Hooked

Copyright © 2012 by Carrie Thomas

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval systems, without prior written permission
of the author except where permitted by law.

Published by

Carrie Thomas

309 CR 122

Bono, AR 72416

For my sisters,

Candace and Carla.
 

Thank you for always knowing what to say to give me the confidence to actually finish this book and allow others to read it.
  Your words of encouragement have meant the world to me.

    
CHAPTER 1

    
The night before my first day as a senior in high school, my parents surprise me with a car.  "Millie, we need you outside!"
M
y dad yelled from the bottom of the stairs.  I click off my
facebook
page and go down stairs. "We want to show you something
,
" he said. 

    
We walk outside and there in our driveway
,
is
a black 2008
Toyota
C
am
r
y.  I ran up to the car and felt like screaming for joy.  I have been begging my dad since I was sixteen for a car.  His answer was always the same.
"Millie, when you see what I see
every day
, you take everything into consideration when putting your teenage daughter on the highway."  I consciously don't roll my eyes
when he says this.

    
My dad is a really good man
,
but sometimes I think his job gets in the way of our relationship.  I have never given my dad a reason not to trust me and he is still very protective of me and doesn't trust me to make my own
decisions
.  All of my friends have tried smoking pot and drinking.  I have not for two reasons:  A
) my
dad and B
) I
haven't really been that curious. 

    
I look at the car for what feels like an hour
,
but I know
it’s
only been a few minutes.  I run to my dad and give him a hug. 
"Thanks
,
dad!
  I can't believe I finally have a car and I don't have to bum rides from Jess or Cara anymore!" 

    
My mom laughs at me
when I
offer to pay them e
very week.  Jess and Cara both live in town. 
I
,
on the
other
hand, live in the cou
ntry.
Like, way out in the country. 
So
,
for Jess and Cara to come pick me up and bring me home after basketball practice, it is out of their way. 

    
My dad grew up in
Brooklyn, New York
.
Since he grew up in such a big city
, he said he always dreamed of living in the country with nothing to look at but land.  H
e wanted to
raise his kids in the south and in the country, I guess it being small and quiet have something to do with it, I’ve never really asked him.  We live in a town called Riverdale
, Tennessee
.  It’s not huge, but not too small either.  It is big enough that I don’t know all of my classmates
,
but I can still go into town and my dad is ok
ay
with it.  Our house is a two story white house with black shutters.  We live on about
five
acres and we have a barn out back.  We don’t actually have any animals in it
though. It’s actually just
ended up just being a place where my dad stores his junk.
 

    
My little brother
,
Eli
is
fourtee
n years old.  He teases me beyond belief
,
but since I am
three
years older than him, he quits after only a few raunchy/mean comments, depending on what kind of mood he's in.  Eli comes around the passenger side and sits down.  I take the
driver’s
seat as mom and dad look on. 

   
“
T
his
console will hold
a lot
of my CD's
,”
he says
as he opens the top part of it.

 
 
"I'm sure it
would
, if I was willing to let you keep them there
.
"
H
e rolled his eyes, knowing I would give in. 

   
Eli is a good kid and he's smarter than I will ever be.  He's one of those people that God gave everything to.  He makes straight A's in all his classes, plays every sport at school (and
excels
at them
all
) and has so many friends he couldn't hang out with all of them in a month.  He is also a good brother, most of the time.  We get along well
and he
looks out for me and I look out for him.  He is extremely handsome.  He has dark hair and bright green eyes.  My friends would totally date him if he was older and
secretly
I'm still kind of worried Jess might teach him a thing or two.

    
I, on the other hand, have to study my butt off to pull a 3.5 GPA.  I am pretty good at basketball
,
though.  I owe that to my dad who used to practice with me every afternoon.  I am 5'6'' and medium build. 
I have
long
straight
brown hair and green eyes like my brother.  I have plenty of friends, but Jessica Gold and Cara White are my best friends.  We have an ongoing joke that it was pre-destined for us to be best friends because we all have last names that are colors
and yes
,
we count
D
iamond as a color
.  My last name is
Diamond.
  Millie Adele
Diamond
,
that’s
me.  Yes, my initials spell MAD.  My brother teases me about that all the time.

    
I look at Eli in the
passenger
seat and ask him if he cares if I go pick up Jess and Cara and let them see the car.  I tell him when I get back I'll give him a ride around the block.  "Sure
,
MAD Millie
,
" he says as he winks at me. 

    
"You can't put me in a bad mood tonight
,
little brother." 

    
I get out and ask mom and dad if I can go show Cara and Jess. "We may go get
ice cream
if
that’s
ok
ay
?"  I say batting my eyes for my dad. 

    
He starts to say something and my mom (bless her)
interrupts
and says, "
Th
at’s
fine, but be home by 10:00 pm and be careful." 

    
I've had my license since
I was sixteen and dad would let me drive my
mom’s
car when I needed to go somewhere, but I don't think he was quite ready for this kind of freedom.  I run upstairs to get my purse and phone.  I catch a glimpse of myself in my mirror.  I stop and think about changing.  I have on jeans and a black tank top with a cardinal on the front.  That's our school mascot.  We are the River
dale
,
Cardinals.  I figure this is fine enough for the
D
airy
Q
ueen and slip into some black flip flops.  I get a band for my hair and put it on my wrist. 
When I’m ready to go
,
I
send Jess and Cara a text on my way down stairs to let them know I am coming over. 

    
Once
I get down stairs, my parents are waiting.  My dad's eyes look intense.  I know a lecture is coming on safety and the rules of the road.  I know he can't help
it
,
at least
the policeman in him can't, so I brace myself
to give him my full attention
and listen. 

    
I guess my mom had a talk with him before I got down
stairs
because all he said was
,
“B
e careful and I love you.
”

    
I couldn't help but feel so
empowered
by having my own car.  I felt
so
grown up.  I picked Cara up first.  Cara lived in a really nice neighborhood down the street from the school.  Her house was huge.
H
er dad is a surgeon in the city closest to our town.  He
is very ni
c
e
, but
he
isn’t
around a
lot.  Her mom is a teacher at our school. 
Luckily for Cara, she doesn’t teach in the
h
igh
s
chool.  That would be weird to have her mother in a class as my teacher. 
We like to stay at her place because they have a
lot of room
.
  During the summer, we try to stay over there a
lot because they have a pool
as well.

    
I park in her driveway and run up to the door super excited.  I ring the doorbell and her older brother answers.  "Hey
,
Millie,
what’s
up?" 

    
"I got a car tonight and came by to take Cara for a ride."

   
"Cool, come on in
,
" he says as he moves out of the way for me to enter. 

    
Cara's brother is "jock"
cute.  You know, tall, muscular
…
hot.
 
He has blonde hair and blue eyes like Cara.  I used to have a crush on him my
sophomore
year, but after six months of me noticing him not noticing me...
I
gave up.  He's really nice too, so he pretended not to notice me drooling over him.  He
not the typical older brother, he
doesn't pick on
us, he actually takes care of us.

    
"Cara is upstairs.  You want something to drink?  I'm sure you'll be waiting for like,
”
he looks at his watch
, “
an hour or so
,
"
h
e
says laughing.