Rock Star (7 page)

Yeah, I’m definitely going to ask Carrie to join the band. That’ll be cool.

By the way, we need a name for the band. You got any ideas? I’d be open to hearing your suggestions, my friend. As long as they’re not too lame-ass or anything.

Kidding. Just kidding.

Adrian Chamberlain has always wanted to be a rock star. While holding down a day job as an entertainment writer for the Victoria
Times Colonist
, he indulges his fantasies (albeit on a reduced scale) by playing organ and piano for The Soul Shakers, a Victoria rhythm-and-blues band.

orca soundings

The following is an excerpt from another exciting Orca Soundings novel,
Reaction
by Lesley Choyce.

978-1-55469-277-4 $9.95 pb
978-1-55469-278-1 $16.95 lib

ZACH AND ASHLEY HAVE BEEN GOING

out for a while, and things are going well—until Ashley finds out she is pregnant. She is angry and blames Zach. She wouldn’t be in this state if he hadn’t tried to take their relationship further than she wanted. Insistent at first on an abortion, she turns against Zach. Confused, Zach struggles with what he should do and what his responsibilities are. Coming to terms with the reactions of their families and friends, Zach realizes that this is a decision that he and Ashley must make together.

Chapter One

“Zach, I’m pregnant.”

Ashley dropped the bombshell on me between classes at school. I remember the exact time, because I was standing in front of the hallway clock. 11:11. Yep. Eleven eleven in the morning. It was a Tuesday.

She was looking straight at me when she blurted it right out.

“That’s impossible,” I snapped back. And I looked away from her and back to the stupid clock. The time changed to 11:12.

“It’s true,” she said. And then she began to cry.

I put my arm around her and pulled her toward me. “Let’s go,” I said.

“Where?”

“Anywhere. Let’s get out of here.”

I led her down the hall and out the front door into the bright sunlight. As I opened the door of the school, I had this feeling that maybe nothing in my life would ever be the same again.

That was exactly how it happened. I will never forget the feeling. I had never been more scared in my life. Never. I know that I wasn’t the first guy to hear those words from his girlfriend, but it felt that way. Sad to say, I wasn’t even thinking about Ashley at the time. I was thinking about me. What was I going to do? What was going to happen to me? What would this do to my life?

We walked for almost an hour. Neither of us talked at first. Then I began to rationalize, and one part of my brain wanted to convince us both that it must be some kind of mistake.

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“How sure?”

“Very sure.”

“Maybe you made a mistake.”

“Maybe
we
made a mistake,” she said.

“I mean, about the tests. Did you buy one of those testing things from the drugstore?”

“Three of them.”

“Maybe they were defective.”

“They were three different brands. They all had the same results.”

I was still looking for a way out of this. I was looking for a way to get
me
out of this. I almost asked her if she was sure it was me, that I was the father. But I didn’t.

Because just then I remembered. Two months ago. We’d been partying. (That’s what we did, Ashley and I. We partied big-time.) We’d been drinking. And my parents were gone for the weekend. And one thing led to another. And we were so into it.

And I knew the condom broke, but I didn’t mention a word to her. Hey, I thought it would wreck the mood. Plus, what were the chances?

So there I was, sixteen years old, walking through the suburban streets with my fifteen-year-old girlfriend who has just told me she’s pregnant. And I’m still thinking, this can’t be happening to me.

“I’m scared,” Ashley said, leaning into me and holding tightly onto my arm.

I didn’t tell her how scared I was, and I didn’t even tell her about the condom then. I said what guys say in situations like this when the blood has drained out of their heads and they are screaming inside, panicking, ready to run for the hills and never come back. I said, “Everything is going to be all right.”

orca soundings

For more information on all the books in the Orca Soundings series, please visit
www.orcabook.com
.