by Ally Decker
"Yeah, well, I don't need any friends. Go away."
She finally ran down the path toward the cabins. He should go after her, follow her and make sure she got back to her cabin without harm. But he flung himself on the hood of the car.
He was so getting fired.
As he lay there, his initial rage simmered and stewed as he kept reviewing their conversation. And dammit, the picture she painted wouldn't leave him.
A new car for his sixteenth birthday. The promise that he'd never go cold or hungry again. The shiny idea that he could turn a failure into a success dangled out of reach like a sparkling lure on the hook of life.
He lay under the stars dreaming of that life and ignoring the reality that he was probably going to get fired. Which would mean no new part for his car, no awesome life, no perfect future.
But in the morning, a subdued, less sparkly Penelope Hastings never said a word to the camp director. She also never spoke to Diego again. He knew he should apologize. But he didn't.
That regret festered in his heart. Once he got back to Dorchester, he decided he could apologize next summer. But after that first summer, he'd been able to work in his uncle's garage, learning more about cars and mechanic skills. Then camp closed and he never got the chance to apologize.
But he never forgot her.
The book is available HERE.
