riven by maggie morris (best novels to read for students TXT) 📕

“You know what? I’m done with you! You’re FIRED!”

“You can’t fire me! Because I quit!” I stormed out the door.

* * * * *

When I pulled into Claire’s driveway that evening, I had butterflies in my stomach. My plan was to hangout for two hours, then fake a stomach ache. At that point, though, the stomach ache might not end up being fake. Then, I would go to my new house and put on my outfit I had picked out and be ready for Bryce by 7:00.

I was also nervous because my foster parents didn’t want me dating until I was 18, and sadly, I was only 17. This meant that I would have to lie to them, which I hated doing, because they were the nicest parents I’d ever had. The plan was to tell them I was meeting with a study group to finish up a little Spanish homework.

I pushed open my car door, taking a deep breath. My footsteps are muffled by my cloth flats as I walked to the door.

I took one look at it and turned around. My stomach protested as I ran to my car. I climbed in.

I slammed the door shut and started the engine. Suddenly, I panicked when I saw Claire’s face in what I assumed to be her bedroom window, staring out at me. She smiled sadly and the curtain fell. No! She must think that I’m blowing her off! But, it was too late to do anything.

Pulling the car out of the driveway, I thought about how badly I’d screwed things up. I scolded myself under my breath as I drove. I had no idea where I was going-I’d only been in this foster home for the summer. At this point, it looked like I wasn’t going to be staying there much longer.

For a while I just drove. I started thinking about Bryce’s messy hair that cropped his face… Omigod, Bryce! I had completely forgotten about my date with him. I looked at my watch. It was 8:07. Oh, great!

Suddenly, my stomach felt like it was full of water balloons, and vomit crawled up my throat. I pulled over as quickly as I could and watched my lunch come up. I felt horrible, but I had no idea why! Rarely did I ever get sick.

Feeling exhausted, I plopped onto the dirt ground, being careful to avoid my puke, and wiped my mouth. Looking around, I saw that I was in a cul-de-sac that had no houses surrounding it, just trash. Other than that, it was empty. Just then, a heard a voice coming from beneath me.

“Calling...Bryce Manchester.” Talking mushrooms! Oh, crap. I had accidentally butt-dialed Bryce! I removed my phone from my pocket as fast as I could, forgetting about my stomach.

Acting like the phone was a bomb, I shakily entered my password, trying to hang up. All of a sudden, a terrific pain shot through my head. And everything went black.

* * * * *

“Where am I?” I sat up rubbing my head. I winced, my fingers brushing over a large bump. I was surprised to find Bryce worriedly peering over me.

“Thank God you’re awake! I thought he had killed you!”

“Um...who’s he?” I asked, confused.

“When I found you, you were being robbed. God, you scared me so much!” He ran his fingers through his hair. “Now, we need to get you to the hospital.” He picked me up, and I whacked his arm.

“Put me down! I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what happened!” I felt so angry and confused.

“I just saved you! Is this the thanks I get?” Bryce dropped me on the ground. Immediately, I stood up and shoved him. Instead of getting mad, like I had expected him to, he grabbed my arm and kissed me.

When I didn’t pull away, he burrowed his fingers in my hair and kissed me deeper. It felt so amazing, but it didn’t last long enough. We broke apart and without a word he led me to his car. Bryce cleared the passenger seat of trash and gestured to it. Taking his hand, I sat down and let him put a blanket over me.

When he started the car, I looked down. Stared. Swallowed.

“Are we...a couple now?” I question him, feeling giddy.

“I don’t know. Maybe? Yes? No? I don’t know!”  Bryce looked overwhelmed.

“Subject change?”

“Yes, please.”
“Okay. What happened?” I asked.

“Brace yourself for a long story. So, you called me, I hope you know. It was a good thing we gave each other our numbers on Monday.” I nodded urging him to continue. “I answered and heard a scream. I freaked out.” Oh. I didn’t remember doing that.

“So, I tracked the phone signal to here and drove like heck. When I showed up, a guy was holding a gun to your head and you were passed out. He was sifting through your car, looking for valuables. I went up to him and punched his lights out.” Bryce lifted up his hands, and I could see bruises developing.

“What about my car? Is it still back there?” I wondered.

“No, sadly. He had an accomplice hiding down the road. The ally grabbed his unconscious buddy and hotwired your car. It’s gone. Sorry.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” I said, tears filling my eyes. The car had been my parents’, and it was very important to me, as it was the only thing that hadn’t been taken by the government. “Let’s just get to the hospital.”

I could tell that Bryce felt bad and that made me feel bad.

“Bryce, seriously. Don’t worry about it,” I persuaded. He grimaced and helped me into his car.

“Try to get some sleep. You may have been unconscious, but sleep is the best remedy for any health issue.” Upon his words, I fell asleep.

* * * * *

When I finally opened my eyes, sunlight was shining through the white aluminum blinds of a hospital room. My foster dad was sitting on a plastic chair right next to the bed, but Bryce was nowhere to be seen. Almost immediately, my dad jumped up.

“You’re awake! I’ll go get the doctor and he can look you over.”

“No need,” a low voice sounded. I looked up to see an official-looking man wearing a lab coat enter the room with a clipboard in hand. The average, stereotypical doctor.

“Let’s see, Miss Morgenstern,” he said, looking over his papers. “Concussion due to physical street assault, mild cuts and bruises, and a dislocated wrist bone.”

Well that explained why my wrist had been throbbing so much!

“What do we need to do, Dr. McKenny?” My father asked.

“Well, to get her fixed up, we will need to sterilize her cuts, some of which might require a couple stitches, relocate her wrist, and she will need to stay home from school at least three days. It should only take about two hours. ” He adjusted his glasses. Dad looked worried.

“And...how much will this cost?”

“Well, depending on whether or not she needs stitches, and if she decides to stay the night again, it will probably cost about, oh, 120 dollars. Not much,” Dr. McKenny provided. My dad paled.

“But, Doctor, that is a much as our monthly bill!” He sat back down on the chair. Just then, my foster mom walked in.

“Did I miss something?” She asked, noting my dad’s stressed face and the doctor’s annoyed posture.

“No, nothing at all, Mrs. Morgenstern.” The doctor plastered a fake smile on his face. “I’ll just go bring in the nurses and we can start the relocation.” The thought of that made me shudder. It was then that my mom noticed I was awake, and she looked at me pointedly and raised a brown bag. I broke into a grin when I saw the Starbucks symbol decorating the front of it.

She walked over to me and set on my lap, kissing my forehead. Dad and Dr. McKenny walked into the hall to continue their discussion. Mom sat down beside me and stroked my hand.  

Sometimes, my foster parents made it easy to forget that they weren’t my real parents. We even looked pretty similar. All three of us had the same dark brown hair, the same thin figure. But, unlike them, I had grey eyes, whereas they had green eyes. Just like Bryce.

Without realizing it, I blushed.

“What?” My mom asked, suddenly hostile. “Is that blush about that one boy? What’s his name...Bruce?” My eyebrows raised in surprise.

“What did he tell you? And his name is Bryce, by the way.”

“Oh, nothing much. Just introduced himself to me and your father as your boyfriend,” my mom scolded. She was getting angry. But-Bryce considered us...dating?

“You know how your dad does not want you dating until you are 18. It is unlike you to disobey us, and there will be repercussions. But, I talked to him a little bit-that was what I was doing out there, besides getting you Starbucks-and he seems like a nice guy. Blake and I have decided to let you “go out” with him, but keep in mind that there will be no kissing until you have gone on at least three dates, and you are not allowed to go to his house or come to our house if parents aren’t home.”

“Really? Wow, Mom, this is amazing! I can’t believe I can date Bryce Manchester!” She didn’t need to know that I had already kissed him.

Instead of smiling with me, my mom said, “Oh, my little girl is growing up!” My smiled falter.

“Mom, you know I’m not really your daughter, right?” I asked. She sighed.

“Why do you keep bringing this up, sweetie? You know I know that, but I just like to think otherwise. When I found out I couldn’t have children, and you came along, it felt like a miracle. It felt like you were my own daughter. And I love you and treat you like you are.” A tear slid down my cheek.

This is what it feels like to have real parents, I thought. I moved around in the crisp sheets of the bed, and the IV in my arm tickled my vein. I didn’t know how that was possible, but it happened.

“Well, honey, better get some rest. I’ll come by in a few hours, whenever they bring you your food.” Mom smiled sadly, squeezed my arm, and left the room.

Then, with nothing else to do, I turned on the small TV to the channel 41, the news channel. On the screen, a woman wearing too much makeup looked straight at the camera smiled.

“Today we have breaking news on the process of the world undoing itself. Coming live to you from Saudi Arabia, I’m with the world’s top seven scientists. They’ve been conducting research on why and how the world is ending. Thomas, would you care to tell us about your findings?” The wind picked up as Thomas took the bulky microphone.

“Well, I’d just like you to notice these brown skies above me!” The camera tilted upwards, making Thomas have to shout even louder. “As you can see, the sky is very polluted. What with electric cars and solar power, you would think our earth would be sterile. But, after two months out here in the desert, we have come to the conclusion that the skies are being affected by the electrolytes from discarded batteries combining with photons in the air. This makes the photons become clogged up, thus eventually blocking out the sun.

There is nothing that we can do to stop this process now, as it has been happening for over a millenia. But we can try to slow it down, therefore eliminating the use of all batteries. My team of scientists and I have created a new type of battery, one that does not use electrolytes, and hopefully Earth will survive for another month,” Thomas concluded.

“Thank you, Thomas Reuters. Now, over to you with the weather, Gary.”

At that, I clicked the TV off. I had a little over a month to live! This could not