Taken In by the Pack: Second Chances Read Online Free PDF

an alternate universe or something. I just stared at her, words having entirely fled.
     
    She smiled at me and stroked my hair. “Don’t worry, honey. If it keeps up, we’ll see about it, okay?”
     
    I nodded slowly, unable to frame a reply.
     
    “Eat up, then want to come watch a movie with us?” she offered, seeming conciliatory.
     
    “I… uhm…. Sure.” I probably shouldn’t stay that long, I should get home and study… but I’d come all this way, and it seemed silly not to stay for a little while at least.
     
     
     
    In the end, it was a wonderfully fun time; I missed my little sisters terribly now that I was away at school. By the time I made my way out to my car — after dozens and dozens of hugs — I was almost relaxed.
     
    Almost.
     
    I turned on the radio and sang along with most of the songs as I returned to Richmond, trying very hard to keep myself from watching the rearview mirror the whole time. If the truck was there somewhere, the dark obscured it, and that was enough to keep me from freaking out again.
     
    Considering how little sleep I had gotten the night before, it took me entirely too long to get to sleep that night, though at least it wasn’t nearly as bad as last night had been.
     
     
     

 
     
    Chapter Three
     
     
     
    I spent all day Saturday as jittery as the proverbial long-tailed cat in the room full of rocking chairs. Between Bryson randomly reappearing, Mr. Mutton Chops following me — and I was convinced he had been following me, no matter what my mom said — and the bonfire happening that evening, I was a real mess.
     
    I’m not even sure why I was so nervous about the bonfire; you’d think I’d have been excited about it. Angie certainly was. Maybe it was just due to my mistrust of guys in general, and the inevitable being hit on at a party; I really hadn’t dated since Bryson hurt me so badly. Maybe it was worry about the creepy biker guy showing up in a place with no one but a few dozen college kids around. Or maybe it was a premonition. Who knows. Whatever the reason, I was definitely nervous about it.
     
    I spent a few hours trying to study; I was starting to fall behind, and that would be a real disaster for me. I struggled enough as it was. I didn’t have the leeway to absorb any setbacks.
     
    Try as I might, though, my textbooks may as well have been written in Greek for all the information I retained. When I failed to get anywhere with one, I switched to another, and another, and back to the first. I tried reading over the notes from the classes. Nothing seemed to work. Every time I thought I was finally getting somewhere, my mind would wander off, thinking about the restaurant with Bryson, or Mutton Chops showing up in the mall, or any of the other weird events of the last few days.
     
    Finally I gave up, disgusted with myself, and packed up my books and papers again. What was wrong with me? I couldn’t afford to waste all my effort to get here because of a little emotional upheaval. I had to get this crap under control, and fast. But, clearly, today wasn’t the day that was going to happen.
     
    I went into my tiny kitchen, and assembled myself a sandwich, though I barely paid attention to which cold cuts and vegetables I was piling onto the French roll. When I had finished that, I grabbed a can of soda — a rare treat for myself — and went to sit on my threadbare couch in front of the television.
     
    I had several services on shared accounts with my mom hooked up to my box, even though I didn’t watch much. I spent a good ten minutes or more before settling on some innocuous but vaguely entertaining sounding nature show on Netflix. I watched as I ate, and tried to relax and not think about any of the various things that had been stressing me out.
     
    Once I’d finished eating — I hadn’t managed to pay much more attention to the taste than I had to the preparation — I fetched my laptop from my room, and surfed the internet