First Chances Read Online Free PDF

eat anything related to fruit in my life.”
    Actually, the only reason I knew about the two of them hooking up was because last week after school I’d driven past them climbing into the back of his van. It was coincidence, really, but he didn’t need to know that.
    “Yeah, well.” He fell silent as his face turned as purple as the blueberries in his bagel.
    Even though I didn’t think they needed to hide their relationship, I understood why they were doing it. Not too long ago, Stacey and Luca had been hooking up, before Ashton had come back into his life. Luca wouldn’t care that Riley and Stacey were together, but I could see that maybe Stacey didn’t want us to think she got around.
    “Hi!” Ashton said with a wave as we reached the table. 
    “Hey,” I said, slipping into the chair across from her and barely dodging the banana peel that flew over the top of my head.
    I freaking hated eating in the cafeteria.
    During the warmer months, we usually occupied the courtyard outside, but now that the temperature had dropped it was impossible to stay outside so we had to endure the noise and chaos of the overcrowded cafeteria.
    “You guys took ages,” Ashton commented as she played around with her chicken salad.
    Luca had an arm draped around her shoulder and was studying her like he wanted to devour her. He caught my eye and grinned when I shot him a knowing look. We both knew how proud he was to be dating one of the hottest girls in school. Plus, he’d been in love with Ashton since they were kids. It was pretty much a win-win for him.
    “Eddie was eye-screwing Hadie again,” Riley said without pause.
    I turned my head to shoot him a glare and found Stacey sidling up to him. I gave him a pointed look and his face turned red.
    “Oh.” Ashton’s eyes sought out Hadie in the overcrowded cafeteria. “She seems different .”
    Ashton and Hadie had never been friends, but I knew they had always been cordial towards each other. Ashton was really the only one out of my friends who could understand how much Hadie had changed.
    “Yeah,” I mumbled, unwrapping my sandwich and biting into it a little too aggressively.
    “If you like her then do something about it,” Luca spoke up from beside his girlfriend, his green eyes serious as he studied me. “Don’t let her slip away from you. Show her that she means something to you.”
    I noticed Ashton turn her head towards him and smile. The two of them knew all about slipping away from each other.
    He was right, though. She did mean something to me, and I wasn’t about to lose her three times in a row, especially not to Three. Pun intended.
    ***
    Coming home every day was a strange kind of torture for me. Not because of my family—no, my mom and sister were great—but because of all the financial problems we had.
    As I headed up the path to our house, I couldn’t help but let all the worries sink into me.
    I was only seventeen, but my problems were beyond my years. We could barely afford to continue living in our house.
    Mortgage. Endless bills to pay. Groceries. School. The dream of going to college.
    After Dad disappeared on us last year, it had fallen on Mom to pay for everything by herself, plus take care of Hailie and me. I helped out as much as I could with my part-time job at Belle’s Diner , but it wasn’t the greatest paying job.
    We were lucky we had a great family that helped us out from time to time, but we didn’t have the same comfortable life we’d lived before Dad had bailed on us. Where was he? I couldn’t say for sure. All I knew was that there had always been something a little off about him, as though he was trapped in a life he didn’t really want to be in.
    To relieve some of the stress, I played in a pop punk band called Skeptic Coil with Luca and Riley, hoping it would take us somewhere one day. For now, we played small shows around the Midwest and barely made enough to pay for our gas.
    The guys had no idea what was going on in my