t know what it was. I thought it was whiskey.”
“It wasn’t whiskey.”
She closed her eyes and exhaled. “Thanks.”
“Or maybe it was. I have no idea. But apparently you drank a lot of it. And then you got mad and left.”
“Mad? I don’t think I was mad.” Had she been? She couldn’t remember.
“Well, they said you started to leave but then turned and told them all off.”
She opened her eyes. Jason looked uncomfortable. With her eyes, she asked him to elaborate.
“You hollered, you swore, told them they were all white trash losers.”
She wouldn’t have done that. She didn’t do that. They were lying.
“It didn’t go over well.”
She looked down at her legs. “I’ve never been good at popularity contests.”
He leaned toward her a little. “Just stay away from them, and you’ll be okay. There are good people in that school. I’ll introduce you.”
She turned her eyes back to him. Why was he being so nice to her? Was it a Jesus thing? Or did he feel sorry for her?
“The only other thing they said is that you fell pretty hard walking up the hill.” He forced a smile. “But I guess you weren’t in too bad a shape because you made it home.”
Had she made it home, though? Hadn’t she had some help?
“Do you know anything about that moonshine? Does it make you hallucinate?”
The horror on his face made her talk faster.
“I’ve drunk a lot, but drinking has never made me see something that wasn’t there.”
“What did you see?” he asked slowly.
“Nothing. Never mind. I was probably dreaming.”
