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| Photohgraph by lemuelinchrist |
Purple Knot is a contemporary romantic suspense. Rain's best friend, Summer, is mysteriously killed. Summer's twin brother, Jimmy is Rain's former love. They have to work together to track the killer and bring them to justice. This excerpt is from early in the book. Its a flashback of how Rain first met Summer and Jimmy Corbeau.
Purple Knot
My ninth grade year my dad moved us from Bainbridge to Seattle so I could go to a private high school. Westbrook Academy offered one academic scholarship a year for incoming ninth graders, and I wanted it. My guidance counselor did most of the application work, and I had managed to pull high enough grades and test scores to qualify for the position. I think my dad used up all of his strength to make the move because it was one of the last times he ever seemed to be holding on to life.
I didn’t feel comfortable at Westbrook, I knew I wouldn’t, but the exposure to college scholarships there was too great for me to pass up. I didn’t have nice jewelry or arrive at school in an expensive car. I didn’t arrive in any car actually, I took the city bus. I used to race out of my last class of the day because the bus I took home left at exactly five minutes after school got out. If I missed it, there wasn’t another one for almost an hour. To further motivate me not to dawdle, the bus stop didn’t have an overhang, so if I missed the bus I had to stand in the rain. I never lingered after school to talk because of that.
Eric Roxan was a golden boy. All state basketball and football, he acted like he owned the school. It was apparently just the library that his family donated. Eric decided he liked to make fun of me when I walked down the hall. He would follow behind me and mimic my walk. It was easy to ignore, so I did. This only encouraged him to try harder. Soon Eric started making fun of my answers in class, and mime my hand motions as I spoke. The teachers knew to ignore the behavior of their benefactor’s children, so I tried to as well, though the snickering from the other students unnerved me, and I stopped volunteering answers. By the end of my first month at Westbrook, Eric went out of his way to walk across the grass field during lunch just to kick over my soda. Then he started kicking my soda onto me. Then he just poured his drink into my backpack. I began to skip lunch and stay in the library.
By the time January rolled along, Eric had tired of pranks at my expense. He decided that ramming me into the lockers during class changes was more fun. I was an inch over five feet tall, he was six-foot-two. I didn’t get support from the staff because, well, I was just a freeloader. I felt helpless and scared. My stomach churned on the ride to school everyday. Emotionally I was a wreck. I prayed for relief. Eventually I started to hide out in the girls’ bathroom, and make a run for my class seconds before the tardy bell would ring. I was pathetic and miserable. Then one day, Summer walked into the restroom where I was hiding.
She took one look at my frantic, tear streaked face and her cheeks burned red. She stomped out to the hall and yelled for Jimmy. Already in his class, he poked his head out into the hall, saw his sister’s face, and strode right into the girls’ bathroom without batting an eye. He was a tall kid, already filling out in the shoulders and arms, and he made me nervous just standing next to him.
“You know,” she’d said. “Sometimes help comes from places you don’t expect.”
I didn’t know what to say to that so I just nodded and smiled back.
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