The Fall Collection: Back to School

By Frye Martin

Summer is over. Kids everywhere are headed back to school, thinking about new classes, new clothes, new friends, new loves but not these kids. They have other concerns. One barely survives a horrible accident and now she sees strange creatures. She's not just crazy, she thinks, she's CRAZY. Another is having the time of her life. Everything she ever dreamed is happening right before her eyes, thanks to two gorgeous twins who aren't exactly ordinary. Then, three girls try to defy reality by changing theirs. They participate in an experiment that might bring them love, wealth and popularity. This is Back to School but not like you've ever known it.
This collection of stories includes the novelette, "They Hide Behind Things We Know," and the short stories "The Frenemy Trials" and "Time Twins: The Universes."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Freedom Dawn Press
• Release date: Oct 23, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311189608

Frye Martin

Frye Martin writes YA and adult fiction and loves it.***********The heart,The pen,The why,The when,The nameThe place,The hidden face,The hope,The dream,The bursting seam,The story must be told.***********

Book preview

Freedom Dawn Press

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and events are the product of the authors imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

The Fall Collection: Back to School

Published by Freedom Dawn Press at Smashwords

Copyright 2014 Frye Martin

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

The Fall Collection: Back to School

by Frye Martin

Freedom Dawn Press

Other Titles by Frye Martin

Novels

Bonfire of the Vanities: Strike

Bonfire of the Vanities: Combust

Rhona's Phoenix

Collections

Cold Dark

The Fall Collection: Back to School

We Are the Future

The Winter Collection: Snow Injections

The Spring Collection: Rue Blooms

Characters Live

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Watch book trailers for free

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Free audio story: Attached At the Hand

Contents

About the Fall Collection

They Hide Behind Things We Know

The Frenemy Trials

Time Twins: The Universes

Bonfire of the Vanities Excerpt

Rhona's Phoenix Excerpt

We Are the Future Excerpt

The Winter Collection: Snow Injections Excerpt

Coming Titles

Meet the Author

Contact the Author

About the Fall Collection

"We still endure the summer’s heat,

anticipating Autumn’s cool,

transitioning to structured smart

from aimless, shameless lazy fool,

dreading tests, essays and grades

and work enough to make one drool—

new clothes, new shoes, new friends to meet,

oh, yes, it’s time for back to school."

Anonymous

Back to School is the first of a seasonal collection of short stories. Fall is a time of beginnings and endings, as several characters experience in each of the stories in this collection.

Natalie barely survives a horrible accident and now she sees strange creatures. She's not just crazy, she thinks. She's CRAZY but was any of it accidental?

Three girls try to defy reality by changing theirs. They participate in an experiment that might bring them love, wealth and popularity. Might.

Valerie is having the time of her life. Everything she ever dreamed is happening right before her eyes, thanks to two gorgeous twins who aren't exactly ordinary.

This is back to school, but not like you've ever known it.

They Hide Behind Things We Know

My name is Natalie. When my family says it, the A is long: nay-talie. To everyone else in the world, the A is short: gnat-alie. I feel like I have two personas but I don't know which one is which.

Six months ago, I got sick. I ate something bad and just barely cheated death--that's what the doctor said. Those aren't my words. There was no barely about it. I fought hard to live because I want to live. I don't tell anyone that because they'll want to know how I fought to live. I can't really say accept that I know it felt like I was either going to stay above the water or below it and it was definitely a fight every single day. I am still fighting, especially since I went through all that just to be where I am now.

I am crazy. Seriously. I am stark-raving. I am certifiable. But maybe I am not so crazy because I try to keep it under control. Does a stark-raving, certifiable person do that? Don't know. Never met one.

I spent over a month in the hospital and I will do whatever I have to not to go back into one. The last place on earth I want to be is a mental hospital. If I go there, there will be nothing for me to do except think about how looney I am. It is almost time for school to start and everyone thinks I am ready to go back--most of all me--so there is too much at stake. I have to hold it together because I think if I can go back to friends, cheerleading and all the classes I hate, I can become normal again.

Six months ago, I went on a trip with some friends. It was a short trip to the hills about an hour away. Aubrey's posh mom had arranged a foraging trip for the upper-crust families and Aubrey invited us, most of the cheerleading squad and some of the guys. The entire thing was lead by Mason Montford, the local celebrity chef. Aubrey told us that his restaurant, Mm, was failing but her mother was determined to keep that from happening. The foraging trip was basically a fund-raiser so by the time we were out in the woods with our buckets, Mason Montford was busy socializing and only occasionally warned against picking this or touching that. He had spent his entire childhood picking mushrooms in those areas, he'd said. That's what he'd said.

Honestly, I didn't pick a thing. I wasn't interested in mushrooms and I didn't like the woods. Aubrey had basically guilt-tripped the squad into going on the trip and I was the main one because people like me don't do woods. Aubrey had just been named captain and I have been co-captain for two years. Even though the co-captain position is more like vice president--read: slightly less time commitment--I had everyone's respect but Aubrey had yet to earn it as captain. She actually told me that if I didn't come, none of the girls would respect her at all. Guilt-trip. But I agreed with her so I went along in a pair of borrowed Wellies and a hooded raincoat looking like a horror movie murderer.

At the very first opportunity, I found a good place, a spot without much tree cover, imagining the spiders and ants that might drop down on me from overhead, without many leaves on the ground, imagining scorpions and snakes, where my bucket could sit without sinking too far into the dirt. Then, I flipped my bucket over, plopped down on it and whipped out my phone. I already had a cover story. If anyone came by, I had planned to tell them that I just needed to respond to an important text.

This worked very well. No one came into my hiding place, although almost everyone on the trip walked past it. I made a note to myself that hiding in the woods is a terrific way to pick up gossip. It turned out that Aubrey had not invited her boyfriend, Lambert, but he'd showed up anyway. Things had obviously been shaky between them from day one. Aubrey was so superficial that she didn't mind telling anyone