Free Ache for You (Trapped in Three Hill Book 1) by Nancy Beaudet Page B

flat, and he just starts off. It takes me a minute to shake my head before I take off after him. Relentless when it comes to keeping an eye on him. Three Hill is peaceful looking from the outside in, completely perfect with burnt red trees and a mailman grinning behind every hedge. Everyone looks pleased with some mass secret. I was never good enough to be let in on it. For me, this place was a prison.
                  You were different. You always had the chance to be different, to be perfect. You had it, why did you try to destroy it?
                  “Mal come on slow down.” I try to catch up. He just keeps his head down, his long legs moving faster than I will probably ever be able to go. “That girl didn’t mean anything bad; she was just trying to talk to you.”
                  “It’s normal, my death was kind of wild and people want to know the details. That’s understandable, but I’m sorry that I’m the reason that people are bothering you.” This is totally the truth.
                  “Mal?” he doesn’t even turn around. The side entrance to Three Hill community college is open, and Mal is an avalanche pushing through it.
                  The walls are all made of brick. The front entrance is massive, six doors spread out for going out and in. I was glad when I heard that he enrolled here as a student, but I was still confused by it. Mal never loved anything enough to stick to it. Girls or classes. Music or drawing.
                  He was so God damn good at making music. I used to watch him humming along creating a rhythm. He always had the lyrics just ready in his head, already full of passion. He stopped writing that first time that I kissed him, and I couldn’t help but notice it. Did I kill something inside of him? Trying to smother him? All I wanted do was touch it. Feel it.
                  I wanted to experience it, and instead I killed it.
                  “Mal stop it!” Again I reach out for him, but I must not want to touch him because my grip on his sweatshirt just slips. He disappears down the hallway, and I’m alone again.

   Not Yet - Mal
     
                  I last five minutes. Five minutes spent listening to some waste of skin in some fucking class that did not even pause as I walked in.
                  No one tried to stop me, so I sat in the back. I wish I had my backpack, at least then I could lean on it. My legs are shaking; my skin is damp. I’m clammy and uncomfortable and I hate it. The classroom has an auditorium style to it, high rows of chairs narrowing into a circle where the professor is meant to stand.
                  I get up with a grunt and turn with a twist, pushing open the heavy metal door. It slams behind me when I exit. I let it. I do not care if anyone is bothered or interrupted by it.
                  No one calls out demanding an explanation. No one gives a shit. At least I’ve learned that.
                  I storm along the walking path. Head down, rage blooming inside of my chest. No one bothers me again.
                  My ride is still parked right where I left it, in front of my townhouse. I don’t know what moronic part of me expected this to be different. Why would it?
                  I am only haunted in my head.
                  My girl is gone, God dammit.
                  She’s not coming back.

   I Can't Do This - Flo
     
                  “Mal what the hell are you doing? I’m dead, and even I’m exhausted.” I dropped into the passenger side of his Camaro™ and grunted at a sudden, unexpected difficulty in the situation.
                  I can feel him.
                  I can feel the seat I’m sitting in. The door handle was in my hand. I was suddenly unable just to shift my way through it. I had