Overcome

Overcome

Emily Camp

Copyright © 2015 by Emily Camp All rights reserved

ISBN paperback 978-1497537361

This is a work of fiction any similarities to people or events are purely coincidence and not intended by the author.

Recommended Ages 14 and up

Picking her life back up after a tragedy seems to be easy for Carly. At least on the outside. She tries to keep her true brokenness hidden from the rest of the world until she finds friendship in an unexpected place. He's different from other guys and seems to have his own issues from the past.  Will they pull together and find healing where neither would have thought

1. Juvenile fiction 2. Love and Romance

3. Faith and Spirituality

Cover design and photo: Copyright©2015 Emily Camp

For My Mom

Chapter 1

Carly

The air was thick with the putrid smell of rotting, and even though it was only May, sweat trickled between Carly’s shoulder blades. Her blond curls stuck to her neck like a heavy blanket. She regretted not pulling her hair back for this.

Perhaps if her best friend, Bree, had been with her instead of in the hospital having a baby, Carly would have felt better. She was used to Bree and her going everywhere together. Things were going to be different and, as much as Carly knew this, she wasn’t prepared to be in a crowd on her own. Bree would have been her voice of reason, would have told her what she was doing was a big mistake. Who would have thought the sensible-reasonable one out of the two would end up a teen mom?

Carly’s flip-flops clopped under her on the uneven, brick road as she made her way further into the mess. Her right foot began to stick with every step as she passed
McAfee’s Mac-N-Cheese
. “Crud,” she grumbled, trying to ignore the extra pull as she walked.

On the other side of the street, kids waited bouncing in line, to have their faces painted.

She passed
The Big Cheese
cart, and by the time she made it to the
Harris Dairy
truck, which was painted white and black like a cow,
talk about cheesy,
she couldn’t take it any longer. She had to get rid of whatever the nasty gunk was that made it difficult to walk.

Carly looked over her shoulder to make sure all the cheesy people were too into the festival, celebrating yet another mediocre thing to notice her. Two weeks ago, they celebrated the first of May with the May Day carnival in Overlook Park. Now, it’s cheese, of all things,
cheese
. In another two weeks, they’d be having a strawberry festival on Strawberry Hill.

She braced herself on the corner of the
Harris Dairy
food cart when she noticed the little clock sitting in the window that read …
Be back at.
The little hands on the cardboard clock pointed to
5:05.
Carly pulled her cellphone out of her back pocket. It was 5:00. She balanced on one foot as she pulled off her flip-flop. A lump of gum, as she had suspected, was smashed to the rubbery sole.  It couldn’t have been just gum … just gum might have not been as gross. Of course, since she walked a few feet on it there were pieces of dirt and debris in it, including a yellowed cigarette butt.

“Gross,” she grumbled to herself, her hand flat against the metal over the D in dairy as she scraped the bottom of her shoe against the corner of the cart. “People are disgusting.”

The gum was stubborn and stringy and she continued to scrape and grumble, pulling it back just enough to see it didn’t want to come off. She hesitated before setting her bare foot on the road to gain more leverage.

Carly hoped she was obscured from everyone’s vision. This wasn’t graceful.  When she glanced over her shoulder, she was startled by the shadow behind her.

The guy stood with his arms across his chest. One corner of his mouth quirked up, as well as his eyebrow like he had a string tugging that side of his face. 

His faded gray tee shirt read
Harris Dairy
across the front in black letters. His shaggy brown hair fanned out underneath the matching backwards cap. 

Carly didn’t speak as she turned to see at the loopy letters on the truck—
Harris Dairy—oops
. She pivoted back without speaking and lowered her shoe. Slipping her foot back into the flip-flop, she looked at the big blackish-pink blob now attached to the side of the truck.

“Um,” she turned back toward him, hoping he would disappear.

But he didn’t move or even change his expression.

“Defacing personal property?” His smirk grew even bigger.

She shrugged. “It’ll come off in the rain.”

The guy looked up at the cloudless sky. His chuckle was deep and it drowned out the commotion around them. “I don’t think it’s gonna rain.”

“It will, eventually,” Carly replied, taking in his faded jeans and clunky, tan work boots.

“You owe me,” he shook his head with a smirk. “I don’t know how long I’ll have to drive around with that wad on my truck. Unless I want to scrape it off myself, and if I do that, you still owe me.”

“Oh yeah?” Carly quipped, tilting her head to the side.

She caught a glimpse of the cheerleader booth behind him. Carly clenched her fists at the sight of Khloe—who was in her black and silver uniform. Khloe swung her auburn ponytail as she handed a man a paper cup before she turned to Jake, who’d just approached the table. Khloe’s smile lifted, and she ran outside the booth to hug her boyfriend.

Jake was the reason Carly even came to the festival. Plans were while Khloe was busy with the booth, Jake would be busy with Carly. She watched as Jake leaned down and gave Khloe a quick kiss. As soon as Khloe’s attention was pulled away from him, he glanced down at his phone. Most likely waiting for the text Carly had promised him.  Khloe had it coming. It’d been months, but Carly was still going to get her back.

“You have a few options,” the Harris Dairy guy said.

“What?” Carly rolled her eyes. She didn’t have time for this. Her plan to have Jake cheat on Khloe with her was just starting to come through. She’d spent the last few weeks working on him.

When she found out Jake and Khloe were together, she waited until she knew they were serious, or at least heading that way, before flirting with him. Of course, being a guy, Jake was more than receptive. Nothing could bring back Colten, but at least she’d feel better if she did to Khloe what she did to her.

“Option one …,” food truck guy said, “… you buy something from me.”

Carly huffed and looked back over his shoulder.  Jake leaned against the pole holding up the cheerleader’s awning, one hand was in his pocket and the other held his phone, which he was still staring at.

“Option two, you can give me your number.”

No, he did not just go there. Carly glared at him. This only made him laugh.

“Carly!” She heard the shrill voice come from the cheerleaders. She’d been spotted. The thing about Khloe was, she thought Carly had forgiven her and they were best friends again. She waved her hand in the air. Jake smirked when his eyes met hers. Like Carly liked him for anything more than to get back at his girlfriend. Guys are clueless.

“Option three …,” the Harris Dairy guy craned his neck around and looked back at Khloe. “You can buy something,” he turned back toward Carly, “…
and
give me your number.”

Carly’s scowl didn’t fade as he gave her a crooked smile, albeit an attractive crooked smile. If only he had a haircut and maybe a pair of tennis shoes and a v-neck tee shirt on, she might have given him her number willingly.

“What do you say, Snarly?” One eyebrow twitched up as he called her by what he thought was a clever nickname. Of course, Khloe had to give her real name away, even across the street surrounded by people she found a way to annoy her.

Carly tilted her head to the side. The cool breeze that flowed under her hair was refreshing. “Listen, Farmer Joe, I don’t do country.” She made it a point to scan her eyes over him from the clunky boots on his feet, to the shaggy hair under his hat.  “And I don’t give my number to strangers.”

A deep chuckle escaped his lips. “In that case, I’m Parker, no longer strangers.” He held his arms out.

“I don’t think so,” she rolled her eyes and started to step around him.

“Hey, don’t forget, no number, you buy.” He nodded to the window that still had the little cardboard clock with the red hands.

“Sorry, I’m lactose intolerant.” She gave him a fake-frown and batted her eyes.

“But this is a cheese festival.”

“I’m not here for the cheese.” She glanced over Parker’s shoulder at Jake and his cocky I-can-get-any-girl-I-want smile as his girlfriend handed a lemonade to a little girl in pigtails.

Carly turned her face back to Parker and winked before heading toward the cheerleader lemonade booth.  Jake stared from behind Khloe, who was serving another patron, a tall gangly boy.  Paige, the head cheerleader and everything cliché about cheerleaders, glared in Carly’s direction. She pretended not to notice. Carly wasn’t going to let that platinum witch ruin her day or her revenge.

However, the something ramming into Carly’s side nearly knocking her over, had another plan. “Hey, watch it,” she huffed and straightened herself, smoothing out her purple tank top. She was glad she hadn’t fallen in front of everyone.

The tiny, shaggy haired figure started to run off, but Carly grabbed his scrawny arm. “Hey!” Carly spun him around. “Where’s your manners?” she spat then quickly regretted it. His big brown eyes blinked up at her under his mess of hair. Splotches of dirt covered his face and he had a few light bruises on his arm. He wore a threadbare tee shirt that looked a size too small and his shorts were ratty and a few sizes too big. “Bryson?”

“Oh hey, Carly.” He pulled out of her grip and shrugged a shoulder, flicking his hair out of his face like he was sixteen, not ten.

“Where’s your mom?” She knew the answer before she’d even asked, but she wanted to hear what he had to say.

“I dunno, I don’t keep tabs on her,” he said like that should be obvious to Carly.

Bree would cringe if she saw her little brother like this.

Carly knelt down in front of him. “Who are you here with?”

Bryson lifted his eyebrows at Carly, like she was the dumbest thing in the world. “Girl, I’m here by myself.” He patted his scrawny little chest.

She should have known he was alone. She wanted to call Bree or text her, but what was Bree going to do from the hospital? Bree didn’t live with her mom. Bree saw her little brother occasionally and hated when she couldn’t be there to take care of him.

Even over the commotion around them, the screaming children, the music, the chattering people, she could hear his stomach growl.  She looked back at the
Harris Dairy
truck. The worker was already back inside, waiting on a family through the window. A white apron covered his tee shirt.

“Are you hungry?” she asked.             

His right eyebrow disappeared under his shaggy mop and he looked her up and down.  Carly could only imagine what he’d been exposed to, with all the men his mom had going in and out of the house all the time. “You buying?”

Carly ruffled his oily hair. “Sure am.” And she took his sweaty, sticky hand and led him back to the
Harris Dairy
cart, forgetting all about Jake and Khloe.