Who We Were Read Online Free PDF Page A

air in my already sweaty face. Summer was here, baby. If I was already dying from the car to the door, that meant this summer would be brutal.
    Thankfully Mom put the new air conditioning unit in last year, and we didn’t have to deal with what Lily’s family had to, a boiling hot house in the middle of summer. Her dad was working on getting a new unit in, but for now they relied on fans and open windows. Our house wasn’t as big as Lily’s five bedroom, but it was home. It was a small ranch style home with three bedrooms, two baths and a pretty nice living room space. I loved reading books by the fireplace in the winter. Lily’s house was in the nicest area of Laurel Lakes, complete with their own security guards. You had to stop at gates in order to enter their neighborhood. But she had two parents who had good jobs, and I only had one.
    My room now used to be my sister, Cara’s. When she left for college, I inhabited the space. Her room was bigger and had a better view. It faced the backyard while mine faced the front. I had to spend my childhood staring at the street watching all the other kids play while I was stuck inside doing homework or worse, just simply watching the kids in the street. My mom never let us play with the other kids for fear that their rude behavior would somehow rub off on us, as if we didn’t somehow end up just like them all anyway.
    When Cara moved out, I took her stuff and moved it all to my room and moved right in. I spend my nights watching the backyard now. Sure, it’s not much to look at, but it’s better than watching life unfold in front of me while I sat still stuck in one spot. I hung lights around the back porch so that I could watch them twinkling at night from my window.
    I changed into my new bathing suit that I got from the mall last week. I hoped it still looked as good on me as Lily said it did. It was pink with small gold anchors all over it. I pulled on a sundress and cleaned my room as best as I could. Knowing I would catch hell if my mom came in and saw all of the clothes on the floor, I threw them in the wash. She’d also freak if she saw my bed unmade and the dust on my dresser. After it was in good enough condition I went to the fridge and poured a glass of lemonade. I sat at the couch and opened up The Picture of Dorian Gray. The first chapter was amusing. I could tell I was going to like the book. Once I got to the second chapter the doorbell rang. Lily.
    I all but ran to get it, dying to know what happened with her and Oliver. I opened the door, and she almost knocked me over with a huge hug. “I’m so excited!” she sang.
    I righted myself and let her in. She skipped into the kitchen and poured her own glass of lemonade. She sat next to me on the couch, looked at my book, and then threw it on the floor as if it was lint. “Hey, that’s my homework!” I picked it up and sat it on the table beside us.
    “No one cares about your scummer school work, Sadie. Come on. Be reasonable, I have more important news.” I tried to not be offended, but it was hard. Lily was strong willed and usually had a power ove r me―one that made all of her issues more important than anything else going on in my life. So I sat back and let her be the boss like usual.
    “Oliver and I kissed!” she squeaked. I shook my head confused.
    “You’ve just met him? And you told me not to hook you up with anyone. How did this happen?”
    She grabbed my hands and squeezed tightly. “I don’t know, but he’s so adorable, isn’t he?”
    If you like self-involved snobs.
    “He’s okay, but it’s Nash that’s got my attention,” I admitted. She didn’t seem to hear me or she chose to ignore me, because she kept going on and on about Oliver. I sat still, listening to her talk about his eyes and his full lips, and before I knew it, the clock read five o’clock.
    “Shit, Lily! Look at the time! We have to go now if we’re going to get any time in at the lake before the beach fills