Walking Away From Texas

By Sharon Bradley

Katie Mitchell and Alan Thomas have been best friends since kindergarten and have gotten each other through the tough times. Now seniors in high school, they have a lot on their plate to deal with. Katie has just about had it with life in Texas and dreams of moving to California, but must consider staying in Texas for college. Alan has his sight

• Language: English
• Publisher: ReadersMagnet LLC
• Release date: May 3, 2018
• ISBN: 9781948864121

Sharon Bradley

SHARON BRADLEY earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from the University of Virginia, and a diploma from the Institute of Children’s Literature. She first discovered her love of creative writing in the first grade. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with her beloved parrot, Polly. Walking Away from Texas is her first book.

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WALKING AWAY FROM TEXAS

Copyright © 2018 by Sharon Bradley

First Edition: 2004

Published in the United States of America

ISBN Paperback: 978-1-948864-11-4

ISBN eBook: 978-1-948864-12-1

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the author except as provided by USA copyright law.

The opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily those of ReadersMagnet, LLC.

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Book design copyright © 2018 by ReadersMagnet, LLC. All rights reserved.

Cover design by Ericka Walker

Interior design by Shieldon Watson

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 1

K atie, wait up! Jaclyn shouted as she stopped me in the hall.

I rolled my eyes. What do you want, Jaclyn?

Guess who I’m going to homecoming with?

I don’t know, and I honestly don’t care.

You will this time. Brian Edwards is taking me to homecoming. Every girl in our class wants to be his date, so I was thrilled when he asked me, Jaclyn said, sounding proud.

Brian Edwards, I thought, the sweet hunky blond-haired, blue-eyed captain of the football team was taking Jaclyn to homecoming. Lucky girl.

Congratulations, I said nonchalantly as I turned to walk away.

Wait, Katie, I haven’t finished talking to you yet. Who are you going with?

Like you don’t have a clue. The entire senior class knows who I’m going with, I responded sarcastically. Jaclyn never failed to get on my nerves.

You’re not going with Alan.

Excuse me?

You heard me. Don’t you dare go with him, Jaclyn said warningly.

Why? He’s not your boyfriend anymore.

Don’t go with him, Katie. I’ll make your night miserable if you do.

Whatever, I said under my breath. Jaclyn acted as though she didn’t hear me.

I still can’t get over the fact that you beat me in Houston’s Look of the Year competition, and if you think you’re going to win Alan for homecoming, you’re wrong.

Alan’s not a prize to me, Jaclyn. He’s my best friend. Don’t act so jealous.

Ha, look who’s talking! Jaclyn exclaimed as she stormed off.

I just stood there shaking my head. I guess Jaclyn did have every reason to be upset with me. Alan and I had grown up together and were best friends. Jaclyn never seemed to understand the platonic bond that Alan and I shared. We were practically inseparable, and I was very protective of him. After all, Alan was the quarterback of the football team, and girls were always chasing after him. He was quite a sight standing at 6’1’’ with chestnut brown hair and deep brown eyes.

I remembered how threatened I felt when Jaclyn started attending our high school at the beginning of sophomore year. She was beautiful with her thick long blonde hair, sky blue eyes, and slim figure. I felt like such a plain Jane standing next to Jaclyn with my brown hair and brown eyes. Jaclyn could’ve had her pick of any guy, but she and Alan only had eyes for each other. Alan was so crazy about her that he gave her a red rose every day. I was crushed when they began dating because it meant less time for Alan and me to hang out. Their relationship ended when Alan became involved with this girl from our rival high school named Courtney. However, Alan and Jaclyn are still friends, and she calls him up almost every day to tell him that he made a big mistake and that the two of them should go out again. As far as I know, Alan is contemplating Jaclyn’s proposition.

Although Jaclyn had other reasons to hate me, I never found

fault with her. Until now, I had no reason to be mean to her. I did not

want her to case a scene at homecoming just because she happened to blame me for the cause of her and Alan’s problems. How I got roped into the picture, I don’t know, but if I wanted to have the picture-perfect homecoming, I would have to do something about Jaclyn’s behavior. I knew I had to talk to Alan first.

That Friday night, I called him up. Luckily, he was home.

Hey, Teddy Bear, it’s me, Snookums, I said. I could hear a loud snort of laughter from the other end of the line.

Snookums? Man, Katie, we haven’t used those names in ears, Alan responded.

I gripped the phone, feeling foolish. You don’t have to laugh at me.

I didn’t, he said. That was Dave.

Don’t lie.

I’m not. Sorry if I offended you, Snookums.

Dave’s laughter roared in the background.

That’s okay. Look, Teddy Bear, are you sure you want to take me to homecoming? Because if you don’t, that’s all right.

WHAT? Snookums, I mean, Katie, homecoming’s a week away. Of course I’m going to take you. Why on earth would you think otherwise? Alan wanted to know.

Take a wild guess.

Because of what happened last year with Matt?

I paused for a moment, remembering the heart-wrenching scene from last year’s dance when Matt, my ex-boyfriend, dumped me for another girl. I went to man the refreshments table. When Matt came up to get a cup of fruit punch, I picked up the bowl and dumped it over his head. I never forgave Matt for treating me like I wasn’t good enough to be his girlfriend.

Earth to Katie, Alan sang.

I don’t care about Matt, although I hope I don’t see that jackass show up with that girl. You know who I’m concerned about.

Oh, you mean Jaclyn?

Exactly, I said. I proceeded to tell him about how Jaclyn stopped me in the hall earlier today to brag about her date with Brian. She threatened to ruin my night if I was still to go to homecoming with Alan.

Look, I was saying to Alan. I’m not scared of your ex or anything, but I’d really appreciate it if you and Jaclyn could just leave me out of your fights. I’m not your girlfriend, Alan, I’m just your date for homecoming, I finished up.

Yeah, I know. Look, Katie, I’ll talk to Jaclyn about it and try to get her to not be so hostile to you until homecoming is over. I don’t think you’ll have too much to worry about anyway. Brian’s a good friend of mine, and he wouldn’t let Jaclyn spoil our night.

Jaclyn is way too dramatic, I said with a sigh.

Alan laughed. She gets it from her mother.

Are you serious?

Yeah, her mother used to star on some TV show. She knew Jaclyn Smith, who’s from Houston by the way. She named Jaclyn after her.

Jaclyn Smith? I asked.

"You know, the brunette from Charlie’s Angels."

I thought that was Lucy Liu.

Alan laughed again. This time it was at my expense. My face flushed.

I’m talking about the TV show, he said. I knew he had to be smirking.

That’s before my time, I said, my lips pouting. What does that have to do with Jaclyn anyway?

Nothing. You know how temperamental actresses are. I’m just saying that she takes after her mother.

Excuse me, but not all actresses are temperamental.

Obviously not you, right? Alan replied.

I’m not an actress.

It’ll happen for you eventually. Anyway, Jaclyn has her drama queen moments. She takes pageants seriously and dreams of becoming Miss Texas someday. But, don’t worry, she won’t act up at homecoming.

Okay… I said, still quite unsure of everything. I knew that Alan would keep his promise but I couldn’t trust Jaclyn. There’s no telling how far she would go to ruin my special night.

Well, I didn’t have to wait much longer because, at the end of school on Monday, we all saw Alan and Jaclyn arguing at the lockers.

You know, Jaclyn was screeching, I don’t see why you have to take Little Miss Katie to homecoming. She may have won the modeling competition, but that doesn’t mean that she’s any prettier than me! Jaclyn shouted.

This has nothing to do with looks, Jaclyn! Alan roared. Katie is my best friend and I’d like it if you would leave her out of this mess. You and I aren’t dating anymore, so, therefore, you have no right to tell me who I can and can’t take to homecoming! Alan shouted.

They continued yelling at each other for the next five minutes. Worse yet, everyone was turning to look at Brian approaching me. I felt my cheeks turn bright red.

Maybe we should go to homecoming together instead, Brian said softly as he stood next to me. I wouldn’t mind taking you. I smiled at the thought but remembered that he was supposed to take Jaclyn.

That’s sweet of you, Brian, but it wouldn’t be fair to the four of us. I know how much you like Jaclyn, and I really want to go with Alan.

So what do we do? Brian asked. I thought for a moment.

Come with me, I said slyly. Let’s play a little game, I told Brian to put his arm around my shoulder, and then we casually sauntered over to the fighting zone.

Hey guys, I said. I hope you’re not arguing about me. It’s a shame if you are because I’ve decided to go to homecoming with Brian, I said, nudging Brian in the ribs so he’d play along.

WHAT? they both hollered.

You’ve got to be kidding, Jaclyn gasped.

I turned to look at Alan’s surprised expression and winked at him. He then figured out what I was up to.

Oh, Little Miss Katie strikes again, Jaclyn said as she flipped her hair. First, you take away my boyfriend and then you steal my date for homecoming. So who am I supposed to go with?"

First of all, I started to say, I did not take Alan away from you. Courtney was the one who did that. Second of all…

Second of all, I just now asked Katie to homecoming because I figured you’d want to go with Alan, Brian said.

Wh-wh-what? Jaclyn stuttered. But I thought you and I had agreed to go. Jaclyn looked crestfallen.

We did. But now you’re jealous because Alan is taking Katie. So why don’t you and Alan go together instead? Then we can switch dates back and forth throughout the night, Brian said. I had to hand it to Brian. He somehow always managed to save the day. As much as Jaclyn loved Alan, she’d do practically anything for dreamy Brian.

Okay, Jaclyn said slowly. I’m in. But Brian, I want you to pick me up first so we can show up together at homecoming before we switch dates.

Whatever you wish, Jaclyn, Brian said. But I’ll only do that on one condition.

And what’s that? Jaclyn wanted to know.

That you be nice to Katie the whole night. Remember, your night will be ruined if you ruin hers, too, Brian said warningly.

All right, Jaclyn sighed.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Jaclyn Lane, Miss Drama Queen, had agreed to leave me alone for the big night? Unbelievable. I thanked Brian over and over afterward.

Homecoming night turned out to