Crystal Falls by Heather Lawhun (e book reader for pc TXT) 📕

so I won’t be home until later.” I said to them.
“Okay, we’re going to invite some friends over.” David said.
“The house better be clean by the time I get home.”
“Okay ‘Mom’!” Adrian said rolling his eyes. I smiled.
“I went to the store, so there should be some snacks for you guys to snack on.” I said as we pulled into the school parking lot. I parked the car and we got out. David and Adrian walked off to go meet with their friends. “Alright, time to go to the office.”
“Can I ask you something?” Rori asked hesitantly.
“You just did, but yes.” I said grinning.
“Where are your parents?” I looked down at the ground sadly. ‘I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.”
“No, it’s okay. They died in a tragic airplane crash two years ago. They were coming back from Europe. It was their Anniversary.”
“I’m sorry.”
“What about yours?” She grimaced.
“It’s complicated.” I left it at that because I could tell she didn’t want to talk about it. We made it to the office and we walked u p to Ms. Carry. She had mid-back length hair and baby blue eyes. She was pretty young compared to all the other staff members. She looked to beautiful. She had the right curves in all the right places. Now, why does a woman like her have a job like this and why is she single? The world may never know.
Despite all that, she’s a really nice and cool person. “Good morning Emi, who’s your friend?”
“Good morning Ms. Carry. This is my new neighbor, Rori, and she needs her schedule. She just moved here.”
“I see and what grade are you in?” Ms. Carry asked Rori.
“Junior.” Rori said quietly. Ms. Carry nods and starts fumbling with papers.
“So how’s that brother of yours doing Emi?”
“You mean Isaac?”
“Who else?” She asked rolling her eyes. I laughed.
“He’s doing great. He’s off tomorrow.”
“That’s great. Are you skipping practice?”
“Of course.” I said grinning. She shook her head.
“Well, it’s none of my business whether you skip or not. Ah, here it is, Aurora Scott. That’s a pretty name.” Rori took her schedule mumbling thanks and then we left. I looked over her schedule.
“You’re in two classes with David and Adrian and three classes with me!” She nods. Then I took her on a tour of the school. It took a good thirty minutes. It’s a good thing we have block scheduling, huh? I took her to all of the classrooms that were listed on her schedule. I showed her the lunchroom, gym, and the library as well. I love our school’s library! Anyways, I walked her to her first class and then took off to my own class. She has third hour with David and Adrian, so she’ll have second lunch and so will I. I hope David and Adrian will be her friends too. Mr. Garrison wasn’t too angry with me, but I think that’s only because he knows I’m a good student. The day went by slowly.

Chapter 2

Today had to be one of the longest days of my life. Every class I went to, I had to introduce myself. I had to fake smiles all day and act like my life is perfect. The only people I actually felt wanted to talk to me were Emi and her brothers. She really saved me this morning. The last thing I need is to be around when Mom wakes up. Honestly, she is higher than a kite by the time I get home. Unfortunately, she hasn’t found a dealer yet. I realize that as soon as I walk in. “It’s about time you showed up!” She yells at me. I look a t the clock on the wall. It’s three-thirty and she considers it late. I roll my eyes and try to walk past her. She slaps me across the face, knocking me backwards. “You will respect me!” She yells in my face. Her breath smells like vodka and tic-tacs. That’s always the worst. “Get your lazy butt busy making my super!” She roars at me and lets me through to the kitchen. I decide on grill cheese and tomato soup.
I get the soup boiling, then heat up the pan. It’s about this time I see Adrian at the back door, holding a plate of cookies. He is frozen in place, staring at the spot where Mom just slapped me. I walk back and open the door. “Hey!” I said smiling brightly, hoping maybe that will sidetrack him from the handprint on my face.
“Hi,” He said smiling slightly. “Emi made these, they’re really good.” Then his voice dropped to a whisper. “You should come over and talk to Isaac. He can help.” And with that he left. After dinner, I went down to the basement. I set it up so I could practice as soon as I got home. I changed into workout clothes and started warm-ups. I got lost in the music so fast, I quickly let the pain and worry melt away. After dance, I took a shower. Homework is always better after a nice, warm shower. I got to thinking about the movies tomorrow. It seemed fun, but the last time I went to the movies was two years ago and the guy had used me to get to my Mom. Speaking of Mom’s boyfriends, she must have already got one here since I heard a loud pound on the door and her rushing to answer it. Maybe he was her new fix. As much as I hate the smell that comes with her drugs, I hated her off the drugs even more. I figured I would head to bed early and try and catch the bus tomorrow. There was a note on my window when I got back from brushing my teeth.
Rori,
I know you probably want me to pretend that I didn’t see anything earlier, but I did. Emi seen you sneaking around this morning and knows what’s up. I can’t get the sight of her hitting out of my head. Please talk to our brother. He can help you.
Your friend, Adrian
I checked my face in the mirror and sure enough there was a bruise on my face. That was going to be hard to hide. I went to bed and planned to fix it in the morning.

Chapter 3

I got up the next morning worrying about Rori. I know that I’m being nosy, but I just can’t help it. Adrian told me about what he saw last night and I just wanted to go over there and help her, but I stopped myself. Why? Well, I what I could have done to help her? Bring her over here and let her stay? Yeah, it’s good, until her mother decides she wants her back over there and then there’s nothing I could do about it. “Someone’s distracted this morning.” I jumped. Isaac chuckled. “And a little jumpy too.” I sighed.
“I’m sorry.” Then I got an idea. “What would you do if you had a friend who gets hurt by a parent but they don’t want anyone to know?”
“Do I know this person?”
“No.” But you will… I finished in my head.
“Well, I’d do the best I can to help them and then when it’s not enough, well; I’d go to the police about it.”
“What if you don’t have much evidence? Like what if you don’t have the evidence to prove it?”
“It’d work out somehow.” He said sitting down at the kitchen table. “Now tell me about our new neighbors. Are they nice?”
“The daughter is, but I haven’t met the parents yet. Oh and speaking of which, we invited the daughter to go to the movies with us today.”
“Are her parents okay with it?”
“Hm, well she didn’t really say, but I’ll ask her. Her name is Aurora Schtt by the way. He told us we could call her Rori.” He nods. “Question…”
“Yes?”
“Why are you up so early if you don’t have to work today?” He shrugged.
“I’m used to it I guess. What about you?”
“To talk to you before you go to work.” I said shrugging. He smiled.
“Isn’t it about time those two upstairs have to get up?”
“Yeah, I’ll...”
“No, I’ll get them up.” He said standing up and ruffling my hair. He wants to make up all the times that he’s been gone. I sighed. I wish there was some way he could get a good paying job, so that he’ll be home more often. I started breakfast. I miss all the times when we were little. We always played at the park and messed with each other, and then when one of us was getting bullied, the rest of us would go and help them. I got bullied the most. SO Isaac, Adrian, and David always came to my rescue. I caught a tear that was rolling down my cheek and wiped it away. I calmed myself down and focused on making breakfast so I wouldn’t cry. I put breakfast on the table and sat down.
I made sure I wasn’t going to cry before Isaac, Adrian, and David walked into the kitchen. Adrian and David were in a really good mood and were really energetic. This is only because Isaac is here. I smiled. I love it when they’re energetic in the morning, because there’s never a dull moment. “Smells good.”
“Thanks.” I said as they all sat down.
“So are we really going to see Paranormal Activity two?” Adrian asked grinning. Isaac chuckled.
“Yes, we are going to see Paranormal Activity two.”
“Yay!” Adrian and David cheered. I smiled.
“Did you tell Rori what we’re watching?”
“Oops, I forgot.” I said freaking out a bit.
“It looks like you got carried away again.” Isaac said shaking his head.
“I’m sorry!”
“It’s okay, Emi. We’ll tell her at school.” David said smiling.
“Ah!” I yelled.
“What?” all three of them asked at the same time.
“We missed the school bus again!”
“I’ll drive you all to school.” Isaac said chuckling to himself.
“Yay!” We all cheered at the same time. Isaac drove us to school.
“I’ll pick you guys up after school.”
“Okay!” We yelled as we got out of the car. People looked at us strangely but we didn’t care. We waved at Isaac until he was gone.
“I miss him already.” I sad pouting.
“Me too. “ David and Adrian said at the same time pouting too. The bell rang and we went to class. We had the same lunch hour, although I’m not sure which lunch Rori has today. I hope she has third lunch. And if she doesn’t then I hope Adrian or David tells her. I sat down in my seat next to one of my best school friends, Sarah.
“Good morning Emi!” Sarah greeted me grinning.
“Good morning Sarah!” I greeted back grinning too. Sarah has long, brown hair that reaches just past middle of her back. She has chocolate brown eyes and has fairly nice tan skin. She’s not much taller than me. We’ve been friends since kindergarten. We tell each other everything. She’s on the track team with me! I love her death. “Guess what?”
“What?”
“Isaac’s off today!” I said excitedly.
“Really? That’s great! So are you going to skip out on practice?” She asked grinning.
“You know it! I’m not going to miss out on my brother being home!” She chuckled.
“You love him a lot, huh?”
“Yeah.” I said smiling. The teacher started class and I ended up getting lost in my memories of when Isaac, Adrian, David, and I were little.
“Miss Andrews, please answer the problem on the board.” The teacher said pulling me out of my thoughts. I glanced at the problem.
“X=5.” He blinked