It's All in the Details

Time again for Snippet Sunday!

Last snippet from my MG novel, True Blue, the first book in my True Blue Trilogy. (You can catch up on the earlier excerpts here.) This scene takes place the first day of summer vacation after the fifth grade, a summer of major changes for Jeana and all three of the boys. Wade and Jeana are in the shed behind his house that they used for their Mystery Masters meetings. Wade has just given Jeana the bad news that his family is moving across town, but he also shows her a heart he carved on the shed door with their initials in it and officially asks her to be his girlfriend.

He set the flashlight down and took both of her hands to pull her closer to him. Jeana knew what was about to happen and couldn't believe none of the butterflies had come back to life in her stomach. She wasn't a bit nervous, because she'd been waiting for this to happen ever since the night they'd looked at the constellations together and she'd made her wish on the shooting star. It had taken awhile, but it was finally coming true.

Wade moved his hands to her waist, and she put hers on his shoulders. For a few seconds they just looked at each other, then he leaned toward her and she watched his lids slowly hide the green eyes she loved so much. When their lips touched, she closed her own eyes and tried to memorize every detail about the moment—how soft his lips felt pressed against hers, how fast his heart was beating, the way his arms trembled slightly as they held her close to him, even the clean, soapy smell of his skin and hair. It's not every day a girl gets her first kiss, and Jeana wanted to remember everything about it.

Okay, so we know which boy she likes first, but will it last through high school and beyond? You'll have to read all three books to find that out, and you can buy the True Blue Trilogy here. ;-) And please do also check out the other Snippet Sunday folks. Something for everyone among these talented writers!

~Stay true to yourself and your dreams will come true!

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Silver Linings

Time again for Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday!

I'm continuing with my YA coming-of-age mystery, Shades of Blue. (You can catch up on the earlier excerpts here.) This scene skips ahead a bit and needs some setup. JoJo has just discovered that Sam's step-father beats him and molests his step-sister Britney, and that Sam's mom drinks and takes sleeping pills. Sam is afraid he'll be sent out of state to live with his grandmother if the authorities find out everything, and he makes JoJo promise not to tell anyone. They talk it all through and Sam admits it's part of why he's been avoiding her for the past week. She tells him he'd better not ever keep anything from her again because he's her best friend and she's missed him. When she says that, Sam gives her the same look he gave her a few days earlier when they were wrestling and she thought he'd been about to kiss her. That brings back the horror of what she's just gone through with Chip, and this is how she reacts. (Creative punctuation alert!)

He put a hand on my shoulder and turned me around to face him, then he said, “What’s wrong, JoJo, you’re shaking.”

I was, and I couldn’t stop.

“I just . . . I don’t want things to change between us, Sam. We’ve been best friends since we were five years old, and that’s the way I want it to stay.”

He looked at me a few seconds, then he touched my cheek and said, “You’re a lot more than a friend to me, JoJo, I think you know that.”

I knew it as well as I knew that he was gonna kiss me and I was gonna let him this time, even though I was terrified.

He leaned toward me with his eyes slowly disappearing under his eyelids, and as soon as our mouths touched, I knew everything would be okay. All I could think of was how soft his lips were and how much I liked the way they felt against mine. Sam’s kiss completely erased the memory of Chip’s tongue in my mouth, and I made up my mind about something—what Chip had done didn’t count. This was my first kiss, and I refused to think otherwise.

More next week. Or you could always go buy your own copy of Shades of Blue here. ;-) Please also check out the other Snippet Sunday folks and the Weekend Writing Warriors. Something for everyone among these talented writers!

~Stay true to yourself and your dreams will come true!

See all my books at my Web site
Follow me on Twitter
Like my Facebook Fan Page