Read Falling for Hadie for Free Online Page B

friends.
    Mom had been a nurse back home, but here in Statlen she preferred to stay at home and spy on the neighbors when she thought they weren’t looking. She acted like she was too good to speak to them, but kept complaining that they weren’t speaking to her. Hypocrite much?
    As for Becky, well, she thought that being one minute older than me gave her the right to act like she could boss me around in big sister fashion. She absolutely hated the fact that we’d chosen Statlen of all places to move to. And she blamed me for it. Sure, the reason we’d moved here was because of me, but I couldn’t believe that she couldn’t understand why this was so important to me.
    “Lincoln, is that you?” Mom’s voice carried from our new kitchen.
    “Yeah, Mom, it’s me,” I said, as I walked into the kitchen and found her putting some frozen fish fingers and chicken nuggets on a baking tray.
    Mom didn’t do home-cooked meals. Back in New York she’d had crazy night shifts at the hospital, which had left little time for home-making skills. Becky and I’d grown up on frozen dinners so it wasn’t anything new. Recently, Mom had been attempting to cook but I guess today was one of those days where she’d given up.
    Speaking of Becky, she was sitting at the kitchen table and gave me one of her overly cheerful looking smiles that didn’t quite reach her eyes.
    That’s another thing Mom and Becky had in common: their fake smiles. To the unsuspecting eye the smile seemed genuine enough, but I knew them well enough to know that that wasn’t the case. See, Mom and Becky liked to talk about other people like it was no one’s business, especially after flashing them one of those smiles. Seriously, I would never understand females.
    Mom put the tray in the oven and straightened up, wiping her brow with the back of her hand. “You’re back early. I thought it might be your father home from work.”
    Dad had been an accountant in New York, but accountants weren’t really in high demand in Statlen, so he’d settled for a boring desk job at the bank.
    I shook my head. “No, it’s just plain, old me.”
    “You haven’t told me about your first day of school yet,” Mom said, brushing her stringy brown hair out of her eyes as she sat down at the table, looking at me expectantly.
    Man, I hated this question. What was I supposed to say? That I’d had the bestest day ever trying to navigate my way through a small, close-knit school where all the students stared at me like I was dressed in drag?
    I leaned against the wall and shrugged. “There’s nothing really to tell. The kids ignored me for the most part. And there’s this girl who’s really unfriendly…”
    “Mom,” Becky began in a whiny tone better suited to a five-year-old, or a boiling kettle, “What am I going to do in this redneck, hillbilly town? Today was, like, the most boring day of my life.”
    If the attention wasn’t on Becky for more than a minute, she would make it all about her. That’s just the self-centered person Mom’s pandering had turned her into. As kids, Becky had always been the perfect child who could do no wrong, while I’d been the one who would get into trouble over the tiniest things.
    If Becky achieved something, it would be a huge deal and Mom would brag about it to anyone who’d listen. When it came to me, Mom never showed the same enthusiasm. Now that I was teenager, Mom found even more to blame me for. Story of my life.
    Naturally, Mom ignored me and gave attention to her favorite child. “But you said you had such a great day, and you made friends with the most popular girl in school. I’m sure you’ll get invited to lots of fun social events.”
    My mom always complained that I didn’t tell her anything but in all honesty, she just didn’t care enough to listen. Which was cool. I was used to it by now.
    “I know, Mom.” Becky flipped her hair over her shoulder. “But it’s so hard, you know? Therese Skyped me this