How Nick and Holly Wrecked...Saved Christmas Read Online Free PDF

offers me a red plastic cup and motions toward the selection of drinks on the island.
    I take the cup. “I’ll get something,” I shout over the music.
    He smiles and grabs a bag of chips. “I’ll find Ricky. Wanna come?”
    “Go ahead,” I say. “I’ll be around.”
    “You sure?”
    “I’m sure.”
    I fill my cup with ginger ale.
    Someone snickers behind me. “Omigosh... Did you see her nose? Who is she here with?”
    I don’t bother to turn around. Move along, stupid shallow people. I know I don’t belong here, but since I am, deal with it.
    I take a picture of the adult beverage bar and text it to Amanda.
    U r not going to believe where I am.
    I get lost in a crush of partiers and eventually make my way to the base of a winding staircase. I sit and watch as the celebration goes by.
    “Holly?”
    “Kayla?”
    “Hey, girl, I didn’t know you were coming.”
    “I didn’t either.”
    Kayla and I go way back. We’ve attended the same church since we were three and bunked at the same summer church camp for six years. We serve on the same youth mission committee and work the church nursery together every other month. That’s where the similarities end. Her involvement in athletics and cheerleading beats my choir-drama loserness in every popularity poll that was ever written. She gets to be a Christian and be cool and I get to be a Christian and, well, not be cool.
    Kayla twirls a piece of long, curly blonde hair around her finger and looks around. “Are you here with somebody?”
    “I rode with Nick. But we’re not together together.”
    “Nick Z.?”
    “Yes.” The look of shocked horror on Kayla’s face is almost comical.
    “Huh. I didn’t know you two were friends.”
    I take a sip of ginger ale. Me either. “We got to know each other a little better when we both were involved with the holiday show.”
    Kayla isn’t listening anymore.
    “I gotta go,” she says as she’s swept away by her boyfriend. “Your nose looks better. See you in church on Christmas Eve.”
    I wish. On both counts. “Thanks.”
    I glance at my phone. It’s been a while since I last saw Nick. I text him.
    Heading outside to get some air.
    I make my way back through the kitchen and down to the laundry room. I rush past the couple making out on the extra-large pet bed on the floor and head out into the cold.
    Nick texts back. On my way .
    But five minutes later, I’m freezing to death. I start down the path. There’s no reason to die in the arctic when Dr. Zernigan’s luxury SUV is heated and full of gas. I aim the remote and double click. The headlights come on in the distance and the low gentle hum of the engine promises warmth.
    The noise of the party fades behind me and I barely notice the road above the trail—until the blinking red and blue lights of a police car bounce off the trees around me.
    The car slows.
    I fumble for my phone and rip off my glove.
    COPS!!!! I text to Nick.
    I run. The cold air bites my nose and throat as I breathe too hard. My knees buckle as I fight with the door handle and realize I haven’t punched the right button.
    Someone is running toward me. “Get in and drive,” Nick yells. “Drive!”
    I keep clicking as I run around the other side. Car engines rev and footsteps are heavy on the road as panicked and drunken party-goers try to escape.
    The door comes open as my hearts beats out of my chest. Clearly by accident, the back of the SUV starts to rise.
    “No!” I punch more buttons and jump in the driver’s seat.
    “Go!” Nick dives in the back and pulls down the door. “Drive!”
    “I don’t know how to drive this thing,” I scream back at him.
    “It’s just a car. Drive!”
    I put it in gear. It lurches forward and I hit the brakes hard before making a slow, sharp turn in the dirt.
    “Take your time and pull out on the road,” he says as he crawls toward the front. “If you aren’t driving crazy, they’ll have no reason to stop you.”
    I do and creep away from