Free The Weight of the World by Amy Leigh Strickland Page A

She
accidentally tell a pack of cats to attack?”
    “ Be
serious. This is a new power. She blacked out. She told Astin when
she came-to that her senses had gone crazy. They had to admit her to
the hospital.”
    “ So
her senses just went nuts? Weird.”
    “ Well,
she was being chased by bears.”
    Nick
tried not to laugh at the absurdity of it. He didn't want to be
scolded by Zach again. “Bears?”
    “ Bears.
Bears that-- as she tells it-- were a little too intelligent to be
normal bears. She swears they were trying the doorknob.”
    “ Dude,
there aren't bears in Olympia Heights,” Nick said.
    “ Hence
why I think she might be right.”
    “ Well
it's a good thing bears don't have thumbs, then.”

    Nick
was on a mission that day. He had opened the Olympia Heights Senior
High year book from the previous year and flipped to the page for
Abstinence Club. He had been working on a strategy that he was ready
to execute. The order he had decided on worked in two factors:
stability and attractiveness. Nick was going to ease himself in with
the cute girls, but start with someone who had a shaky foundation for
Valerie's doctrine of chastity anyway.
    Amanda
McAffrey was a child of divorce. Her father was on his second
marriage and her mother, who had custody of Amanda during the school
year, lived in Olympia Heights with her boyfriend and Amanda's step
sister. Nick had done some investigating on the social networks to
find that Amanda was spending the summer with her Dad on his ranch
outside of Miami. She wasn't that far away-- 40 minutes at most-- and
Nick had a plan to “bump into her.”
    Nick
drove out to the ranch, letting himself get psyched up by playing
Kanye West's “Power” on loop. He was dressed for the scorching
summer weather in white cargo shorts and a blue, short-sleeved polo.
The look was completed with a white visor with the FSU letter logo on
the front of the brim. His thick, curly, black hair stuck over the
top in all directions.
    Nick
pulled past the wooden sign that read “McAffrey Ranch”, down the
gravel driveway, and parked in the wide dirt lot in front of the
cliché red barn.
    Amanda
was out at the front fence, feeding an apple to a beautiful brown
quarter horse. She was a sophomore this fall, with curly chestnut
hair and big brown eyes. Her natural tan skin tone had erupted into a
storm of freckles from the summer sun. She wore a fitted plaid shirt,
not one of those frilly cuts that defied the point of plaid, but one
that looked like it was tailored from her father's old shirt. She
turned to see who was stepping out of the car and her eyes narrowed
in confused recognition at the sight of Nick.
    Everyone
from school knew who he was. He had saved Valerie's life last
October. He vaguely remembered thinking she was cute at some point
last year.
    “Can
I help you?” she asked.
    “Hey...”
Nick said, pretending to be surprised. “I know you.”
    “School,”
Amanda responded. “You're Nick Morrisey.”
    “And
you're...” he glanced back at the sign. “McAffrey?”
    “Amanda.”
    “I
didn't expect to run into someone from school,” he lied. “Are
you-- wait how do you live here and--”
    “My
Dad lives here. My mom lives in Olympia Heights.”
    “Oh,
well, okay then.”
    “Can
I help you with something?”
    Nick
let his shoulders relax and nodded slowly. “Yes, yes you can. See,
I'm on an errand for my Mom. My little sister loves horses and so
we're looking for a place to take a pack of giggly eight-year-olds
for a birthday party so they can ride.” Nick didn't actually have
any siblings, but the fictional half-sister helped convince girls
that he was secretly sweet and compassionate. He had used this sister
before. Claire, as he had dubbed her, had a backstory and supposedly
lived with his mother in Fort Lauderdale.
    “It's
been a while since we've done a birthday party, but we do trail rides
and lessons. We don't cater and you bring your own cake.”
    “That's
fine. Could I get