Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 58874 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 294(@200wpm)___ 235(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58874 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 294(@200wpm)___ 235(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
“Julie, come on.”
“If you don’t stop, I’ll call you a girl’s name too,” he grumbled, but he wasn’t really mad anymore. He was too curious about what Torrence was doing. “Your name is as long as mine, Tori.”
“Okay.” Torrence sounded unbothered. “Bring the pipes over.”
Julian followed his voice, and when he caught up, Torrence was dragging a piece of flat wood into an empty part of the yard.
“What are you doing?” Julian asked.
“Setting up the game,” he said, sounding a little breathless. The wood was bigger than him. He walked back to the pile of things and then hauled out another similar piece. “Put the pipes over here.”
Julian went to the spot and lowered his arms. The metal fell to the ground. Torrence lined up the pipes beside each other and then he pulled the wood over to them, arranging each piece so it was lying across a pipe, sort of like a seesaw. Then he climbed onto one with both legs and looked at him expectantly. “Ready?”
“What are we doing?” Julian asked as he mirrored his position on the other piece of wood.
“Seeing who can keep the wood completely off the ground for the longest time.”
That didn’t sound like any sort of game or any sort of fun, but he didn’t have anything else to do and Torrence was grinning as he shifted his body and got the wood balanced perfectly on the pipe, so Julian went along with it. It was harder than it looked. By the time his father shouted his name from inside the house and told him it was time to go, he was laughing and smiling and having a better time than he’d had playing any video game, a better time than he’d had doing anything ever.
***
Feet bouncing with excitement, Julian looked out the rain-splattered window and tracked the now familiar route to Tori’s house. He didn’t live far but the change from their neighborhood to Tori’s was huge so Julian had learned to identify the path.
“We’re almost there,” he said to himself.
“Uh-huh,” his father responded from the front seat. “Now remember, Julian, you can’t—”
“I can’t tell Mom.” He rolled his eyes at the annoying reminder. “I know.” His mother had a big case in Minnesota, so she had been gone more than usual that entire summer. She came back to Phoenix for weekends, but when she was out of town, his dad worked with Ms. Dunworthy at her house and Julian got to play with Tori. His father told him the visits were a secret every single time, like he’d forget. “I have a good memory,” he reminded his father.
As soon as the car stopped, Julian grappled for his seatbelt. He had gotten big enough to use a booster seat so he could get in and out by himself now. He reached for the door handle and pushed it open. The heat of the summer and wetness of the rain hit him at the same time. He jumped out and ran to the front door. At his house, he’d have to wipe off or maybe even change out of his damp clothes, but Tori’s family didn’t care about things like that, so he turned the doorknob to go in. For the first time, it was locked. He froze, confused. His parents’ house was always locked and their alarm set, but this was the first time he hadn’t been able to just walk into Tori’s house.
“It’s locked,” he said over his shoulder to his father, who was walking up, his head ducked to avoid the rain.
“I’ll text Vickie.” He stood on the porch beside Julian and pulled the phone out of his pocket, but before he typed anything, the door swung open.
“Hi, Julie!” Tori greeted him with a smile and immediately reached for him. “Come on!”
He quickly took his friend’s hand and followed him inside. All four of Tori’s brothers were in the living room. Julian had met Tyson, Trey, Travis, and Titan during his visits, but they weren’t usually all there at the same time.
“Hi!” he said happily. He liked Tori’s brothers. They were mostly quiet, but they were nice. All of their names started with the same letter, but they had different last names. Tori said it was because they had different fathers, but Tori had the same last name as his mother, so Julian didn’t completely understand that.
“Hey, little man,” Tyson, the oldest one said. He was old enough to be in high school, but he said he didn’t go. “What’s up?” He puffed on his cigarette.
The smell bothered Julian, but Tori’s brothers always smoked so he didn’t make a big deal out of it. “What are you guys playing?” He walked over and looked around. There were guns on the coffee table and in their laps and they were doing something to them. “Are those Nerfs?” He glanced toward the door to check if his father was still there, hoping he had gone to Ms. Dunworthy’s bedroom because Julian wanted to play and he wasn’t allowed to have any violent toys.