Free Summer Love (First Love Book 1) by Harley Turner Page B

the woods for a large, expensive dinner at a fancy restaurant.
    After lunch, they went for a walk by the lake. They talked about everything. Marissa learned that Chad wanted to get his grades up enough to get a wrestling scholarship at UW-Madison. She was thrilled to discover that he could be only an hour away from her the next year. He learned that she had been to five different schools before third grade. In third grade, she had met Melissa and told her mom that she refused to change schools again, no matter how much she hated the cliques in her small school.
    Chad admitted that the scar on his cheek that Marissa had noticed the first day they met was from a fight when someone pulled a knife on him. She was concerned, but he assured her that it was a fight over drugs and wouldn’t happen again.
    When they left the park, they drove around for a while before Chad stopped at a sprinkler park.
    “If we go back home with your hair looking so perfect, your aunt will never buy the water park story,” Chad explained.
    The couple spent the next forty-five minutes running through sprinklers. When they got back to the car, Chad turned to her.
    “I really hate to ask this, but do you still have that Vicodin that I didn’t want earlier? Those sprinklers hurt like hell.”
    Marissa looked down at his hands. They were bleeding again. She dug through her bag until she found the almost empty pill bottle and handed it to him.
    “How many are in there?” he asked.
    “Just one. Chris told me one in the morning and one at night, and not to keep more than one on me,” she explained.
    “I’m changing that. Don’t give me more than one a day, and only if I really need it.”
    Marissa nodded. Chad took the pill and began driving. An hour later, they were at Chad’s old house to pick up Brayden. Once they left, Melanie started walking the baby to their house.

~nineteen~
    The rest of the weekend was quiet. Chad struggled through the pain to get his physics work done. By Sunday night, all of his missing assignments were complete, and he was confident that he could pass his finals, which were starting the next day.
    The week flew by. Marissa spent her days with Anthony and evenings with Chad, Brayden, and sometimes Melanie. Occasionally, even Chris would stop over and hang out. Without homework to work on, they were able to spend their time in the basement, watching movies or listening to music.
    On Thursday, Marissa was in the basement with Anthony when Chad came home.
    He ran towards her, lifting her into a hug. “You are amazing!” He kissed her. Before she could say anything, he handed her a piece of paper.
    It was his report card. There was no grade lower than a B, and he even managed to get an A- in algebra.
    “This is great!” she exclaimed. “We have to celebrate!”
    “Just the two of us,” he told her. “It’s the last chance we will probably get. Now that school is over, that means you will be leaving,” he reminded her.
    Melanie and Brayden agreed to watch Anthony while Marissa and Chad went to dinner. After dinner, they went for a walk by the lake. Marissa wanted the night to last forever, but eventually they had to go back home.
    The next day was the first day of summer vacation for the boys, so they spent the day at the park; the boys playing football, and the girls sitting on the sidelines with Anthony.
    “Hey Mel, take my place,” her brother Chris shouted as he jogged over to the girls.
    “About damn time,” Melanie said, running to join the guys.
    Chris leaned against the boulder. “Again, I just want to tell you how sorry I am. You have really been a great influence on my brother. I don’t think he had ever gotten an A before, especially not in math. I’m really glad he found someone like you.” He took a drink of water. “Has he been back to the cave at all?” Marissa shook her head. “That’s good. There is nothing left there, but just being there might set him off again. He’s going to have to