Read Awaken for Free Online Page B

Baylie, and I
could see the displeasure with them both beneath their polite
expressions.
    “Well, thank you for your hospitality,” my
dad said, his voice tight as he rose to his feet. “But we’d better
be going.”
    Mom gave them a pinched smile as she followed
my dad across the room. “Come on,” she told me as she walked
past.
    I looked between everyone. “They…” I started,
and then trailed off. I didn’t even know what my parents had said
to the Delaneys.
    “Chloe,” Dad called.
    “Whatever they told you,” I pressed on, “it’s
not Noah or Baylie’s fault.”
    Glancing to Noah, I tried for a smile, and
then trailed my parents to the door. Hefting my backpack, Dad put
it in my arms and then nodded toward the car.
    I went. Reaching their sedan, I swung my bag
onto the seat and then reluctantly climbed in. Dad shut the door
behind me and then joined my mom in the front. The sedan quivered
as he turned it on, and gravity pushed me back as he accelerated
away. Ignoring the speed, my mother drew a tight breath as she
tucked a lock of her wavy brown hair behind her ear.
    And neither of them said a word.
    I sighed, looking back toward the horizon
through the smoked windows. Sunlight glistened on the waves and
seagulls flew in lazy arcs through the sky. Boats cut myriad lines
through the blue expanse, and behind several of them,
bright-colored water-skiers skimmed along. Even through the haze of
the darkened windows, it was still a beautiful day.
    And I’d be back to see more of them.
    Clinging to the thought, I kept watching the
water till the car turned again and the ocean view was obscured by
bushes and trees. Following a twisting path through town, Dad
steered the car toward the state highway, his every motion tense
and angry.
    And then he turned north.
    My brow furrowed.
    Continuing on, he traced the highway for a
few miles and then took an exit to another state road leading even
more sharply north.
    I turned around, looking through the rear
window.
    Surely not.
    I restrained an incredulous scoff. They
weren’t going back the way Baylie and I came. And the only reason I
could think of was that the main road ran along the water and,
owing to the curve of the coastline, these roads led directly away
from it.
    Wow. Just… wow.
    “What were you thinking , Chloe?” my
mother hissed, her voice barely audible over the road noise.
    I glanced to her. She twisted around in her
seat, pinning me with a furious glare.
    “We heard about your little boat trip,” she
told me.
    “I’m fine.”
    She scoffed, the sound nearly what I’d kept
myself from making a few moments before.
    But that’s family for you. Get angry the same
way.
    “No thanks to your own foolishness,” she
retorted. “You’re just lucky the Coast Guard pulled you out when
they did.”
    I turned to the window.
    “You look at me when I’m talking to you,
young lady.”
    I ignored her.
    “Chloe Marie Kowalski!”
    “Listen to your mother, Chloe,” Dad ordered.
“You have no idea how lucky you are. There are bacteria in
seawater. Dangerous animals too. Killer sharks. Sting rays–”
    I wasn’t able to hold back the scoff this
time.
    “You could have died!” Mom snapped.
    I gave her an incredulous look.
    Her glare deepened. “It’s dangerous out
there, Chloe. There are diseases, and rabid animals, and crazy
people. The world isn’t one big playground for you to go tromping
around in, young lady, and I just hope you learn that before it
hurts you.”
    I turned away with a groan.
    “You’re grounded,” she said.
    “Figured.”
    “Till Christmas.”
    My eyebrows climbed as I looked back to her.
“ Huh ?”
    “You heard me.”
    “You are not serious.”
    “Oh, yes I am. Your father and I discussed
this on the two-day drive you made us take to get out here.”
    “I didn’t make you–”
    “We told you no about this trip, and you came
anyway. What were we supposed to do?”
    “Let me! It was just a short–”
    “No. It was