Chapter 1

"Suzette, leave me alone!" Nola Goddard shouted over her shoulder while running toward the woods that to her house.

"Freak!" Suzette yelled after her.

Nola paused before the last tree. Her heart beat rapidly and her shoulders shook with suppressed frustration. She crumpled to the ground and used the trunk of the tree as a backrest.

She leaned to look past the tree toward her house. The small fence around the house hindered her view of the first floor. The pink curtains in her bedroom and the white ones in her parent's room fluttered in the windows, but she couldn't tell whether her mother stood there, as she sometimes did.

Nola sighed and pulled her knees to her chest. "Oh, shoot." A large tear marred the right knee of her favorite jeans. What else can go wrong?

She searched her pink shirt for damage. Two long, brown marks streaked across her chest. She hit the ground with her palm. "Ouch." Small pebbles and dirt stuck to her skin. "I had to ask," she said, picking them off.

"Come on, get a grip. Today's the last day, and I don't have to see that hag-faced witch again until September." Nola snorted. Maybe I'll get lucky and she'll move away.

Nola got up, brushed dirt from her jeans and walked to the house. "I'm home!" she said, dropping her book bag on the floor. She winced as the door slammed. Her mother hated that.

"Nola, honey, I'm in the back yard. Come and help me. Don't leave your book bag on the floor."

Nola shook her head; her mother had a sixth sense when it came to anything that messed up the house.

She hung her book bag in the closet by the door and went out to help.

"Hey," she said, finding her mother crouched on her knees by the garden pulling weeds. She went over to the garden box and pulled out a pair of gloves. Most kids thought weeding was a chore, but Nola loved it.

"How was your day?" Nola's mother asked. She looked up and frowned. "Hmm, I guess I don't need to ask whether that girl was picking on you."

Nola shrugged. "It wasn't so bad, I guess."

Nola's mother snorted and attacked a fresh patch of weeds. "Not so bad, huh? Is that why your face is tear stained?" She angrily ripped weeds from the ground.

"Careful Mom, you're not getting the roots."

"What?" Nola's mother glanced at the handful of weeds. "Oh..." She grinned and threw them at Nola.

"Hey," Nola protested, picking weeds out of her hair and tossing them at her mom. Her attention settled on a pillbug crawling through the upturned earth.

"If you even think about it, you're going to be in big trouble, Missy," her mother warned, shaking her finger.

Nola wiggled her eyebrows but left the bug alone.

"Over there." Nola's mother pointed to a patch of weeds.

Nola got to work in the hot sun and the soothing rhythm, dig, pull, throw, for over an hour.

"Whew, I think that's it," Mrs. Goddard said, leaning back on her heels and wiping sweat from her forehead.

Nola nodded. "Did you make sweet tea?"

"Of course. Go pour us a couple glasses while I put this stuff away."

Nola walked inside, washed her hands and face, and filled two tall glasses with ice and sweet tea. She took a long drink and refilled her glass to the top.

Nola's mother entered the kitchen, and Nola hand her a glass.

Her mother tipped the glass and closed her eyes. "Oh, I needed that."

"What time will Dad be home?" Nola asked.

"Hmm, oh goodness, he'll be here in half an hour. Remember, we have to go to dinner with his boss tonight." She made a face. Nola's parents bordered on being antisocial. While nice to everyone they met, they didn't like leaving the house unless they absolutely had to.

Nola's father worked at a company that bought people's inventions. They had their own infomercial and everything. He invented all kinds of things, but when Nola urged him to submit his work to the company; he shook his head and said his inventions were special because no one else had them. Nola never understood why.

"Okay, when he gets here, stall him. I need a shower." Nola's mother drained the last of her tea and hurried upstairs.

Nola downed her own glass, strolled into the living room, and flipped on the TV. Ten minutes and one sitcom later her Dad walked in the door.

"I bet dish duty for two days, that it'll take your mother at least thirty minutes," he said, coming into the living room.

Nola snapped her fingers. "Darn, that was going to be mine," she said. "Okay, I call wash the car, on twenty five minutes."

Nola's father narrowed his eyes. "Okay, what do you know that I don't?"

Nola laughed. This was a favorite game of theirs. They bet chore duties on when Nola's mother would be ready. Nola, of course, had the inside track. The shower had stopped after fifteen minutes. Plus, her mother had already picked out her dress the night before, with Nola's help.

Twenty-three minutes later Nola's mother sailed downstairs.

"Oh yeah! I won. Oh yeah." Nola jumped up from the couch and started dancing. "Uh-huh, uh-huh, take that. No dishes!"

Nola's father gave her a sour look. "You cheated."

Nola blew him a raspberry.

"Well?" Her mother twirled around showing off her new black dress with the low neckline and even lower back.

"Wow," Nola said. Her mother looked gorgeous, her long curly brown hair gathered up in a French braid.

"Thanks." Her mother grinned. "Help me with this," she said, holding up a delicate gold chain with a small teardrop diamond. "I hate leaving you alone," she said, as Nola finished.

"Don't worry, I can take care of myself for a few hours," Nola teased. "Have a nice dinner."

"Come on honey, we have to go," Nola's father said, helping his wife on with her jacket.

"Okay, don't stay up all night, hmm, well, I guess it doesn't matter if you don't have school tomorrow, but don't burn the house down."

Nola rolled her eyes. "That popcorn was bad. I only had it in the microwave for a minute when it started smoking."

Nola's father smiled. "Relax, she's kidding." He leaned closer to his wife, speaking in a whisper loud enough for Nola to hear. "Don't worry, there isn't any popcorn in the house. I checked."

Out of comebacks, Nola wrinkled her nose and shook her head. "Okay, it is officially past the time for old folks to leave the house." She shooed them out the door. "Bye, have fun."