by Catie Rhodes
“Go on and tell the class what your project is.” Stubblefield beamed. He must’ve made up the project topics himself.
“The Chris Leeland disappearance,” Rainey read aloud. She frowned at Mr. Stubblefield and shook her head. “For one thing, I don’t get how the Gaslight City Council would be interested in this. For another, how does this pertain to things we’ve discussed in this class?”
“It’s your job to create a project that will impress the City Council, not mine.” Stubblefield raised his eyebrows. “Now I’m happy to help you brainstorm if you need it. As for the subject matter, we discussed this country’s fascination with true crime just last month.”
Rainey nodded slowly, refolding the paper.
“Ms. Brent, you need to sit down right now.” Stubblefield walked away to let another group pick from his basket.
“Peri Jean?” Felicia had recovered from her injury enough to speak again. “I’m serious, you little freak. Get up now.” She kneed me in the back.
I spun to glare at her and raised one fist. Chase turned and caught my fist.
“You’ll get into trouble.” He gave me a sweet smile. His hand flashed out and tugged on the edge of Felicia’s notebook. Her books all fell on the floor.
“Pick ’em up, dummy,” Tubby Tubman hollered. He and Chase both bent over their desks laughing.
Felicia stared down at her scattered books, mouth open. The bell signaling the end of class rang. I felt a smile growing on my face and did nothing to stop it.
“Chair’s yours, Queenie.” I stood and gathered my books. I’d pay later, but I couldn’t help myself.
Felicia’s mouth dropped open, and her cheeks turned the color of a baboon’s butt. She spun to leave.
“Wait a minute.” Rainey raised her voice. “All of you meet me after school at my car. It’s in the front parking lot. I’ll spring for ice cream at Dottie’s, and we can discuss the project.” She raised her thin eyebrows at me. “I’ll call your Memaw to let her know you have a ride home.”
Oh, happy joy. I went off to my next class.
The bell rang at the end of fourth period. Mrs. Cockerel, whom the students called Mrs. Cockroach, cut short her lecture on chemical reactions and took a step backward to avoid the mass exodus. I grabbed my books and hurried out behind everybody else. I went to the back door of the high school, intending to hit the hidden cove where all the kids smoked on the way to the cafeteria, to make sure Chase wasn’t there. I pushed open the door, and droplets of cold rain splattered on the concrete stoop and sprayed on me. Chase wouldn’t go stand in the rain to smoke.
I hurried back down the hallway. If I went out the front door on the other end of the building, I could take the covered walkway all the way to the cafeteria. The building emptied quickly as students went into their classes or to the cafeteria. Where I’ll find Chase surrounded by all the people who ignored me or made fun of me earlier.
My skin prickled with embarrassment. Maybe Chase wouldn’t play his guitar today and we could talk a little. If we couldn’t leave campus together, I needed a dose of his optimism. Life always felt grim and endless to me. Not Chase. His it’ll-be-okay attitude was with him from the time he woke up until he went to sleep.
I stopped to stow my books in my locker and hurried past the custodian’s closet on the way out. The door hung ajar. Why was it open? Eddie Kennedy, whom I’d known all my life, worked part-time as janitor. Didn’t he know some of these asshole kids would go in and mess things up, get him in trouble? He was probably at lunch, maybe listening to Chase play guitar, pretending he was still a kid himself. I gripped the knob, intending to pull the door closed, only to have it yanked out of my hand. Four sets of hands came out of the darkness, jerked me inside, and threw me to the floor.
Rear View will be available for purchase in October 2016. To get an email reminder when it’s available (and to get bonus content), click here to sign up for my newsletter.
THE PERI JEAN MACE GHOST THRILLER SERIES
Forever Road (Book #1)
Black Opal (Book #2)
Rocks & Gravel (Book #3)
Rest Stop (Book #4)
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www.catierhodes.com
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Catie Rhodes is the author of the Peri Jean Mace Ghost Thrillers. Her short stories have appeared in Tales from the Mist, Allegories of the Tarot, and Let’s Scare Cancer to Death.
Catie was born and raised behind the pine curtain in East Texas. Her favorite memories of childhood are sitting around listening to her family spin yarns. The stories all had one thing in common: each had an element of the mysterious or the unexplained.
Those weird stories molded Catie into a purveyor of her own brand of lies and legends. One day, she found the courage to start writing down her stories. It changed her life forever.
Catie Rhodes lives steps from the Sam Houston National Forest with her long-suffering husband and her armpit terrorist of a little dog.
When she’s not writing, Catie likes to cook horribly fattening foods and crochet or knit stuff nobody wants as a gift. She also reads a whole helluva lot.
Visit Catie’s website to sign up for email updates on new releases.
www.catierhodes.com
Forbidden Highway
A Peri Jean Mace Ghost Thriller
Copyright © 2016 Catie Rhodes.
All rights reserved.
Published by: Long Roads and Dark Ends Press
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without express written permission from the publisher. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the internet or any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Cover artwork by Book Cover Corner
Content Editing by Word Webber Press
Copy Editing by The Independent Pen
Proofreading by Deborah Digrispino
First Printing, 2016
Rhodes, Catie.
Rest Stop/ Catie Rhodes. — 1st ed.
Visit the author website: www.catierhodes.com
Table of Contents
Newsletter Front of Book
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Epilogue
Rear View: A Peri Jean Mace Prequel
The Peri Jean Mace Ghost Thriller Series
Newsletter Signup
About the Author
Copyright
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