Klepto

By Lisa Hagerty

A novel that captures what happens when you don’t exactly fit in.

Bullied since elementary school for being different, Talitha Bennett's high school career is starting out exactly the same way. Supported by her older sister, Adina, and her longtime friends, Neha and Ethan, Talitha tries to keep up hope that the ABC Girls might leave her alone, all the while hiding a terrible secret she’s kept since she was six...

Not long after school starts, Talitha meets the center of the JV soccer team, Tristan Parrish. He’s gorgeous, popular and to Talitha’s great surprise he seems to like her. Or is this all just another practical joke that Addison and her group of tormentors have put together?

Struggling with the anxiety of trying to fit in, Talitha lashes out in ways that might have long term repercussions and forever change her world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lisa Hagerty
• Release date: Jan 16, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311980779

Lisa Hagerty

Although not a native Texan, Lisa Hagerty moved there when she was six and with the exception of a short stint for graduate school, has never wanted to leave. Being an author was the first occupation she ever aspired to, but the first book she ever wrote in 4th grade, The Protractor People, will live on only in her memory.She lives in North Texas with her dog Stewart, who likes to jump fences and out of second story windows, and her daughter, who helps chase after him.Visit Lisa at:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lisaahagertyEmail: [e-mail]: @myrnalisaIf you enjoyed reading my books, I would appreciate it if you would help others enjoy them, too.Recommend it: Please help other readers find my book by recommending it to friends, family, readers’ groups and discussion boards.Review it: Please tell other readers why you liked this book by reviewing it.Thank you in advance!

Book preview

Klepto

a novel

The Bennett Family Series Book 1

Lisa Hagerty

Smashwords Edition

Published by Lisa Hagerty

Copyright 2013 Lisa Hagerty

Cover art and design by Lisa Hagerty

and Makena Fisher, 2013

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, store in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication / use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with or sponsored by the trademark owners.

This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people, except with the lending provisions provided by the retailer. If you would like to share this book with another person beyond the retailer provisions, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

About The Author

Except of Thanksgiving with Momma

Acknowledgements

The author would like to acknowledge:

P.A. – had you not fired me, I may not have ever written this book. I hope that it is wildly successful for, as they say, living well is the best revenge;

Susanna Kearsley for writing The Winter Sea. It wasn’t until I read your book (after I was fired, of course) that I knew I didn’t have to have a book completely thought out before I started writing – I could be a pantser and still write a good book;

Contegrity Program Designs and Gail Cantor who, earlier this year, helped me clarify what I want in a fulfilled life and Denise, Charlie and Jessica who brought me to Contegrity;

All my friends for their encouragement – especially those I brow beat into reading early chapters: Michael, Leslie, Marjorie, rdh, Denise and particularly Kathleen. Your praise kept me going;

The community of fanstory.com and especially lindalcreel and millibrad for always having terrific reviews, encouraging me and helping me to become a better writer;

Mary Bates for your awesome copy editing! Email [e-mail] if you need a good editor;

My brother Brian for always having a client who did something I needed as well as being excited for me and encouraging me;

Ronda and Hank for being my champions, benefactors, and good friends – I really am so thankful for you both;

The Indie Voice authors for showing me, step-by-step, how to do this;

Stewie, for being my companion while I wrote;

My mother, Elinor, for actually having read the short story that was the impetus for the book. I know you thought I was nuts after reading it, especially since the Brach’s story was real. I thank you for taking me, all those years ago, back to the Piggly Wiggly (or the A&P) and making me give them a nickel for taking that candy. I also thank you for always saying I can be anything I wanted to be. I wish you were here today;

My saviors who swooped in and helped me cover the cost of the fabulous editing. Seriously, this book would not have happened without you: Rock Island Hagertys, Pam Spadaro, Bethany Henze, Terri Bowers Richards, Carri Corbell Belokin, Roger Hagerty, Ronda & Hank Wolpert, Boulder Hagertys, and a very big thank you to David Goodner;

And to my favorite person in the whole wide world, Makena. Thank you for your patience while I wrote this book, even when I made you eat dinner alone while watching the Disney Channel. Thank you for posing for me in Kroger for the cover. Thank you for your awesome eye in helping me to come up with the cover. Thank you for being excited about this and dreaming about our house that I hope we can afford to live in one day. If we don’t, I hope that you’re still excited about having a mom who wrote a book and whose cover you will forever be connected with.

Chapter One

Take it, her deep subconscious said. The sinister, calculating, manipulative part that no one else knew existed. She knew it was a part of her, as ingrained in her psyche as her sense of humor. Take it, just take it. Don’t think.

She fingered the lime green enameled brooch casually with her right hand. It was in the shape of a daisy with tiny seed pearls and fake diamonds in the center, and it reminded her of a pin that her mother used to have. She used to play dress up with it in Momma’s closet. Well, until Momma found her and, as she was fond of saying, tanned her hide. Momma did not abide her going into her things without asking. Momma, in fact, didn’t abide much she did.

She wasn’t really her momma anyway, although she made her call her that. Pretty much everybody in Coppell called her Momma. Momma was old. Talitha wasn’t sure exactly how old she was, but she always talked about the good old days which meant when women didn’t wear pants or shorts and we didn’t have all these Ind’ans running around smellin’ of curry. She’d wave hi to all the good people of Coppell as she drove like a bat out of hell through the outlet mall on her red electric scooter with a bright yellow bumper sticker on the back that said, Lost your cat? Try looking under my tires.

Her real mom and dad died nine years ago coming home from a party in Fort Worth. Her dad always liked taking the back roads. Unfortunately, this time there was traffic; an F-150 full of hooting high school boys who had been drinking after the football game that Friday night. The two vehicles met in a cacophony of screeching tires, breaking glass, and crushing metal at the apex of a hill, killing everyone in both vehicles immediately.

Talitha shook her head at the thought of her parents’ crash, her mousy brown waves reverberating from the shake. She put the pin back in the old, gilded jewelry box with the faded blue velvet lining, a handmade sign proclaiming the contents cost $.75 apiece. Her fingers lightly ran along the display case, leaving streaks where they touched the scratched, but clean, glass.

She glanced up, looking at the man – well, barely old enough to be a man – behind the counter, engrossed in some magazine. His hair was combed straight back from his pimply face and fell to his shoulders in perfect brown ringlets. His hair looked wet, but she imagined it would be hard and crusty to the touch, having been manipulated with some trendy product he saw advertised during his favorite reality TV show. Or in an ad within the magazine he was reading. Based on the way he begrudgingly paused the war game he was playing when she walked in the door to the shop a while ago, she figured odds were it was a gaming magazine. Yeah, he looked like the type to read gamer mags.

Studying the man, she remembered why she disliked most people. They were all so caught up with the BS of everyday life, like vegging out on the computer or in front of the TV. That was why it was so easy to steal them blind. No one really paid attention. Especially to a 14-year-old-girl with mousy brown hair.

She learned the thrill of theft early, starting when she had just come to Momma’s house. She would take a piece of Brach’s Pick-a-Mix candy every time she went with Momma to the grocery store and then unwrap it and clandestinely put it into her mouth when she was safely in her hand-me-down red car seat as Momma drove home.

She’d only been caught stealing once. She had picked out a different kind of candy, not her favorite pink, brown, and white with coconut she normally took. She carefully unwrapped it so Momma wouldn’t hear the sound of the cellophane and put the iridescent light brown hard candy in her mouth. She recoiled at the taste, scrunching her nose up and pursing her already bow like lips. She remembered looking at the wrapper, seeing the graphic of the coffee cup with the steam rising. She knew she wouldn’t steal that kind again. She put the candy in her hand, planning on getting rid of it once she got home, but Momma smelled the coffee scent and found the piece of candy, sticky in her hot little palm. Momma was so surprised – she could see it in her face. And angry. Momma drove back to Minyard’s and hand her a dime. She remembered the humiliation as everyone in line turned to look at her, some smiling and some even laughing. She told herself, as she hiccupped into her teddy bear while her older sister, Adina, put icy wet washcloths on the red welts Momma’s metal spatula left on her thighs, that she would never, ever get caught again.

Her hand went back to the brooch. She looked up at the young man. Was he looking at her out of the corner of his eye, watching every move she made? The adrenaline pumped through her body as her fingers closed around the brooch. Nonchalantly, she put her hand in the pocket of her cargo pants and dropped the pin there.

She looked back up at the man, and realizing he had been intently reading the entire time, smiled her sweetest smile. Thank you – I’ll be back later, she promised. The man pivoted his head and looked at her with a blank expression, put the magazine down, and went back to his video game. She turned, pushed the glass door, and walked out into the hot summer sun. The immense release she felt when she stole then washed over her.

Talitha! Her sister Adina waved at her from across the street. She was busy washing the windows while her car filled up.

Talitha jaywalked across the street to her sister. Find anything cool? Adina asked. As she squeegeed the windshield of the ancient Civic, she blew a strand of her hair off her face. Talitha looked at her sister wryly. Adina was the one who got the looks in their family. Taller than Talitha, she had the softly rounded curves of a woman (compared to Talitha’s stick straight body), soft pillowy lips, a pert nose, and beautiful, straight honeycolored hair, which fell again into the one trait they did share: striking green eyes with flecks of gold and blue. Adina blew the stray strand up and out of her face a second time.

Talitha stuck her hand in her pocket, removed it, and held it out palm up with her fingers closed around her stolen treasure. I found something for you. She opened her hand up slowly and revealed the flower in the center.

Adina’s reaction wasn’t what she expected. She sighed heavily as she pushed the wipers back down with a decided thunk. Talitha, if you need money, please ask me, she railed as she forcefully strode back and dropped the squeegee unceremoniously in the bucket. The dark gray water shot up like a water fountain.

Talitha chomped her teeth, a habit she developed in the last couple of years when she was frustrated, and looked to the sky. What?! It was $.75! She looked down at her flip flop-clad feet, the cherry red polish chipping on her dirty toes. She stepped in a puddle of water with a film of oil shimmering in a swirling rainbow on top. I thought you’d like it. It reminded me of Mom’s.

Adina visibly sighed and slunk to her sister, wrapping her arms around her body and resting her head on her hair. I love it, I do. Yes, it reminds me of Mom, too. She kissed the top of Talitha’s head and grabbed her chin and pulled her face up. She leaned in close to Talitha’s face. Promise me that if you need anything, anything at all, you will call me."

Talitha rolled her eyes upward and feigned pain. She sighed heavily. Yes, yes, if I need anything, I’ll call you. It’s not like you’re across the country for Christ sakes. You’re in Denton!

Adina flicked her on her nose with her thumb and middle finger. Please, don’t say that. Talitha sighed. She’d become very devout in the Baptist church that Momma had made them attend since they first moved in with her. Not that Momma was really a Baptist in Talitha’s view: she judged everyone she knew, and she secretly took swigs of her medicine (which was really gin) that she kept under the kitchen sink. C’mon, let’s get you back to Momma’s, Adina urged, releasing her sister and walking back to the car.

Talitha dropped her head and marched to the Civic. When she climbed in, Adina flicked her nose again. I promise that you only have four more years. Once you’re out of high school, you and I will get a place of our own and no more Momma.

Talitha raised her left eyebrow and stared at her sister. Four more years?!? She flopped back in the bucket seat of the Civic and pretended to pass out. Adina laughed while she started the car which, in turn, made Talitha laugh. They drove down I-35 from Denton. The closer they got to Coppell, the quieter Talitha got and the more Adina talked with nervous energy about nothing. Talitha began to fidget with the stray thread on the hem of her tank top.

So he said that they are so invasive that boats are required to drain water before they leave the lake…

Adina, I don’t want to freakin’ hear about zebra mussels, Talitha shouted as she stamped her foot on the trash-strewn floorboard. She sighed and looked out the open window as they passed over the Lake Lewisville bridge, the reflected hot Texas sun burning her eyes, the air feeling like a blow dryer.

They sat in silence, the only noise the highway traffic and the wind whipping through the car. A stray receipt on the floorboard whipped into a whirlwind and flew out the window. Talitha looked in her side mirror and watched it dance along the highway until it hit the grill of the 18-wheeler following behind them. Adina, as usual, broke the silence, Lithabelle, she started, using the pet name their dad had for her, I promise it will be ok. When Talitha didn’t budge, she continued, You’re starting high school! They’ll be the best four years ever!

Talitha turned and looked at her sister, raising both eyebrows and opening her mouth in disbelief. Adina had always been the popular one. Outgoing, smart, and kind with an ever-present smile, Adina breezed through the school the size of a junior college. Talitha was more reserved with a sarcastic wit that more times than not, tended to make enemies rather than friends. In a town like Coppell where the high school parking lot was filled with Beemers and Benzes and the popular kids that drove those cars were outfitted in the latest styles, Talitha would stand out like a sore thumb in her thrift store wardrobe that Momma bought. While Adina started with the same basic wardrobe, Talitha didn’t have the sewing skills her sister had or the ability to accessorize that turned Adina’s clothes into looking like something off a runway. Adina’s talent was leading her to start her first year in Fashion Design at the University of North Texas.

Adina glanced back and forth between Talitha and the highway until Talitha voiced slowly, I’m not like you, Adina. Never have been, never will be, and turned to the window again, closing her eyes to the wind.

They drove in silence the rest of the way to Momma’s house. Adina pulled into the dirt driveway leading to the dilapidated yellow farmhouse. White paint flecked off the railings, and the stairs leading to the dirty white door had a path worn of all paint. Talitha looked next door. In the place where another farmhouse had been, stood a huge McMansion. Momma’s farmhouse was the last of its kind in what had once been a farming community, replaced by enormous million dollar homes on miniscule lots. Talitha laughed thinking that the McMansion was probably built on top of where the pig sty once stood. She wondered if the houses were haunted by the ghosts of piglets past.

What’s so funny? Adina’s voice brought her out of her thought. Talitha turned to Adina who wouldn’t think that piglet ghosts were funny and said, Nothin’.

Adina turned sideways in the seat and grabbed Talitha’s left hand. Listen, I’m sorry about the pin. I love it, I really do, she said as she fingered it where she placed it on her dress. It was sweet of you to think of it…and Mom. She looked down at her hands that encircled her sister’s one. Don’t let Momma get you down. She really does mean well. She loved Daddy. That’s why she took us in.

Talitha snorted and turned to look out the window again, Yeah right, that and the life insurance money she got for taking us. I’m sure she REALLY loved that, too!

Adina pulled Talitha’s hand, dragging her back into looking at her. She looked at her in disbelief. Money? There was no life insurance money. There was NO money, Talitha. Mom & Dad had tons of credit cards maxed out. She sighed heavily. If Momma hadn’t taken us in, we’d have gone into foster care. She took us because she was Grandma’s younger sister, and she swore to her that she’d take care of Daddy. That promise passed on to us. You ought to try and talk to her sometimes instead of always judging her. You might learn something. Adina unceremoniously dropped Talitha’s hand and got out of the car, slamming the door.

Talitha opened the door then slammed hers as well. Oh, maybe learn that she’s a freakin’ bigot who hates anyone who doesn’t look like her She faced Adina who was taking bags out of the trunk. How Christian is that?

Adina slammed the trunk closed and faced her sister, her cheeks bright with anger. It’s not, Talitha, not any more than it’s Christian to judge Momma. Trust me, she fumed looking down at the daisy pin on her dress, we all have our faults. She pushed passed her with her bags and strode with a purpose up the stairs to the front door. Pulling open the door, she looked back at Talitha. You coming?

Chapter Two

The alarm rang at 6:45. Talitha hit the snooze button and rolled back over to her side. She had just fallen back asleep when Momma pushed her door open and