A Fabrication
of the Truth
Genre: YA Contemporary Romance
Release Date: September 20th 2016
The last time Lexie Stein saw Dalton Reyes he lay
in a pool of blood, hovering somewhere between life and death. Now, five years
later, he’s the new guy in her high school.
What happened between then and now is a mystery Lexie is afraid to explore.
Just one lie uncovered from her past can cause the house of cards she’s so
carefully constructed to come crashing down around her. And Dalton is the key
to that past.
She doesn’t need her grandmother’s warnings to convince her that Dalton means
trouble. But the bond they shared as kids seems to have only gotten stronger,
transforming into something wonderful and powerful.
When Dalton opens up about the intervening years and what they mean for his
future, Lexie is determined not to let him get away a second time.
“There he is,” my friend Caroline
said, leaning against the locker next to mine and checking herself out in her
phone. Pleased with her reflection, she made some kissy lips, and then slipped
the phone into her back pocket.
“Who?” I asked, digging in my locker
wasteland of old notebooks, crumpled papers, and library books long overdue.
“That’s right, you weren’t here
yesterday. You were sick.”
I had faked sick so I could catch
the From Rags to Fab marathon, every
single episode played back to back (not available on streaming). How could I
miss out on that? I couldn’t, not for my favorite show. It’s a fashion-design
challenge show where the contestants are pretty much thrown a bunch of rags and
old clothes and have to remake them into something fabulous. I would be a champ
on that show.
“Well, there’s a new student, and
everybody’s fighting over him already. Just look. You’ll see.” Caroline flipped
her long amber locks over her shoulder.
“I don’t get involved in that
stuff.” I found my English notebook and slipped it into my backpack.
“Quick, quick! Turn, before he walks
away.” She tugged on my sleeve. Caroline was an actress, so everything with her
had added dramatics. To date, she starred in nine commercials: seven of them
local, but two national. Chicagoland knew her as either that girl from the car
commercial who said, “That’s a deal, Grandpa,” or the girl from the carpet
commercial who petted the carpet a little too provocatively. Nationally, she was
the girl who drank some prune juice because she couldn’t take a dump. She was
so good at pretending to have a stuck poop, that they brought her back for a
second commercial.
I zipped up my bag, sighed, and
turned. Then everything froze. There were no more slamming lockers, no more
kids joking around. There was no Caroline blabbing on, no air, no breathing, no
words. It couldn’t be him, but there he was, right there in the hallway. How? I
wasn’t sure how long I stood there staring, but it felt like an eternity.
My mouth must have been hanging open
because when I felt a hand on my shoulder, my lips smacked shut. My heart
resumed beating, and air reentered my lungs. He saw me and stopped. Our eyes
locked—my heart now pounding in my chest. I licked my lips trying to think of
words, but none came. I just stared at him – the him of now, of the moment –
standing there in the hallway, staring back at me with his arms hanging at his
sides.
Caroline was right: he was cute, but
then he always was. He was of average height, though much taller than he used
to be, and his hair – black and short except for a length in front – stood up
against gravity. His dark eyes looked up from under long lashes, his lips with
the perfect amount of plumpness. My brain couldn’t process simple thoughts, let
alone the right descriptors.
He slowly walked toward me, and
Caroline asked, “Do you know him? Who is he?”
“My undoing,” I whispered. I didn’t
move, and he didn’t move any farther than a few steps.
Our eyes stayed locked and for some
reason I couldn’t comprehend, my heart fluttered. He was okay. I doubted my
grandma’s constant reassurances, but he stood there in front of me, not saying
a word or even blinking. Maybe he
thought he was seeing a ghost, because that’s what I thought. An eleven-year-old
boy had haunted me for the past five years, and suddenly he was in front of me.
I let out a deep breath and closed my eyes; it all came back. That day, the
fear, my sadness. The end of my life as I knew it. I opened my eyes again as
Caroline shook my shoulder and called my name. Dalton Reyes was gone.
Katie
Kaleski is a young adult author that hails from the midwest. A Fabrication of
the Truth is her debut novel, but she will have plenty more books coming very
soon.
Her favorite food is cereal with milk, she holds cookies in high regard, and
she loves all things cute and fuzzy.
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