Homecoming Queen
Authors: Melody Carlson
Tags: #Young Adult, #ebook, #book, #(¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯)
HOMECOMING QUEEN
OTHER BOOKS BY MELODY CARLSON:
Carter House Girls series
Mixed Bags (Book One)
Stealing Bradford (Book Two)
Viva Vermont! (Book Four)
Lost in Las Vegas (Book Five)
New York Debut (Book Six)
Girls of 622 Harbor View series
Project: Girl Power (Book One)
Project: Mystery Bus (Book Two)
Project: Rescuing Chelsea (Book Three)
Project: Take Charge (Book Four)
Project: Raising Faith (Book Five)
Project: Run Away (Book Six)
Project: Ski Trip (Book Seven)
Project: Secret Admirer (Book Eight)
Books for Teens
The Secret Life of Samantha
McGregor series
Diary of a Teenage Girl series
TrueColors series
Notes from a Spinning Planet series
Degrees series
Piercing Proverbs
By Design series
Women’s Fiction
These Boots Weren’t Made for Walking
On This Day
An Irish Christmas
The Christmas Bus
Crystal Lies
Finding Alice
Three Days
Grace Chapel Inn Series
, including
Hidden History
Ready to Wed
ZONDERVAN
HOMECOMING QUEEN
Copyright © 2008 by Melody Carlson
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Zondervan.
Mobi Edition July 2009 ISBN:978-0-310-85352-7
Requests for information should be addressed to:
Zondervan,
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Carlson, Melody.
Homecoming queen / by Melody Carlson.
p. cm. -- (Carter House girls ; bk. 3)
Summary: At the Carter boardinghouse for rich teenaged girls who are interested in fashion, the race for high school homecoming queen turns friends and roommates against one another, and, as the votes roll in, some of the girls grow smarter and closer to God, while others seem to make the same mistakes over again.
ISBN 978-0-310-71490-3
[1. Boardinghouses--Fiction. 2. Interpersonal relations--Fiction. 3. Conduct of life-Fiction. 4. Christian life--Fiction. 5. High schools--Fiction. 6. Schools--Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.C216637Ho 2008
[Fic]--dc22
2008016871
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the
Holy Bible, New International Version
®
. NIV
®
. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
Internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers printed in this book are offered as a resource to you. These are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement on the part of Zondervan, nor do we vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means — electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other — except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Zonderkidz is a trademark of Zondervan
09 10 11 12 13 14 • 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Contents
HOMECOMING QUEEN
DJ LANE JUMPED AT THE
sound of someone opening her bedroom door. It was well past midnight, and the house had been quiet for at least an hour now. The floor creaked as the intruder slipped into the room. With a pounding heart, DJ wondered if she should scream for help or simply play dead. Without daring to breathe, she peeked over the edge of her comforter just in time to see her long-lost roommate quietly closing the door.
“Taylor!” cried DJ as she threw back the covers and leaped out of bed. “Where on earth have you been?” Taylor had been AWOL for several days, and everyone in the house — including Taylor’s enemies — had been frantic with worry.
“Shh!” Taylor held a finger to her lips and then shirked off her leather jacket. It appeared to be soaking wet, and she dropped it to the floor with a heavy thud. “Don’t wake up the whole house.”
“We
should
wake them.” DJ turned on a bedside lamp and stared at her runaway friend. Taylor, usually stunningly beautiful with her perfect olive-toned complexion, exotic eyes, and luxurious dark curls, now looked like a train wreck. Plus, she was dripping wet. “I mean, everyone’s been freaking over you, Taylor. We should tell my grandmother that you’re back and — ”
“Tomorrow,” said Taylor as she unzipped her jeans and peeled them off. “It’s late now. I just want to grab a hot shower and go to bed. No fuss.”
“But what about the police and the — ”
“Seriously DJ, I am dead tired.” Taylor scowled as she tossed the soggy jeans next to the jacket on the floor. “We’ll sort it out tomorrow. I promise.”
“But the others will be so relieved to — ”
“I
mean
it, DJ,” hissed Taylor. “Shut up and go back to sleep!” Then, acting like
no big deal
— as if everyone in the entire town hadn’t been freaking over her disappearance — Taylor slipped into the bathroom and quietly but firmly shut the door.
DJ felt slightly enraged. Wide awake and full of questions, she wanted to go in there and confront her roommate. She wanted to demand answers and explanations for this crazy missing act that had put everyone in Carter House on high alert this week. Who did Taylor think she was anyway?
DJ could hear the water in the shower running and, remembering that tomorrow was a school day, got back into her bed. As aggravating as it was to have Taylor pull a stunt like this, sneaking back into the house while everyone was sleeping, it probably did make more sense to sort this whole thing out by the light of day. And despite feeling seriously irritated at Taylor’s nonchalance, DJ was also hugely relieved that the girl was back.
DJ remembered the past couple of evenings and how she and the other Carter House girls had gathered and actually prayed — each in her own way — that Taylor would make it back safely. And now, just like that, Taylor was here — and it seemed that she was just fine. Well, other than looking like a mess. Knowing Taylor, she would remedy this by morning. Still, DJ was curious as to where Taylor had been hiding out and even more curious about why she’d come back. Whatever the case, it did seem that God really had answered their prayers. Taylor was safe!
“You’re kidding?” said Rhiannon. DJ had slipped into Rhiannon and Casey’s room to share the news the following morning. “Taylor’s back? Is she here right now?”
“Yep.” DJ nodded as she sat down on Casey’s bed, watching as Rhiannon quickly braided her long red curls to get them away from her face. She still had on pajamas, and DJ knew she’d awakened her, but she had to talk to someone. “Taylor got in late last night and she’s still asleep. Where’s Casey?”
“In the bathroom.” Rhiannon shoved her feet into her slippers and yawned. “Did Taylor say where she’d been?”
“No. But she was soaking wet when she came in, so I can only assume she rode home on her Vespa.”
“Yeah. It was pouring down last night.”
Just then Casey emerged from the bathroom, wrapped in a towel. Her short wet hair stuck out in all directions. She stared curiously at DJ. “What’s up?”
“Taylor’s back.”
Casey’s already large brown eyes grew huge now. “She’s
back?”
“Yep.” DJ quickly filled her in on the late-night arrival.
“And she’s okay?” Casey’s already pale complexion looked even paler now.
“As far as I can see. She’s asleep right now.”
“Did you tell her . . . about me? I mean, that I’m the one who did the MySpace thing?”
“No. She wouldn’t even let me talk to her.”
Casey sank into the window seat cushion and slowly shook her head. “I guess this is when the stuff hits the fan, huh?”
“I don’t know.” DJ glanced nervously at Rhiannon, hoping she could say something encouraging.
“It’s going to be okay,” Rhiannon said to Casey in a soothing tone.
“How can you say that?” Casey looked at Rhiannon and then DJ. “I committed a crime! Libel!” It was true. Casey had posted some pretty nasty photos of Taylor on the Internet. Some shots had actually been “authentic,” but others had been tampered with by Casey. She’d managed to create some very crude and lewd images that even Taylor had been unable to live down once they’d hit cyberspace.
“No one is prosecuting you,” said DJ.
“Not yet. But that could all change today.” Tears slid down Casey’s cheeks. “I can’t believe I was so stupid.”