Free Forbidden Boy by Hailey Abbott Page A

Julianne felt her own heart race as she stared at her shaking sister.
    “Is it Dad? Is Dad okay?”
    Chloe nodded and pulled Julianne by the wrist over to the beach-facing bay windows in the family room. A few hundred feet down the beach, Julianne could see what was inhibiting Chloe’s breathing. While Julianne was at work, the Moores had set up huge orange fences all the way down the beach. Every five feet a hazard sign hung off the fences shouting PRIVATE PROPERTY: ALL
    TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED.
    Jules couldn’t believe it—just when she’d thought things couldn’t get any worse! She stood with Chloe at the window, rubbing her sister’s back and muttering,
    “Those rats, those little rats. Those complete and total dirtbags.”
    Chloe, whose breathing was finally slowing to normal, managed to squeak out, “What? Who?”
    “The Moores, who else?” Julianne practically spat the name out. The orange gates looked offensive and menacing, even against the baby blue afternoon sky. It was like they were living in a biohazard zone or a bombed-out shell of a city. The gates themselves were aggressively orange—like they were there specifically to tell every other part of the color wheel to go to hell.
    Their father, who had been working down the hall in his studio, ambled into the room.
    “Girls, what’s going on in here?” He stopped short when he saw their eyes fixed on the orange fences. “Oh, yeah, that.”
    “Had you already seen this?” Chloe yelped. Their father was always mellow, but they expected more of a reaction when their home had just been surrounded by what appeared to be giant, Day-Glo riot gear. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
    “It’s not worth discussing,” Dad replied, turning from the window. “It’s just a show. It’s just supposed to scare people away. If they were really planning on doing something, they wouldn’t need to make such a big spec-tacle about it. They’d just do it.” Chloe and Julianne both nodded. It might have been cold comfort, but he definitely had a point. “Don’t worry, girls. It’s going to be fine. We’ll figure something out.” He sounded so certain, so sincere, that Julianne couldn’t help but relax a bit.
    “Okay, I need to shower. I’m covered in dust from work. But I think I’ll go for a quick run first.” Jules turned toward the stairs. She got as far as the doorway before the vision of the glaring orange gates compelled her to spin around toward the window for one last look.
    Dad was sitting on the window seat, his face tilted slightly away from the beach view, his fingertips lightly touching the glass. For the first time, Julianne saw something behind his eyes that hadn’t been there before. For all of his mild-mannered, easygoing confidence, their father was scared.

    ✦ ✦ ✦
    After her run, Julianne took the steps two by two on her way back to her room. Her sneakers were still caked with a little bit of sand, but, for the first time all day, her head was clear. She held on to the banister outside of Chloe’s room, stretching her calves and quads, and listened to the ebb and flow of her sister’s voice as she chatted on the phone. She was obviously catching up with one of her Kappa Delta sisters, so Jules decided to leave her be until after she’d showered.

    Twenty minutes later, Kelly Clarkson was blasting from Chloe’s Bose iPod dock and the girls were shouting along at the top of their lungs. “Since you been gone, I can breathe for the first time …” Chloe was up on the bed in full-on rock-star air-guitar mode, her hair flying wildly around her, while Julianne was sprawled out on her back on the floor, her bare feet propped up on Chloe’s bed. When the song ended, Chloe flopped down on the bed, laughing, and straightened her flowered pajama bottoms and shell-pink tank top.
    “Why do I love that song so much?” she asked Julianne. “It’s already a few years old.”
    “Yeah, but it’s definitely a classic.”