Alone and Afraid (Rocky Mountain Home Series Book 1) by Elizabeth Sherry Page A

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Chapter 1
     
    “Naw.  She’s okay.” I half managed to get out as my friends were teasing me about having a crush on April Powders. 
    “Yeah, you do! Ohhhh, yeah, you do!  Jimmy likes April.  Jimmy likes April,” Mikey sang out loud while dancing around our lunch table.  I’m not sure how, exactly, I became friends with Mikey.  I suppose it was because we had homeroom together since I could remember.  He was very tall for a thirteen year old and built like a lumberjack.  And, like you’d assume from looking at his unkempt hair and dirt-stained face, he had absolutely no manners.  He didn’t even care if there were girls around when he needed to pass gas, or shoot a booger out of his nose.  And, he certainly didn’t mind embarrassing me in front of April Powders. 
    I was quickly turning beet red, and wanted to die. 
    April wa s a girl who I sat next to each day in my English literature and biology classes.  She had curly, brown hair that always smelled like roses.  She was our class president, and my lab partner in biology.  The truth was, I did have a bit of a crush on her, but I’d never tell Mikey that.  No need to give him more ammunition to use on me later.  It was always so hard to concentrate on the biology lesson when I was sitting next to April.  I was magically transported into the wishful thinking of my mind by the lovely, clean scent of April’s hair.  I would get so nervous, though, that I had to constantly wipe the palms of my hands on my pants in class.  They would sweat so much when I was around her.  I mean, they would sweat a lot…so much so, that I felt like a sweat factory in biology!  I probably left class everyday with pit stains under my arms too.  I’m sure she thought I was a complete and utter idiot. 
    Bei ng thirteen and in high school was hard to figure out.  As a teen and high schooler, I was supposed to hit on girls every chance I got and try to get dates or more from them…but, just last year I was made fun of if I even had a crush on a girl, or a girl had a crush on me.  I never really knew what to do, and Mikey seemed to know that and pounced on me every chance he got.  Unfortunately, for me, he got a lot of chances.  I mean A LOT!
    “Aww…leave him alone, Mike,” my best friend, Connor, interjected.  “Can’t ya see he’s embarrassed?”
    Connor was everything I wished I was.  He was taller than me…standing at five foot nine inches.  He was athletic and toned.  He had brown hair and hazel eyes like me, but also kind-of a crooked smile that seemed to make girls swoon.  He was the kind of guy who was smart, funny, witty, goofy, and outgoing.  I felt very lucky to have him as my best friend.  I could tell Connor anything and know my secrets were safe with him.  He was completely trust-worthy, and we had been friends since I was nine years old.  That’s when he stopped a bully from beating my face to a bloody stump.  I know he was just trying to protect me this time too, but Mikey was hard to reel in when he knew he was getting under a person’s skin. 
    Just as Mikey was about to start in again, and likely embarrass me to even greater depths than before, the school bell loudly rang. 
    RRIIIINNNNNGGGGGG….
    Saved by the bell, lunch was over. 
    I exhale d a huge sigh of relief, as I picked up my trash and partially eaten sandwich and tossed them in the fly ridden trash can.  I missed while trying to shoot the balled up wrapper into the can, as if it was a basketball.  I quickly looked around to make sure Mikey didn’t see my failure, and it seemed that I was in the clear for once.  Now, I just had to make it through the rest of the day. 
    Connor and I to ld Mikey we would see him later since he had Algebra class on the other end of campus.  As we walked away, Mikey yelled at the top of his lungs,