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    High on Summer
    High on Summer
    High on Summer
    Ebook75 pages57 minutes

    High on Summer

    By Gia Tudoran

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    Sara Grace Martin (never call her Grace) winds up moving to the most boring small town in the world. As if that weren’t bad enough, it’s the summer right before starting high school. The only friends she has left are the books she reads to escape this suburban nightmare.

    But then she meets Ethan Garcia, and every summer becomes unforgettable.

    Year after year, they stick to a secret pact that pushes them out of their comfort zones and into awkward first-time experiences together. With each crazy summer, their friendship grows, but so does the number of times they mess up in the process. Among stupid misunderstandings, fistfights with strangers, quotes from novels, getting drunk in the middle of the street, or facing the fear of falling in love, there’s always one thing for certain:

    Next pact, next summer.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBryant Street Shorts
    Release dateJul 7, 2020
    ISBN9781094411934

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    4/5

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    • 5/5
      great reading, lovely characters, had a little bit of everything

      1 person found this helpful

    Book preview

    High on Summer - Gia Tudoran

    Part One: Now or Never

    I swear to God, The Catcher in the Rye was the only reason why I wasn’t having a mental breakdown. Salinger was my savior, Holden Caulfield was my spirit animal, and I was 100 percent convinced that book was better than anything else in this boring-ass town.

    It had only been one — one — day since we’d moved and I was already on the verge of losing it. I would’ve traded this white picket fence nightmare for our old downtown condo any day. Why my parents had decided to drop everything and ruin our perfect lives in the city, I would never understand.

    You’ll love the change of scenery, Mom had said.

    It’ll be fun, Dad had said.

    Yeah, right.

    There’s nothing fun about losing all your friends and landing in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of summer. All of this right before the first year of high school. As if being a freshman weren’t traumatizing enough already.

    At least there was this huge old oak tree in the front yard, which was really cool for climbing and reading. And at least I had Salinger.

    But the constant thump-thump-thump across the street was making it hard to concentrate.

    A lanky boy around my age kept dribbling a basketball in his driveway. He shot, he scored. Dribbled again. Shoot, score, dribble, repeat. He was actually kind of good, given how skinny he was. Not that I knew the first thing about basketball, but it seemed like he knew what he was doing.

    He caught me spying on him, and I slowly died inside.

    I mean, I hadn’t been spying per se, but that was probably what it looked like for him. Being the oxymoron of an awkward social butterfly that I was, I waved at him from behind my book up in the oak tree.

    Waved. Seriously? Who the heck waves?

    He stopped dribbling, wiped his forehead, squinted, and sort of waved back.

    Great, now we were both in this vortex of awkwardness.

    Could it get any worse? Yes. Was I going to make it worse? Probably.

    Hi!

    Was I making myself look like an idiot shouting from a freaking tree across the street? Absolutely.

    Hey! he shouted back half-heartedly.

    I’m Sara!

    Congratulations, next level of idiocy unlocked. Introducing yourself from a tree. Way to go.

    What? I can’t hear you!

    Of course he couldn’t. So my brain thought the smartest thing to do was call him over by — wait for it — waving again. At this point, I undoubtedly looked like a drowning pigeon.

    Nevertheless, he crossed the street, walked across the lawn, and planted himself at the base of the oak tree. With his basketball in the crook of his arm, he looked up at me with clueless dark eyes, ruffled his messy dark hair, and blinked expectantly.

    Hi, I’m Sara. Without an H. I moved here yesterday.

    Hi, Sara without an H. I’m Ethan. With an H in the middle.

    Dead inside, again. But at least he had a good sense of humor.

    Nice to meet you, Ethan with an H in the middle.

    Just when I thought I was pushing my luck, he semi-smiled and seemed to loosen up a little.

    What are you reading?

    "Catcher in the Rye."

    "Cool. Have you read Franny and Zooey?"

    Huh?

    "Short story and novella, also by Salinger. If you like Catcher, you might want to read Franny and Zooey too," he continued, likely picking up on my ignorance. For someone who prided herself on being a voracious reader, I suddenly felt like a total impostor.

    Will do, thanks. Hopefully, my nervous gulp went unheard. Hopefully.

    Hey, do you mind coming down from there? It’s kind of hard to talk like this, he said, rubbing the back of his neck in obvious discomfort.

    Alas, final achievement unlocked. Idiocy demonstration complete. Yes, Sara, you’re still in this freaking tree.

    Of course, sorry.

    Salinger in hand and knot in my throat, I began skidding down the grooves of the tree. Thank God my back was turned to him. My cheeks were on fire, and climbing down things definitely was not one of my strong points either.

    Sara, it’s time for lun—

    My butt met the ground before I could even get the chance to process Mom’s voice from the kitchen window.

    Dude, are you okay? I didn’t dare look up at Ethan, who now dropped his basketball and scrambled to help me up.

    Don’t worry, I’m good. This couldn’t get any more embarrassing.

    Sara, what on earth happened? Oh God. It just did.

    Mom was out the front door, hurrying across the lawn. Her golden-blond curls bounced and shimmered under the mid-July sun as she wiped her manicured hands with a dishcloth.

    I’m fine, Mom. I just tripped… My bitten fingernails dug into the hem of my T-shirt, jerking it down to cover the grass stains on the back of my jeans. I am humiliation, humiliation is me.

    And who is this young man? she asked with a gentle smile. Her voice was like honey soothing a sore throat.

    Ethan Garcia, ma’am, nice to meet you, he replied with

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