Walk on Water Read Online Free PDF

to town to train with Blake, Lexa had harbored an aching crush on him, one Bry had tried to reciprocate. But eventually they’d both had to face the truth.
    First bell rang. Students started moving faster. Lexa and Jenni glanced at the caged clock on the wall.
    “Crap. Got to run,” Jenni said, trotting off with her messenger bag bouncing on her hip.
    Lexa hustled to U.S. History, a deadly boring fifty minutes that, coming on the heels of a four a.m. wake-up call and morning session with Blake, nearly always saw her doze off. She had long ago resigned herself to rereading everything her teacher said, but being late led to detention, and detention was one more thing she didn’t have time for. Aside from learning just enough material to pass the exams, Lexa’s primary goal for history was avoiding tardies.
    She took her back-row seat with five seconds to spare.
    “Hey,” the stoner on her left greeted her. He looked as thrilled to be there as she was, his knit cap pulled down nearly over his eyes.
    “Hey,” she replied. Digging out her textbook, she propped it up as camouflage.
    Mr. Xavier read the daily announcements. He took roll. Five minutes into his lesson, Lexa and her half-baked neighbor were both asleep at their desks.

 
—8—
     
    Lexa’s stomach had begun growling so painfully by fourth period that she nearly drove through McDonald’s on her way to her grandmother’s house. A large fries would leave plenty of room for whatever overly green lunch Beth had planned, and despite the constant harping on her lousy diet, Lexa knew exactly what her workout schedule let her get away with in terms of calories: plenty. Beth would be watching the clock, though, so with a sigh Lexa bypassed the drive-through.
    If she “forgets” dessert again, I’ll come back for a shake, Lexa promised herself, watching the restaurant recede in her rearview mirror.
    Patches of dirty snow lurked beneath the trees on her grandmother’s sprawling estate, sheltered against the rare shafts of sunlight that pierced the gray overhead. Lexa drove up Maplehurst’s long private drive and parked without noticing the imposing columned facade of the mansion owned by Kaitlin’s side of the family for the past hundred years. The contrast with Blake’s three-bedroom tract house was just part of life for Lexa, a bricks-and-boards reminder of the schism in her family. Beth made sure Lexa had what she needed, but she wasn’t about to help Blake.
    “What’s for lunch, G-mom?” Lexa called, walking in and tossing her coat on a Queen Anne chair.
    “Lexa! Back here, kitten.”
    Beth had set places with china in the formal dining room, insisting that Lexa’s visits were the only chance she had to use it anymore. Lunch was a chopped salad featuring just enough avocado and bacon to make the rest of it worth eating. Lexa helped herself to a thickly buttered roll as well.
    “How was school today?” Beth asked.
    “I’m not sorry it’s over, if that’s what you mean.” Lexa shrugged. “Not that the rink’s been much better lately.”
    Beth’s fork paused over her plate. “What’s wrong at the rink?”
    “Nothing’s wrong. It’s just . . . I don’t know. I’m tired of working so hard all the time and not getting anywhere I want to be. Did Mom ever feel like quitting?”
    “You feel like quitting? Kitten! I thought things were better now, with the tutor.”
    “I didn’t say . . .” She shrugged again. “I’m really tired, that’s all.”
    The lingering concern in her grandmother’s eyes showed that she wasn’t convinced. “Is Blake driving you too hard? Is it the pressure? It’s a lot to live up to, I know, having Walker and Walker for parents.”
    “It’s a ton of pressure, and only me to carry it. At least when they were skating, they had each other to lean on.”
    Beth’s expression turned sour. “And look how that turned out.”
    “It was an accident,” Lexa said wearily.
    “He was drinking!” Beth