Wait'll I Get My Hanes on You

Welcome back to Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday!

Continuing with my YA/coming-of-age/mystery Shades of Blue, this snippet takes place a short while after Sam leaves JoJo's house after last week's excerpt.

It almost seemed as if Sam had been about to kiss me or something when he was on top of me. Where had that come from? We were best friends, and that was the way I wanted it to stay.

At least I thought I did.

I went to my window and looked across at Sam’s house, but his shade was pulled all the way down and his window was dark. I don’t know how long I sat there hoping for some sign of him, but I fell asleep and was still there when Mama came in to tell me goodnight.

I dreamed about Sam that night, but the only thing I could remember in the morning was him standing on the creek bank yelling something at me, wearing nothing but his Hanes one-hundred-percent cotton, size 30-32 briefs.

And I had absolutely no idea how I knew anything about his underwear.

Poor JoJo is so confused, and things are about to get a lot worse. Tune in for another snippet next Sunday, or you can buy your own copy of Shades of Blue here. And please check out the other WWW and SS bloggers. Something for everyone among these talented writers!

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

Follow me on Twitter: @JoyceScarbrough
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Why Didn't I Go Pee When I Had the Chance?

© Emmet and Edith Gowin, Etherton Gallery

Welcome back to Snippet Sunday and Weekend Writing Warriors!

Here's another snippet from my coming-of-age/YA mystery, Shades of Blue. (You can catch up on the earlier excerpts here) Sam and JoJo have been best friends since they were kids, but puberty changes everything. This scene takes place while they're watching a movie together in JoJo's living room. Sam grabs her foot during a scary part and makes her squeal, then they start wrestling. He has her pinned down and is threatening to tickle her if she doesn't do what he says. She skipped her chance for a bathroom break and is afraid she'll wet her pants if he tickles her, so she has no choice but to agree to his demands. His first one is that she has to read The Lord of the Flies, no surprise since he's always trying to get her to read more books. But his second demand is a lot different.

“Say you hate Chip Wiley and that I’m your favorite football player.”

“Fine, I hate Chip Wiley, and Sam is my favorite football player.”

He smiled, then his expression slowly changed to one I’d never seen on his face before. It felt like his eyes had mine locked in some kind of tractor beam, and I could feel his heart pounding against my chest. Or maybe it was my own heart, because it sure seemed amplified a hundred times louder than normal, and it felt like a giant hand was squeezing my chest. Sam’s hipbone was sticking me in the side something fierce, and I truly thought I might pass out at any second.

“Let me up right now, Sam, I mean it.”

His expression changed again to something else I couldn’t read--like fear and embarrassment mixed with anger--but he let me up and scrambled to his feet.

Don't you hate it when your bladder betrays you like that? Tune in for another snippet next Sunday, or you can buy your own copy of Shades of Blue here. And please check out the other WWW and SS bloggers. Something for everyone among these talented writers!

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

Follow me on Twitter: @JoyceScarbrough
Like my Facebook Fan Page here

Puberty Raises Its Ugly Head

Hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving and didn't overindulge like some people (who shall remain nameless) seem to do every year. I had a pretty great week considering I finished the prequel to my first novel that I'm redoing as a trilogy. :-) I'm really excited about it because it's unique in that it features a middle grade novel, a young adult novel, and a new adult novel. More about it later.

This week's Snippet Sunday post from Shades of Blue takes place while Sam and JoJo are swimming at the creek with a bunch of kids from school during Spring Break. A loud-mouthed jerk named Chip Wiley snaps JoJo's bathing suit top and breaks it, so she's swimming in her T-shirt. Chip starts teasing her about putting some Band-Aids on the mosquito bites on her chest, and Sam is not amused.

Sam’s eyes turned a strange dark-green shade, and he walked over to the rope swing where Chip and his two moron friends were taking turns. Without another word, Sam hauled off and punched Chip right in the stomach. I almost swallowed a minnow when he did it.

Chip’s eyes got real big and his mouth kept moving the way it always did, but for once nothing was coming out. Danny and Freddy did what morons do best—laughed like a couple of hyenas. Sam said something to Chip I couldn’t hear, then he dove into the water. When he came up next to me a few seconds later, I was still gawking at him for punching Chip.

“Come on, JoJo. Let’s get outta here.”

Hmm... Sam and JoJo have only been best friends until now, but it looks like "the times they are a-changing" thanks to puberty. Wonder how JoJo will take it? Stay tuned to find out. Or you can just buy you own copy of Shades of Blue here.

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

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