Free Catalyst (The Best Days #1) by Delaina Lake Page B

chocolate bar, greedily cramming the gooey concoction into her mouth.   It didn’t taste as good as she’d expected now that it had been soured by her uncomfortable run-in with Grace.
    Doubts and regrets plagued Rory.  She didn’t think she was a bad person but sometimes it was so hard to make her behavior reflect her heart.  Why had she blown Grace off like that?  She should have talked to her...despite what Grace claimed, she clearly wasn’t okay.  Who would be, after being humiliated in such a public way?
    As Rory polished off her chocolate bar, she felt uneasy.  She knew it couldn’t feel good to be the target of unwanted, negative attention and figured Grace could use a friend right now.  Rory grabbed her bag, threw her chocolate bar wrapper away and quickly exited the bathroom, vowing to talk to Grace at lunchtime.
    Rory nearly collided with Sheck in the hallway outside the washroom.  “Whoa!” she uttered, taking a step back.  “What are you doing here?” she added curiously, noting that the hallway was all but deserted, classes having started five minutes earlier.  Trust her to be late to class again – Sheck always joked that Rory just had to make a grand entrance by barging in after class had already begun.  She, in turn, cheerfully told him to shut it.
    Sheck grinned and twirled his keychain on his finger.  “I’m waiting for you.  Let’s go for a ride.”
    Rory hesitated briefly, but then decided that the prospect of sitting through another tedious class wasn’t particularly exciting.  Besides, Sheck needed a friend so maybe in a way skipping class was actually altruistic.  “Okay,” she replied, hoisting her backpack over her shoulder.  “Where are we headed?”
    As it turned out, Rory and Sheck were headed to Cricket Lake. 
    Despite its unappealing name, it was a picturesque little vacation getaway.  During the summer months, its campground was typically occupied to capacity.  The cottages surrounding part of the lake were also well-used, with young families and retirees alike wanting to soak up every bit of summer at the lake that they could.  It also had all the typical amenities of a well-run, well-used campground, including a recreation centre, baseball diamonds and a putt-putt course. 
    During the off season, however, Cricket Lake was all but deserted.  The buildings were all locked up, the campground was empty and it was rare to see a soul around.  That was the case on Thursday. 
    “It’s kind of spooky out here,” Rory commented as Sheck pulled his car into the deserted gravel parking lot down by the water.  “It’s like a ghost town...well, ghost campground .  You know what I mean.” 
    “I like it,” Sheck replied, staring out the window at the water wistfully.  “It’s like having a private campground.  I like coming out here to think.”
    Rory snorted.  “Is that what getting high is called these days?” 
    Sheck shrugged and pulled a joint out of the pocket of his well worn denim jacket.  “You know me too well,” he grinned sheepishly, fishing around for a lighter. 
    It was funny, Rory thought, because right now she felt like she didn’t know him at all.  “If you’re getting high then I get to drive home,” she informed him firmly. 
    “You don’t even hav e your driver’s licence,” he reminded her.  It was true.  She’d failed the written test so hadn’t even had the chance to take her actual driving test yet.  Instead, she was stuck repeating the whole stupid course.
    “It’s still better than you driving home high,” Rory retorted, her tone letting him know that the matter wasn’t up for discussion.   “And I’m not waiting out here all night for you to come down.  So either I drive us home or you don’t get high,” she insisted, secretly hoping he’d choose the second option.
    “Fine,” Sheck relented.  “You can drive us home.”
    As the fumes filled the car, Rory wrinkled her nose and rolled down the