by Rae Hachton
THE SUMMER OF ME AND YOU
The summer of first love. The summer of magic.
The Summer of Me and You.
RAE HACHTON
Teen Pulse, a publishing company for Teen Fiction. This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright 2013 Desirae Hennington
(Rae Hachton)
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to e-book retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Cover design by Teen Pulse
The Summer of Me & You:
The Summer of First Love. The Summer of Magic. The Summer of Me and You.
A boy and a girl who have loved each other from a distance finally get together over one summer.
Contemporary YA. Teen. Love. Romance. Summer.
A print copy is available at most book retailers.
I was sitting in the sand watching the ebb and flow of the tide when she arrived. “I can't believe we're here again.” The ocean air blew her hair into waves.
“I can't believe you're here,” I said, standing.
“Are you kidding? I'd be anywhere you are.”
I gazed at her for minutes, trying to decipher what was different about her. What was different about us. Four summers later, and we were finally here again. I told her I would wait, and she came back here for me. That one summer we'd spent together had defined a lot of things for me. With Kayleigh I had grown and the time apart hadn't separated us. Right now, everything was the same. Exactly the same as it'd always been.
CHAPTER ONE
The First Time I Fell In Love With Kaleb
*
The first time I fell in love with Kaleb Scheffler I was in my backyard gazing up at the cold February sky. The wind was bitter and I had on my favorite sweater. I was wishing it'd snow. In fact, I was praying for it. From behind me I heard a thud, like something had fallen from far above and crashed to the ground. I pulled my eyes away from the sky and swirled around. Kaleb was lying in my backyard on his back, his head turned and silently laughing. He'd hopped over my fence and had fallen down into my yard. He jumped up and walked over to me with a slight limp.
I smiled.
He pressed a finger to his red lips. “Shh,” he said. “Be quiet.” But his lips were smiling and he had a devious glimmer in his eyes.
I whispered to him, “I heard you were grounded for life.”
He shrugged. “I jumped out of my window to be with you.”
“Wow,” I said, mockingly. “How romantic.”
“It is.” Even at fifteen, he was unlike other guys. Something about him was always more mature, more serious. Deep.
“Kaleb Scheffler, always the charmer.”
He lived near the railroad tracks. But it must've not been that far from my house because I could hear the train wailing at night. It never sounded too distant.
“I ran through a junkyard, leapt over cars, and jumped across barbed wire just to get to you. Now I'm bleeding.” He rolled his pants leg up, showing me the laceration. “Snagged it on the barbed wire.”
I could see where his already worn jeans were torn and blood stained.
“Doesn't that hurt? Even a little?”
“It did, but now I'm here with you so...”
“You're so crazy, Kaleb.”
“For you I am. Nothing can keep me away from you. I'm not going to let a damn thing come in between us.”
I just laughed. He looked so serious saying that. He'd been chasing me around ever since the first grade. He was always devising a new way to get my attention.
“What happened?”
“My step-dad happened. Stephen is such a dick. He wouldn't let me leave the house. He locked me in my room, like what the fuck—I'm sixteen, I'm grown. So I jumped out the window.”
“You're not gonna be sixteen for three more months,” I told him.
“So, same difference.”
“Why are you here, really?”
“It's Valentine's Day,” he said, resting against the maple tree. A light wind rustled through the brittle leaves, skittering them across the ground.
“No—it's February 18th. Valentine's Day was four days ago.”
“Oh, yeah,” he said, realizing. “You're right. Shit.”
“So, what was your big plan anyway? I mean, what if I'd been in my room or something? You know my mom wouldn't have let you in to talk to me.”
“Then I would've crawled through your bedroom window.” Kaleb reached up his hands and held on to the branch above him.
“What makes you think I would've let you in?”
“Because,” he said confidently. “I know you like me.”
“If that's what you think.”
“Nah, I pretty much know so.”
“Maybe, but I'd never tell you, so you can't be so sure,” I smiled, keeping it playful. But Kaleb said something that made my heart race. Something that made the conversation more serious.
“One day, you're going to love me Kayleigh Jamison.” He gazed at me in a long fixed stare. A few seconds later, snowflakes fell from the sky, swirling around us and the moment was perfect. Until my mother tapped on the back window. I broke eye contact and turned my head in my mom's direction. She was looking out the window, watching me.
“Tell that boy to leave,” she said. I was going to turn back around, tell Kaleb to ignore her and stay. But when I did, he had already sauntered off before I could stop him. I watched as he hoisted his body up and over the fence, and disappeared from view.
On that cold February night, I listened to the same song over and over again, thinking about him. A few days later, after school, I went down by the railroad tracks. There was a graffiti tunnel—it was sorta like a hide out. I knew I'd find Kaleb there. He was usually always there.
He was lying down when I got there. “How can you lay here like this?”
“I like to listen to the train pass by.”
“Why?”
“Because I like the sound.” He leaned up to look at me. “Besides, what are you doing here?”
“I don't know,” I said.
“Yeah you do.”
“I wanted to talk to you.”
He stood up and walked over to me. “Remove your glasses,” he said.
“Why?”
“I wanna see your eyes when I kiss you.”
My heart fluttered. But I didn't remove my glasses. I didn't do anything. I just froze up. Kaleb leaned in anyway. And just as he was about to kiss me, a train suddenly wailed. I snapped out of my daze and ran away from him.
I don't know why, but after that day we never spoke again. Maybe it was because I was too afraid of him. Afraid if I gave him my heart, he would surely break it. He was too gorgeous, too charming.
I was too in love.
CHAPTER TWO
In the Beginning there was a girl
*
In the beginning there was a girl. She doesn't deserve to be named because she didn't stay in my life long enough to be important—in fact she was only there momentarily, to help fuck it up.
I didn't know what was happening to me when I'd take
the baseball bat and bash the shit out of everything in my way—complete totality and destruction. I felt devilish as I destroyed my room. Something was terribly wrong with me and I just wanted it to stop. And it wasn't anger issues, because really—I had nothing to be angry about.
This path to destruction began when my step-sister Rebekah told her boyfriend Needles I was losing my mind and he said it was because I needed to get laid.
I went with him to this wild ass party. It wasn't like I thought it'd be. Not like the ones on TV with rap music and beer kegs.
Metal music, guys in tattoos and piercings, people covered in sweat. Someone getting inked in the back of the room and making faces like it turned them on. And the drug of choice wasn't alcohol or weed. I wanted to bolt right then and there. But he caught my expression.
“Stop it, man. You're only thinking of Kayleigh because you're a virgin. Look around, dude. Your wet dreams are comprised of some nerdy girl? After you have a taste of all of this, the real female, you won't want her.”
Things I didn't tell him because it was none of his damned business. For one—I wasn't a virgin. I'd lost my virginity when I was fourteen. For two—I used to fool around with Rebekah, his hot (I can't say that about her anymore) girlfriend before she became my step-sister.
I ended up in a room with that girl who shall remain nameless and she told me she had a cure for my moods. Relax and give in.
Sex seemed to be the cure for everyone's problems.
What an idiot I was. She wasn't referring to the sex.
All I remembered that night was her jet black hair flying all around the place, her pierced lips crushing against mine, unwelcome, her tattooed arms swaying, her fingers crawling all over my body, and a needle in her hand.
Black metal. Black bones. Black heart. Black ice.
She fucked me up.
It's adrenaline.
No it wasn't—it was methamphetamine.
Oh my god, oh my god.
But when it was inside of me, I felt like a god. And I ended up becoming her sex slave just to get more. I let her do anything she wanted to me. I just closed my eyes, my heart was on fire—I sweated like madman. The fire licked my entire body. I almost couldn't breathe.
I wanted to be back at home bashing the hell out of things. The metal music pumped through my veins—the beating, the crashing, the anger.
The anger came rushing back into me. The drug hadn't made it go away. It only temporarily numbed me. In fact, without the drug, I became far worse. And I was letting this bitch use my body just so I could destroy my life.
And Kayleigh never left my mind, not even once.
Even when we—that girl and I—were fucking there was always that image dancing in the back of my mind—of the girl in glasses with the calm demeanor and sweet voice, and the boy who hugged her; everything was fucking cupcake sweet with sprinkles on top. But all I could think about was Kayleigh on top of me, doing what this girl didn't quite do right. Maybe it wasn't that she didn't do it right, she just wasn't the girl I wanted. But would the girl I wanted always be a fantasy?
I couldn't change her, or pull off those damn glasses or make her wear eyeliner or make her abuse my body so damn hard I submitted to her. It was all in my head. And if I were being completely honest with myself, the only way I was able to keep up this performance with this girl on top of me who was not my dream girl, was to fantasize about my dream girl. It was the only way to stay hard.
I wasn't even here for the sex, I was here for the drugs. But I had to let her screw me or else I couldn't get the drugs.
And the night I decided to take back control of my life changed everything. The crazy bitch thought I was asleep or passed out and she was screwing another guy in front of me. I found my way up off the floor and I bolted. But she chased after me, trying to hold me hostage.
What in the hell had I gotten myself into?
I busted that guy she was fucking in the mouth and pushed her across the room. She landed on the glass coffee table, breaking it. And then there was blood everywhere and the metal music was crashing and my head spun. I tried to think but couldn't. She pulled glass out of her leg. I just needed to get out of there. On the way out I slashed their tires to keep them from following me.
Anger. Nothing but anger. Behind the wheel of my car, all I thought about was crashing into something. Anything. I imagined what it would feel like, meeting the end and dying. I was out of control again. And there was nothing to make it stop. I just wanted it to fucking stop! It was ruining my life. It was like I was possessed. There was a demon in me and I wanted to cut him out. I accelerated faster and faster. I closed my eyes, and spun the car around. I took my hand off the wheel. For a second it was like I was flying. I was in control. The car sailed before crashing. I felt the impact shooting through me, felt like my bones were breaking, then nothing. I was out.
I woke up in the hospital. My leg and arm both in a cast. My body ached all over. I was bruised. My chest hurt. Everything hurt.
“You're not going to be able to walk for a while, honey,” my mom said, hovering over me when I awoke.
I pulled a derisive laugh through my lungs, although it was hard to be sarcastic when I felt like I was in hell. The chuckles were clipped short. But I made my point.
“I can't believe I survived at all.”
My mom's eyes bulged. “This isn't just about you! You could've killed someone, Kaleb! You had heavy drugs in your system. Your life would've been over.”
“Maybe I want my fucking life to be over,” I said in a calm demeanor because I had to.
“You would've been thrown in prison and the bars slammed shut. It's called manslaughter.”
“That was extreme,” Rebekah said, smiling.
My mother spun around on her. “Get out of here!” She pointed to the door. I don't need you or your metal head boyfriend encouraging Kaleb's reckless behavior. If you were my kid you wouldn't be tattooed or pierced. You look like an idiot. Your life has no direction.”
“Whatever,” Rebekah said. “No one made him inject meth. You can't turn him into bubble boy, mom.” She sauntered out of the room.
Rebekah was the first girl to ruin me. That drug bitch was the second.
“You're a good kid, Kaleb. I need to know how you ended up like this,” she had tears in her eyes. “Did you crash your car because of that girl?”
I wanted to laugh again, but couldn't. But I managed to give a sardonic smile. “Which one?”
“You can't take drugs or crash your car because some girl doesn't like you, Kaleb.”
I had the urge to bolt forward or throw something across the room, but I couldn't even raise my voice. All I could do was shake my head. “You think that's why I did this? Rejection? This isn't about Kayleigh, mom. She doesn't even know how I feel and you don't either, because if you did then you'd know that I'm fucked up and something is terribly wrong with me,” I cried. “It's like a monster takes over. I never wanted the drugs. It just happened. I thought it would make the crazy go away.”
My mom cried, too. She leaned down, kissing my forehead. “I know, baby. I know. I'm going to get you some help. And I'm going to talk to Stephen about Rebekah moving out. She's twenty-one and doesn't need to be at the house, upsetting and influencing you.”
I laughed again. “I hope they tested my blood for aids, too when they found the drugs in my system. I messed up. I need an HIV and a STD test, mom.”
“Kaleb,” my mom cried, “this isn't like you. I don't understand.”
“Me either,” I said.
“What happened to that nice girl, Kayleigh. You need someone like her in your life. Not people like Rebekah's friends.”
“Kayleigh's too good for me, mom. I can't love a girl like her, because of the monster inside of me. It just wouldn't be fair to her. She's beautiful and deserves so much more. I would just ruin her life.”
“You're going to get better, Kaleb. I have you set up with a doctor to get you evaluated.”
/> I knew it. There was no denying it. “I have a mental illness, don't I?”
“Yeah, kid, I think you do. It would explain a lot of things.”
“Like why I bash the hell out of everything and get angry for no reason. That has to stop, mom or I'm never going to be normal or have a girlfriend. No one will ever love me.”
Kayleigh never spoke to me again until I was lying on the train tracks praying for a train to hurry the fuck up and run me over. I was beginning to think she'd forgotten that I existed.
I'd always silently loved Kayleigh, ever since first grade when Mrs. Walker was mad at me for coloring every picture blue—she ripped up my picture and took away my crayons. It'd made me cry, but Kayleigh, I remembered what she did. She stole everyone's blue crayons, put them in a box and handed them to me at recess. Because our school was small, Mrs. Walker taught the K-First grade class—there wasn't enough students for a single kindergarten class, so the school combined the classes. I was six months older than Kayleigh and because of her November birthday, she had started school a year late, which put me a grade ahead of her.
“If you like blue, color everything blue. You don't have to listen to her. Your picture was pretty anyway.”
I'd wanted to be close to Kayleigh ever since. But we were always separated, whether it was because she was a grade ahead of me in elementary school or because she went to a different middle school. And by the time high school had arrived, I'd been labeled as the guy to avoid. I had a bad rep. Partly because I wanted to. I felt safer that way.
I didn't see her there at first—didn't know anyone was watching me. It wasn't until she spoke I realized someone was there.
“What are you doing?”
I raised up just enough to see her standing there. She was wearing her Buddy Holly glasses. Kayleigh was a complete nerd.
“What does it look like I'm doing?”
She didn't skip a beat. “Being ignorant.”
“Well, I obviously fascinate you or you wouldn't be so intent on watching me.”
She didn't say anything.
“Did you follow me here? You had to. No one knew I was coming here. Guess I'll have to find a new place now”
