Chasing Cars

By Adriana Kelly

"You have to promise you'll come back. I didn't die, so you can't die either."
For high-school senior Karev Grey, life has never been completely normal. Her parents are secret drug dealers, and at her school, she doesn't know many people.
One day, after a "freak accident," she winds up paralyzed and wheelchair-bound for what seems to be the rest of her life. As far as she's concerned, she'll be going down the same path her parents took years before her.
But then, at a retreat with her best friend, Karev meets an overly optimistic guy who may change her entire outlook on life.
Of course, nothing ever goes as planned, and one disaster after the next seems to fall on Karev and her two best friends. From a tragic school fire to a life-altering surgery, the three friends think nothing else could possibly get worse.
Until.....

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jun 5, 2017
• ISBN: 9781387019427

Book preview

Chasing Cars

Chasing Cars

Adriana Kelly

For Kristina Krisp Kelly, who proof-read this book multiple times and inspired one of the main characters. Our countless Target trips paid off!

For Andrew Daniels, who is one of the main characters! Your comments on this made me continue working on it even when I didn’t want to! Thanks for helping judge the cover as well!

-Adriana Kelly

Special thanks to Ryan Erickson, who liked to watch me write the rough draft at play rehearsals and give me ideas here and there! You’re greatly appreciated!

And everyone at the play rehearsals who judged my chapters and character names, you all were extremely helpful when it came to the content of my story. I couldn’t have done it without you!

Table of Contents:

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

Chapter Twenty Two

Chapter Twenty Three

Chapter Twenty Four

Chapter Twenty Five

Chapter Twenty Six

Chapter Twenty Seven

Chapter Twenty Eight

Chapter Twenty Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty One

Chapter Thirty Two

Chapter Thirty Three

Chapter Thirty Four

Chapter Thirty Five

Epilogue

Chapter One

Good God, no.

I stared blankly at the algebra test in front of me, the clean white paper seeming to mock me with its lack of pencil marks. The equations I had done so well on yesterday now seemed entirely new to me in my brain. All I could see now was a random mixture of letters and numbers. I had absolutely no idea what the page was telling me when I read find the slope of the line using the Y=MX+B equation.

If only I had studied… I kicked myself; this could have been easily prevented. But I’d been lazy and stayed up late watching Grey’s Anatomy reruns when I should have been giving myself practice equations to solve. I wish I was born a nerdy girl, maybe then I’d be like Nancy Clarke, who’d finished her test twenty minutes ago and was now reading a book at her desk with a smug look on her rat-like face.

I stole a quick glance around the room. It annoyed me to see my peers scribbling answers into their own tests, confident, satisfied looks gracing their faces. They obviously knew exactly what they were doing. Doing my best to look like I was flying through the test with the same confidence as everyone else, I brushed my dark hair out of my eyes and used a hair tie to hold the thick mop back while I worked. Distractions like hair could be dealt with later. I looked up at the clock that hung above the bookshelf. Only five minutes until the bell was due to ring. Five minutes left and all I had done for the entire hour was stare, dumbfounded, at my paper. The crisp, white paper looked no different now than it had when it was handed to me. I am so going to fail this class, I said to myself, silently of course. Three minutes left.

Rereading the paper for the hundredth time, I searched for a question that I could at least try to answer. Question number thirty six seemed simple enough. Find the slope using the points (9, 3) and (5, 0.) Good enough for me, I was already going to get a horrible score. I scribbled my answer into the blank space just as my teacher, Mr. Torres, looked up from his desk. Pencil’s down, everyone!" he called cheerfully. I set my pencil down with a defeated sigh, like this test was a battle I hoped I’d win, but ended up losing. Many of my classmates looked pleased, while a few of them tried to sneak one more answer in. They were successful, as Mr. Torres never minded if we listened to him or not.

Oh my gosh. I am like, totally gonna pass, like, this whole test, Lexi, the airhead Barbie doll next to me, gushed to her friend Tasha in the other row. I rolled my eyes at her squeaky chipmunk voice and indecipherable vocabulary. Who could possibly use the word like as often as she did? I could barely understand her! Tasha, on the other hand, nodding back at Lexi in response and gave her a thumbs-up. So, Kari, how do you think YOU did? Lexi asked, leaning so far over that she was almost on top of me and my nose was attacked with her overdose of tangerine-lime scented perfume. Gagging, I leaned away and made eye contact with my friend, John, who gave me a sympathetic smile. Lexi glanced at my blank test and grinned, batting her eyelashes innocently, like she thought I’d lie to her and say I did just fine. Now, I wasn’t that low.

Lightly nudging her away, I sighed at the test. If I didn’t answer Lexi’s question, I’d seem soft and ashamed of my failure to complete the test, but I really didn’t want her and the whole popular nation hating me if I fired back with an extreme insult, so I settled for a light insult with a casual I-really-hate-you smirk. Even with my test completely blank, I probably did much better than you, I shrugged, giving her that winning smirk and standing up to turn my paper in. It was a thoughtless comeback, really, but with an airhead like Lexi receiving it, I knew she would shut her mouth because she was too dumb to think of a better response and knew it. I shook my head as I placed the paper in the basket, pursing my lips at the other tests below it, each one filled in completely with no hesitation. Then there was my test, which stuck out like a snowball in the dead of July. Good thing it was January. Snowballs were expected here in Minnesota. Blank tests, however, weren’t.

I turned back to my desk, laughing out loud when I saw the expression on Lexi’s face. She was still trying to figure out what I’d said to her. Her cronies began sporting their own lost looks, and I closed my eyes. What is wrong with this school? She insulted you, Lexi, came the voice of a dark-haired boy, whose face was hidden behind a book. He didn’t bother to look up, and yet he knew exactly what was going on. He was leaning back in his chair, his legs propped up on his desk. I’d never seen him before, or at least I don’t think I have, but not being able to see his face made it hard to be sure.

I wanted to say something, but the bell rang and he seemed to disappear before my eyes. I blinked and he was gone. Shrugging, I swung my bag onto my shoulder and turned away. Before I left, I turned back to Lexi. And by the way, my name isn’t Kari. I snapped. I was satisfied to see that even as the class was clearing out, I’d caused Lexi to remain seated, the same ugly look plastered on her face.

The hallways were crowded with people, unfortunately the majority of them being the school’s football team. They looked no different than the rest of us, but they had fragile egos that had to be tenderly cared for by every girl in school, or trouble would arise. I hated being caught in passing time traffic with any of them, but today I felt a little more powerful than usual. Taking my hair out of its tie, I brushed past the boys easily, not stopping to let any of them bother me for a single second. On a normal day, I’d slink around them silently, trying to make myself as small as possible so I could just get past them and to my locker. But today I managed to push past them all, and when Trevor, the leader of their little squad, tried to stop me like he usually did, I glared at him and told him to move before I gave him a reason to. Thankfully he wasn’t too focused on me today, and moved over.

Unfortunately, my moment of power was suddenly washed away as soon as I got to my locker. A new challenge had risen. The Gang. They had no special name; they simply called themselves The Gang. Their ranks consisted of seven greasy boys and two girls who all had a desperate need of a serious shower and a change of clothes. They all wore the same makeup as they had the previous week, and they all reeked of fish and motor oil. Usually I steered clear of them, as did everyone else with a brain, but it was getting harder, as they had found out about my parents and their secret hoard of drugs. Where do ya think you’re going, Evie? Chuck, the Gang leader called, sauntering up to me and blocking my way of passage. Wonderful. Science, I muttered, not looking at the boy’s wretched face. Instead I focused on the hallway buzz, knowing that soon, I could join in. Chuck breathed heavily into my face, triggering my gag reflex. Could you brush your teeth, please? If you’re going to make this little ‘encounter’ a habit, I’d prefer it if I could stand you, your breath is lethal. I remarked, coughing.

I’ll take it into consideration. Chuck’s amused voice responded, clearly he was enjoying my discomfort. I have to go, I made a move to leave, but his tattooed arm blocked me. But Evie! There’s still three minutes left of passing time, plenty of time to- Chuck’s sentence was cut off as the principal, Dr. Charleston, walked briskly over to us and began quietly reprimanding Chuck for something I couldn’t hear. I took this as an opportunity to escape, and I darted off to my science room across the hall. Before I entered the room, I smoothed my sweater and brushed my hair back. I could only hope Chuck’s stench didn’t transfer over to me. The last thing I needed was a rumor that he and I were together or something equally horrific. I walked into science, and immediately saw Krystine, my one and only best friend.

She was shifting her weight impatiently at my desk, talking animatedly to Evan, the boy who sat next to me. She glanced up at the door, saw me, and paused mid-sentence. Karev! she called, waving me over impatiently. She looked exasperated, as if she’d been waiting for me forever, even though it couldn’t have been longer than three minutes at the most. I laughed and walked over to her, setting my things down on the wooden desk. She’s been standing here forever, Evan pointed out, rolling his eyes jokingly. I looked sideways at Krystine and grinned. The two of us had made a game of annoying Evan, It was an activity we loved, and didn’t know why. He didn’t even mind our teasing either; in fact, he’d told us on multiple occasions that he actually enjoyed it.

The three of us talked for about two minutes before the bell screeched and Krystine ran to her desk across the room. The room continued to buzz with chatter. The teacher still hadn’t entered the room and everyone wanted to finish their conversations. Evan was staring at me intensely, as if he wanted to say something. I pretended not to notice. Instead, I turned to face Krystine, squinting my eyes as I attempted to decipher the words she was mouthing to me. What? I mouthed back. She made a pointing motion to Evan and gave me a questioning glance. I simply shrugged and turned back around to face the front. Next to me, Evan still looked in my direction. I turned to ask him what he needed, but before I could ask, the teacher strode into the room. Our class quieted down and took their seats as the teacher shushed them and announcements began to crackle through the old speaker. I sat quietly in my desk, playing with a pencil and doodling boredly on one of Evan’s notebook papers. The announcements were unimportant, as usual, so I paid no attention to them. It wasn’t until Dr. Charleston took the microphone that I looked up. The words she spoke made my blood turn cold and the whole class turn to stare at me in surprise.

Karev Grey, to the principal’s office. Now.

Chapter Two

The entire class spun to face me, excitement in their curious stares. All of them looked surprised, and I heard Jared Grimm whisper I always thought she was a goody-goody who doesn’t do anything! to Lillian Winter, who giggled flirtatiously in response. I rolled my eyes. I tended to lay low, but I’m no goody-goody and I have a slightly active social life. Slightly. "What could a girl like her do to get sent down to Dr. Charleston?" asked Phoebe Johnson, the girl who made it her personal goal to break every possible rule and be everyone’s enemy. She always out-does herself with the spiky leather outfits and platform boots that make her look six inches taller than she really is. Too bad she’s still short, even with the boots.

Oh honey, you have no idea, I thought, slowly rising out of my chair and glancing at the teacher. Three boys in the back of the room clapped, one even whistled. Go, Karev! they cheered. I rolled my eyes, but couldn’t help myself. I smiled at them, and gave a dramatic little bow. At Rosewood, it was everyone’s personal goal to do something bad enough that Dr. Charleston would be involved. Unfortunately, the principal didn’t involve herself with anything that didn’t involve fights, murder, or the like. Mr. Rhodes nodded, excusing me from the room, and I picked up my backpack uncertainly. A small feeling inside told me that I’d need it. I walked to the door, stopping right before leaving. I scanned the room, making eye contact with Krystine, but ignoring her questioning glance. I’m not entirely sure what I was looking for, but whatever it was, I didn’t find it. I closed the door quietly and began the long walk down to the principal’s office. In the hallway, I took a moment to breathe before beginning the standard walk of shame down to the main office. Because everyone in school had received the intercom’s announcements - and my summoning to visit Charleston - I got a lot of questioning stares. I was well known around school as the drug dealer’s daughter, everyone that was out working in the pods chuckled wickedly, guessing that I’d been caught with drugs or alcohol. The entire student body took great joy in watching me, waiting for me to screw up so they had a reason to believe I was just like my criminal parents, even though I’m nothing like them, I lowered my gaze to the ground, twirling my dry hair in my fingers, distracting me from the piercing stares.

Hey, Karev! someone called from behind. I recognized the voice. It was high, like a wannabe Lexi, but not quite as squeaky. I spun around on my heel, facing Amy before I had to hear her talk again. The blonde was running toward me, her blue eyes sparkling with curiosity. What did you do?! I promise I won’t tell! I’m excellent at keeping secrets, I won’t even give it to people who PAY! she begged. I wouldn’t have been surprised if she dropped to her knees and started whimpering like a dog.

I rolled my eyes. Of course. I’d been crazy to not expect her to ask that question. Amy liked to be in on everyone’s dirt, and she sold it to the school newspaper staff so they could reveal everyone’s darkest secrets every Friday, when the papers were published. Everyone read the papers, too, so if I told Amy, it wouldn’t be a secret. The biggest thing though, was that I don’t ever do anything that bad. Most of the paper’s stories were about the Gang, but they always had something from the sports teams, the drama club, and the creepy math club, who lurked in the damp basement and never said anything unless it was in a math equation. You’d actually have to solve the quadratic formula to understand what they were saying.

Fresh meat in the paper was always a huge treat to the school, and I have no intentions on ever being in the paper, so keeping my mouth closed is really my best option. I don’t know, I answered, a half-truth. I hadn’t done anything wrong, well, nothing that the school would be calling me to the office for. Sure, I stole from Walgreens two days ago, but that was information only the police knew, not the school. Besides, it was a complete accident, anyway. I’d been with Carl, my four year old cousin. He wanted to buy an expensive chocolate bar and I told him I’d buy him a Hershey instead, but the boy shoved the other candy down his pants and told me he’d put it away. The buzzers went off and of course, I’d been charged with shoplifting. It really wasn’t exciting, and Carl and I had to sit in a tiny office for three hours while the police ran a background check on me and my non-existent criminal record. The look on the officer’s face when he saw my clean record was the quite the scene. He’d been obviously disappointed.

I have to go, I told Amy, gently brushing past her purposefully. The blonde opened her mouth to say something more, but I had already turned around and was heading to the office. Amy was only holding me up, and I wasn’t sure how angry the principal might be if I took too long to meet her. I’d never met Dr. Charleston, but I’d seen her yelling at students in the halls and I wasn’t very interested in getting hollered at. Why does science have to be on the complete opposite end of the building? I thought as I continued shuffling down the halls. The classrooms I passed all had windows, and in each window, students stared at me in awe. I suddenly felt very shy. Most of the time, nobody really paid me any mind, and I was okay with that. Being stared at felt uncomfortable and strange.

Eventually I made it to the office. I’d never been in here before - not even to go to the nurse’s office. The room was larger than I would’ve guessed. The room was painted in cream, and the carpeting was worn and tan colored. An old wooden desk sat in the center of the room, where a stout woman with short, graying hair stood. She looked bored as she stared at a bright computer screen and sipped a gas station coffee. As I stepped further into the room, she tore her gaze away from the screen and looked me up and down, grunting when she finished her inspection. Name please. She said in a monotone voice that gave me chills. She pushed her glasses down to the bridge of her nose and raised her eyebrows, not even giving me a moment to reply before she began looking annoyed. K-Karev Grey. I stuttered. She nodded and clicked her mouse, probably reading my summons to the office and looking for my name.

I assumed she found it, as she nodded and cleared her throat. Have a seat, Her gaze was blank as she looked at me again. It took a moment, but I eventually found a place to sit. For an office, there weren’t many seating options. In a dark corner, an ugly well-worn bench sat. It was red in color, and covered in various stains. The different colors and thickness of them suggested that highschoolers had not been kind to the piece of furniture. I took a seat on the corner, sitting as close to the edge as I could without falling off. The bench was absolutely disgusting. As much as I’d prefer to sit elsewhere, I knew I had to suck it up and live with it. Besides, I doubted it would take long for the principal to arrive for me. Even if it did, I wouldn’t say anything. I may be stubborn and impatient, but I’m shy as well. I would never voice my irritation at a long wait, not to anyone.

There wasn’t much to look at. The office was painfully boring in comparison to the hallways of the rest