From Sunset to Nightfall by Shawna Whalen (best mobile ebook reader txt) 📕

I heard Billy’s car door slam shut. I closed my books, set them aside and rushed downstairs. “Hey, dad! Sorry, I was doing homework. I’ll get dinner started in a second,” I said as I hurried around the stairs and headed into the kitchen. I started to pull things from the cupboards and the fridge. Billy came into the kitchen and sat in his designated chair and took off his boots and his jacket. He slung the jacket on the back of the chair and placed his boots behind the chair. “That’s okay, kid. I’m in no rush to eat. There’s a game on and I wanted to catch the score,” Billy said as he walked into the living room. I putting something together for dinner, anything I could find in the cupboards and the fridge. There wasn’t much, Billy must’ve been eating out. I’ll have to go grocery shopping tomorrow, someone had to; and I knew Billy wouldn’t. I made a small dinner, mashed potatoes and chicken. “Mmm, smells good, Liz,” Billy said walking back into the kitchen. I waited for Billy to get his helping then got mine. I ate slowly, not wanting to go back to working on my homework. I was only half way through my first helping when Billy skidded his chair, stood and got another helping. When I was finished I rinsed my plate and started the dishes, another reason to put off things. Billy placed his plate next to the sink, “Thanks, Liz. That was delicious.” “You’re welcome, Dad. Oh, I’m going to need money to go grocery shopping tomorrow, if you’re going to want some more of my ‘delicious’ cooking,” I said quoting him. He chuckled to himself, “Yeah, yeah. I leave some money on the counter for ya in the morning.” I nodded and turned back to the dishes.
After I finished the dishes, I decided it was late enough to continue my homework, although I had other things on my mind. I slumped up the stairs when I heard Billy turn on the couch toward the stairs. I stopped half way up the stairs. “Liz, how was your first day?” Billy asked casually, I’d wondered why he didn’t bring this up during dinner. Maybe he’d forgotten, I didn’t blame him. I cleared me throat, “Good.” “Did you make any friends,” he asked, hopeful. “Yeah, I did. A couple. Makayla Johnson showed me around and invited me to sit with her friends during lunch.” I said, forcefully. He looked happy. “Well that’s nice. Have a good night, hon.” He turned back to the television, and relaxed into the couch. I sighed, “Night, Dad.” “Night, Liz,” he called over his shoulder. I walked up the stairs and went into my room, closing the door behind me.
I finished my homework within the next five minutes; I was disappointed, only because I didn’t want to sleep yet. Unwillingly I got dressed in my night clothes, which were just old sweats and a tank. I flip my light switch and snuggled into bed. It took me a few minutes to fall into a deep sleep because the rough, loud wind was making a branch brush against my window. I would need Billy to cut that down eventually. As soon as I was asleep, I had already known what my dream would consist of. More who of than what.
As I wondered through the woods behind Billy’s house, I saw Daniel. He was gracefully walking toward me. Wearing the same clothes as he had been today; a gray tee and black jeans. I was excited to see him, which was bad. I thought today was bad, thinking of how perfect he was, but this was just getting out of hand. I worried about what this meant. I had only known this beautiful boy for not even twenty-four hours. He kept walking toward me, smiling. He smiled that crooked smile of his, and even in my dream I became breathless. “Liz,” he purred. I started to walk toward him when the dim sunlight from my bedroom window shown through had hit my eyelids.

Chapter 5-Bothered

My eyes fluttered. I sighed, only a dream, I kept telling myself. The week had flown by and it was Friday, the last day of the week, the start of the weekend. I was excited, but not only because of the weekend. The weekend made me nervous, when would I see Daniel again? I flipped the blanket off of my legs and slid to place my toes on the hard-wood floor. I stood up; my feet tingled like I was stepping on tiny shards, from not moving for awhile. I grabbed my clothes and headed for the bathroom. I tried to rush through my shower, it was unsuccessful.
By the time I was out of the shower and fully dressed, I had only a few minutes to get to school. I was so absorbed in my dream that I had forgotten about school.
I hurried downstairs after grabbing my books, shoving them into my bag, and running into the kitchen, grabbing the money from Billy, shoving that into my pockets and ruffling in a box, in the cupboard for a granola bar. I found one and dashed out of the door. I sprinted for my truck when I noticed there was a small, gray car in Billy’s place. I skidded to a stop.
I cocked my head to the side, confused. Suddenly Daniel was at my side, I jumped. He laughed at my expression. “I thought I could give you a ride today, if you would like,” he asked, ever so politely. I shrugged and smiled, “Okay.” Then I blushed as he escorted me to the passenger door and helped me inside the mini car. I sat in his warm, tiny gray car for what it felt to only a millisecond, because Daniel was in the car as soon as I reached for my seat belt.
We pulled away from Billy’s house and we were on our way to school. Being in his car, I could smell his scent. It was so over powering, it was delicious. I inhaled deeply, trying to make it unnoticeable, I fail. He turned his face to look out the window. It looked like he was trying to hide a smile. I decided to break the silence; I couldn’t take it any longer. “So, what brought this on?” I asked, casually. He chuckled, “I don’t know. I thought we could hang out, get to know each other,” he paused briefly, “more.” More? I thought I had already told him my life story, what more could there be? I asked myself. I laughed to myself quietly but he noticed. “What’s funny?” he asked, curious, looking at me with those beautiful, piercing blueish silver eyes. I looked at him, straight in the eyes, “Why you think that I’m interesting. Why you want to know ‘more’ about me.” He smiled, “There’s everything more to know about you. You’re very interesting to me.” I was confused. “But…why? Why am I interesting to you? I mean, how am I?” I asked, sputtering the words out of my mouth. “You’re different,” Daniel said, in a stern voice. That felt like the end of the conversation, but I couldn’t-wouldn’t- let it be.
We pulled into the student parking lot and parked in Daniel’s original spot. It reminded me, “Where’s your family?” I asked. He chuckled, mostly to himself. He pointed down the aisle of cars, “Right there.” I laughed, mostly nervous. “They don’t like me,” I said, sadly looking at my folded hands in my lap. He seemed to want to comfort me, his hand looked like it yearned to hold mine; or maybe that was me. “They don’t know you,” he said defensive, I was hoping he was defending me. I sighed and he sighed. I went to reach for the door, when I realized the door was already opened.
Someone with really nice, expensive-I assumed-shoes stood at the car door. I was looking at the ground still. My eyes over looked the broad boy, he was wearing faded jeans, and a fitted tee. I looked at his face, beautiful of course. He had the same blueish silver eyes as Daniel did, but his hair was darker, shorter and matted to his head. He grin was so wide it looked like it hurt. I smiled shyly, recognizing the boy. It was Daniel’s older brother, Edwin.
I glanced behind Edwin, Katherine was glaring at me. Edwin distracted me though, “Hey, there! I’m Edwin, Daniel’s brother.” His voice was deep and rough, but still had boyishness to it. He laughed when I didn’t speak. He held out his hand to help me from the car. I eyed it, and shrugged in my mind. He was Daniel’s brother, and Daniel was right there, what harm could be done? Oh that’s right, Katherine, who looked like she might rip my head off right now. I heard a low gasp, although it sounded like a hiss coming from Daniel’s mouth. He was looking at Katherine as well. Edwin wasn’t paying any attention to Daniel or Katherine “Well, come on!” he said, putting his hand out further. It looked like he was about to grab my arm and remove me from the seat. I was afraid that that really would happen. So I grabbed my bag and reached for his hand.
He was hard and cold, just like Daniel. It was a cold day outside, so there was no need for judgments. I smiled sheepishly, blushing red and looking at the ground. Daniel saw this as an appropriate time to introduce me. “Edwin, this is Liz,” he said, gesturing toward me. I wanted so badly to take his hand. I had felt it so much in my dreams that I wanted to know the truth of how it felt. Maybe it felt the same as Edwin’s; after all, they are brothers.
As Daniel and Edwin walked on each side of me to the main doors of the school, I could feel the one pair of eyes glaring at me. I could feel them burning into my back, and my head. I was too terrified of her glaring eyes to look back, so I moved my eyes to the cold, hard ground beneath my feet.
I felt awkwardly small between Daniel and Edwin. When I looked up from the ground I noticed they were looking at each other over the top of my head, but when they noticed I was looking, Edwin turned his head and Daniel looked at me. Suddenly Edwin stopped walking, and turned to us. He hesitated, “Uh…I better go get my things. I’ll see you later Liz.” I smiled shyly, blushing as well. I nodded, “Okay.” He laughed at my red face, glanced at Daniel and walked away. Daniel smiled his perfect crooked smile at me. “Well, we best not be late for class. Let’s go,” he said, placing his hand on the small of my back guiding me forward.
It felt weird walking into the school under Daniel’s arm. I could feel my cheeks getting hotter by every pair of eyes that turned glare and stare. Again, I kept my eyes on the floor, away from the curious students’ eyes.
The walk for my first class was excruciating. Everyone was just staring at me and Daniel. I think Daniel noticed it bothered me to have everyone looking at us, so he removed his hand from my back. He was walking silently beside me as we stopped in front of my classroom. I could see from the corner of my eye, the kids in the room watching out the door.
Daniel and I stood in an awkward silence for what seemed to be forever. He broke the silence with a question I didn’t want to answer, something I didn’t even want to consider. “Liz, do you