“Lindsey’s Choice allows readers to journey into the pressures of life as a teenager, and experience the ramifications of their choices in these situations that many girls find themselves in. A must read for mothers and daughters as a tool for emphasizing there is always a choice.”
– Lisa Landry-Jones, Teacher
“Lindsey Connors is a compassionate young adult who, not unlike youth today, choose paths that have consequences. You could feel Lindsey’s emotions through the choices she makes. A simple and appropriate read for youths.”
– Lavina Zahay, School Health Nurse,
30 years experience.
Laurel Peterson
Lindsey’s Choice
Copyright ©2009 Laurel Peterson
All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication reproduced, transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photo-copying, recording or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system, without prior consent of the publisher is an infringement of the copyright law.
Laurel Peterson
Edmonton, AB Canada
ISBN 978-1-897544-25-9
Cover Artwork: Janet Deane
Publication assistance and digital printing in Canada by:
To my Mom and Dad who believed I could do anything...
To my husband, my sunshine after the rain...
To my beautiful daughters, who put a sparkle in my eye and a smile on my face each and every day.
To my amazing sister Lindsey, who has demonstrated more strength and courage in her life than I ever thought was possible...
To the rest of my fantastic family and friends who said, “You need to publish that book!”
Thanks to Janet for her encouragement and for committing valuable hours of her artistic talent toward my beautiful cover design.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1. Bye Bye Summertime
Chapter 2. Meet Joey
Chapter 3. The Big Day
Chapter 4. One Week down, 39 To Go…
Chapter 5. Volleyball Try-Outs
Chapter 6. Chloe’s Surprise Visit
Chapter 7. Party Time!
STORYLINE A
Chapter 8a. Drink It Up!
Chapter 9a. My Head Hurts
Chapter 10a. My Head Still Hurts
Chapter 11a. Refocus
Chapter 12a. The New Gang
Chapter 13a. One Lucky Girl
Chapter 14a. What Happened?
Chapter 15a. Here Comes Trouble…
Chapter 16a. Is This Elevator Going Down?
Chapter 17a. Can’t Get Any Worse…
Chapter 18a. Trying To Move ON
Chapter 19a. Rock Bottom
Chapter 20a. Killing Time
Chapter 21a. When In Doubt, Party!
Chapter 22a. Rave
Chapter 23a. Huh?
Chapter 24a. Dreams Do Come True
Epilogue A
STORYLINE B
Chapter 8b. Home Time
Chapter 9b. Behind the Mask
Chapter 10b. Visit to Canon General
Chapter 11b. Deirdre Duncan
Chapter 12b. Game On
Chapter 13b. Celebration Time
Chapter 14b. The Phone Call
Chapter 15b. Life Goes On
Epilogue B
CHAPTER 1
Bye Bye Summertime
Hot. Too hot. My whole body is stick y and moist. I feel like I can’t even take a fresh breath. I can’t believe I’m complaining. I’ve been looking forward to summer holidays for months and now, here we are at the beach, again. Actually the best part of lying on my towel, resting my body on my elbows and for sure, wearing my shades, is checking people out.
I love watching all the different people do what they do. Kids playing in the sand, eating the sand, some peeing in the sand. Digging holes, fighting for toys. Another family has just arrived at a picnic table. Mom unpacks their lunch while all five kids run off into the water. “Who wanted PB & J, and who wanted plain cheese?”
My best friend Chloe went to get us some mango ice Smoothies. She loves having an excuse to get up and strut her stuff. Chloe and I have been best friends since grade 5. I guess that means about five years because we celebrated my 16th birthday last Friday.
“Oh my god, he’s here!”
My body took a small leap.
“You scared the crap out of me… who’s here?”
“Jacob Stein!” Chloe replied in a half-whisper half-scream.
“Why can’t you give up on him, he’s still dating what’s her face from Hunts Skunks.” Huntington Middle School is our arch rival and apparently “our guys” think its cooler to date “Hunts hotties.” Just because they’ve been female city volleyball champions three years in a row.
“Jess said they broke up this summer,” Chloe said in one short breath.
“Jessica just wishes… she doesn’t know for sure.”
“Lindsey, why do you always do this?”
“Do what?”
“You can never be just happy or excited for me. Can’t I just have a little fun?”
“Fine. I just don’t want you to get hurt again like the last time…” I said.
“Adam is a loser and we’re not talking about him.” Chloe attempted to make it really clear.
“Whatever. Who’s Jacob with?” I pretended to be interested.
“The Newman boys, Kurt and Eddie… and some other guy I didn’t recognize. Jacob looked soooo good, he’s got like totally long curly hair now, very tanned with that same gorgeous smile.”
I tried to look past Chloe to check out the action. Sure enough he was looking good. He was wearing a pair of khaki green cargos with his white “T” hanging from his shorts, obviously just finished up a game of beach volleyball.
“Looks like he’s wearing that choker you gave him last summer, maybe they did break up.” Here we go again…
My name is Lindsey Conners. I am 16 years old. I live at 520 Wright road. I’ve lived in the city of Canon all my life. My dad, richard is a dentist and works long hours. My mom, Katherine (or Kate), picks up the odd shift at Canon General Hospital as a labor and delivery nurse. I love to hear her stories of some of the babies she gets to help deliver. Sounds like it really hurts but I can’t wait to have my own baby some day. My mom says that it is a lot harder than just having a cute cuddly infant to hold all day long. She told me once there was a girl my age that had a baby. The mom gave her to a family who couldn’t have their own babies. I guess it was pretty sad.
My mom is pretty cool. That’s what my friends say. She lets me listen to my music loud when we’re driving in the car. But sometimes I feel like she’s always trying to get in my business. That drives me crazy. She always asks so many questions when I get home from being with my friends or even before I go out! My dad is OK. I mean, it’s not like we talk much. He doesn’t seem very interested in what I’m doing and I like it like that.
I have an 11-year-old sister, Aimee. She is so annoying. She “borrows” my clothes and wrecks them. Sometimes when Chloe and Jessica are over, she follows us around like a puppy. She even tries to listen to our conversations when we’re in my room with the door closed. I know this because I’ve crept up to my door and opened it quickly, and she practically falls into my room ear first! She totally tries to be like us. My mom says she admires us and I should consider it a compliment. Whatever.
My little brother Derek is six. I guess Mom and Dad thought they’d try for “their boy” just one more time. Well they got what they wanted. Actually he’s pretty cute. He just plays with his trains and doesn’t say too much. Kinda like my dad, I guess that’s why people say he takes after him.
We’ve lived in the same house since I was born. Chloe liv
es a few doors down. Jessica lives out in the country on a farm. Her family has a lot of animals. Jessica wants to be a vet one day. Chloe wants to be a model. I still don’t know what I want to be yet. I have a long time to decide. My mom and dad are always after me about getting good grades. I don’t even like school and I have no idea what’s so important about good grades. It’s not like doing good in math is going to get me an awesome career where I make a lot of money.
“My mom should be here soon to pick us up,” I said. “Do you think I should talk to him?” asked Chloe. “Sure, why not, you’re not the shy type.”
“Here I go, wish me luck!” Chloe giggled as she pranced away towards the group of guys hanging around the volleyball net.
Sometimes I wish I was more like Chloe. She’s so pretty, long straight blonde hair, blue eyes (Chloe says they’re called “icy blue”), great body, at least the guys think so. She is always getting checked out when we’re at the beach. Guys are always staring at her chest when she’s talking to them or watching her when she’s walking away from them. She could just pick and choose any guy she wants.
Her mom and dad divorced when she was a baby. Her mom was only 18 when she had her. Her mom is really pretty, too. She always seems to have a boyfriend over. Chloe doesn’t seem to mind because she always gets a lot of attention from them also. Sometimes when we have sleepovers, Chloe’s mom’s latest “boyfriend” stays overnight. Either that or he comes over to visit really early in the morning.
What is taking her so long? We’re supposed to meet my mom just off the main pier at 4 o’clock and it’s 5 to 4. As I was packing up my suntan oil, brush and towel, I caught a glimpse of Chloe and the boys. They had all circled around her, hanging off every word. She gave her flirty laugh and looked down at her feet, shuffling imaginary rocks. She noticed I was watching and waved my way, for me to come over. I gathered my things.
“Lindsey, come over here!” shouted Chloe.
“Hey.” I tried to greet the group as coolly as I could.
“Linds, you remember Jacob?” asked Chloe.
“Jake,” replied Jacob with much more confidence than I remember. “How has your summer been?” inquired Jake.
“Pretty short, worked a lot and spent the rest of the time here,” I replied.
“Lookin’ forward to going back?”
“Not at all.”
Jake gave a cute laugh as he looked down at his sandals, gave me a quick smile and brushed some blonde curls off his face.
Chloe announced loudly that it was time to go.
“So call me OK?” instructed Chloe.
“I’ll call ya tonight.” Jake gave a wink to Chloe as he and the boys turned away.
“Who’s that guy in the shades?” I asked Chloe. “I don’t know, why?”
“He looks familiar…”
“There’s my mom.”
Nothing feels better than a cold shower after a hot day at the beach. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror as I was reaching for my towel. I look fat. I need to be skinny like Chloe and then I could get the guys she gets. I combed out my shoulder-length brown straight hair. I guess it’s called chestnut brown, same color as my eyes. I’m pretty plain. I sure got quite a tan over the summer, my teeth look like I painted them white. That’s the one thing I do like about myself, people tell me I have a nice smile. My mom says I should smile a lot more because I have such perfect teeth. Oh well, if I were only skinnier.
“Lindsey, phone!” yelled mom.
“Thanks mom, I’ll take it in my room.”
“Hello?”
“Hey, it’s me. How was the beach today?”
“Hey Jess. Same old thing. Chloe saw Jacob Stein and went up and talked to him.”
“You’re kidding?! Think they’ll get together?”
“I’m thinking she’ll wait until we get back to school, see if there are any new cute guys.”
“Adam really messed her up. She doesn’t seem to take anything really serious anymore when it comes to guys.”
“You probably would, too, if the one guy you thought was going to be your boyfriend for the whole summer, dumped you for someone else.”
“Ya right. Three more sleeps and we are official high school babes.”
“I am so not excited.”
“Come on Linds, it’s going to be the best time of our life! real high school parties, dating, we’ll get our driver’s license and actually drive ourselves to school! I can’t wait!”
“I guess you’re right, we have a lot to look forward to.” I attempted to convince myself.
CHAPTER 2
Meet Joey
I am totally terrified about star ting Creston High School. There are three other junior high schools that feed into this school. I just feel like I’ll get lost, and what if my friends want to hang out with other girls? What if I get left out of things because I’m not cool enough? What if I don’t make the volleyball team? I’ve always been on all the sport teams. I think that’s what I’m best known for. If I don’t make these teams, than what? Just be a complete dork and walk the hallways alone?
I’ve got to get some sleep; I’m so tired of these neverending thoughts. I look over at my clock, 1:58 AM; I have to work at 9 AM. If I’m late again, bitchy Bridget will let me hear about it and I’ll have another crappy day at work. This will be my last weekend before school anyways. Working at the beach scooping ice cream hasn’t been that bad but I sure don’t want to do it for the rest of my life.
“Can I get a double scoop of chocolate please?” a sweet little voice asked politely.
“No sweetie, just a mini-scoop for you,” her mom instructed.
“OK…” she said with obvious disappointment.
“Here you go cutie-pie, here are some extra sprinkles on top for good luck,” I offered.
“Thank you!” she replied with a big grin missing two front teeth.
“Thanks,” her mother said kindly as they left the parlor.
“You sure have a way with kids.”
I looked up from the till and noticed that familiar face who was hanging around Jake Stein and the boys. I must have looked a little confused as I took time to place him.
“You don’t remember me, do you?” He had short dark hair, dark skin, with ever so deep almost black eyes with long lashes. He looked disappointed with my hesitance. He had no shirt on and sand was stuck to his elbows and under his chin. The sand glistened on his stomach, highlighting his muscular abs.
“I’m Johann Cranston, well they call me Joey.” He was obviously hoping for some recognition.
“Volleyball camp three years ago up in Jackson Heights?”
“Johann?!” I said, a little embarrassed at the elation in my voice.
“Wow, you look a little different.” I was trying not to sound too surprised by his complete transformation. I remembered Johann as very quiet. He seemed like such an introvert. I wasn’t sure if he even hung out with anyone. He was a pretty good player, but I honestly didn’t pay much attention as there were too many really hot guys to notice. I even think he had to wear glasses that were held in place with some sort of bungee cord. I remember he had pretty bad acne. I’d actually felt sorry for him.
“It has been three years you know.”
“Yeah, I know, sorry… uh… how have you been?”
“Pretty great actually, I’ve been competing nationally for junior men’s beach v-ball. We’ve traveled a lot over the summer. I’m starting Creston High with you guys.”
“How do you know Jake Stein?”
“His cousin plays for our men’s team. He’s the only guy I know here in Canon. Jake tells me you still play a lot of beach v-ball.”
“Whenever I’m not working or lying on the beach.” I started to feel shy talking to him. I felt his eyes take in every word.
“We’re just setting up a mixed team and we’re short a girl.”
“Sure, I’m in but I’m not off work for another hour.” I tried to hide my excitement.
/> “Just meet us at the nets at 4 o’clock.”
“I’ll see you there.”
Luckily I had my shorts and tank-top in my bag. Combing out my hair and wrapping it up in a knot on top of my head, I actually began to feel excited about starting school this year. Maybe things wouldn’t be so bad after all. I felt butterflies in my stomach for the first time in… for the first time.
“Got it!”
“Mine!”
“Set it up, let’s go!” Smack.
“Sweet, Joey! That’s game!
“We have quite the crowd watching.” I said.
“That’s because the star is here,” Jeff Newman said.
“We need him for the chicks, loser.” Eddie boasted tackling Jeff.
Joey gave a shy grin, obviously getting used to this type of attention.
“Lindsey, we were thinking of getting together for one last fire on the pier tonight, would you like to come?’
“Um… uh… yeah… sure… I’d love to.” I felt my face get very warm.
“Great, I’ll see ya tonight around 8 o’clock.” He gave a very shy, warm smile. His dark eyes looked right into mine when he spoke.
“Bring Chloe!” yelled Jake, all his friends starting to cheer and chant… “Go Jake!”
* * *
“53 bottles of beer on the wall, 53 bottles of beer, take one down, pass it around, 52 bottles of beer on the wall…”
“OK, I think we’ve heard enough. I just can’t let you get to one bottle…” said Kurt. Kurt was born 20 years before his time.
“You dorks don’t even know what beer tastes like,” Jake boasted.
“I suppose you do?” challenged Eddie.
“My brother brings it home for me to try, goes down nice and smooth on a hot day.”
“My mom’s boyfriend let me taste his beer once, it was pretty gross,” offered Chloe.
“Well high school is going to be different my friends, nothing but parties and a lot of fun, fun, fun.” Jake tickled Chloe around her waist. She let out her usual goofy flirty giggle.
“Are you sure you guys are ready for the big Creston High?” Kurt asked.
“Can’t wait to see new babes!” joked Scott Newman. His girlfriend Kelly shot him a hard look.
“I can’t wait to meet some hot guys!” Kelly retorted. Everyone laughed.
“Let’s go for a walk,” whispered Joey who was sitting on a log and practically fell over on me trying to get my attention. I quietly giggled and followed as we didn’t want to make much of a scene leaving the group around the fire. We jogged off softly toward the beach.