She suddenly came running at me, and enveloped me in a giant hug.
"Gemma! I can't believe its you! I haven't seen you in forever!" She squeezed me tighter, and I felt like my lungs were going to explode.
I smiled at her. I had no clue who this girl was, but she knew me... Awkward. She must have sensed that I didn't recognize her, and she frowned.
"Its me. Quinn. Quinn Baker? We used to be best friends..." She said, trailing off topic, and staring into space.
Holy crap. Quinn? Quinn Baker? The last time I saw her, she was at least double what she weighed now, had glasses, and braces. Her face was always in a book, and she was my friend...not best... but friend.
I smiled even bigger, and my cheeks felt like they were ripping.
"Quinn?!" I said with fake enthusiasm.
I hugged her even tighter.
"Wow." I breathed. "You look fantastic!" I could barley even recognize the girl. I wondered what my other friends from when I was little looked like now, if Quinn looked like this.
She looked over her body again, and smiled me a knowing smile.
"I know, right? When I was about 12, I got so fed up with being fat and being made fun of by all the boys when you left, so I started on my slim-fast and tic tac diet, and the pounds dropped like it was hot!"
She started squatting, and bringing her belly up in a dance move. There was suddenly am awkward silence in the room, and Quinn was still "Dropping it like it was hot". The boy next to her, who I assumed was her boyfriend suddenly cleared his throat.
Quinn suddenly stopped what she was doing, and gasped a little.
"Oh! I'm sorry! This is Will! Will Swimmer. He's one of the families that moved in a few years ago."
I smiled. Getting answers around here was easier than I thought.
"So," I asked Quinn.
"Who else moved in here while I was gone?" I asked her.
She suddenly started to count her fingers, and mumble under her breath.
"Four new families, including the Swimmers." She said, looking proud for getting them all.
She grabbed Will's hand. He was looking more aggravated by the minute.
"Can you please refresh me on all the names of all of the family members who currently live here? I gotten a little rusty."
She started to squirm, and count her fingers again. After two minutes passed, and nothing came out of her mouth, Will spoke up.
"Well, you know Quinn, she is 17, she lives with her parents and her little brother Sam,who is 10. There are the Sullivans', Natasha Sullivan, 13 who lives with her parents. The Whites Finnian White, or Finn, who is 17, his little sister Annie, 14, and little brother Max, 10."
He paused because I suddenly started to burst out laughing, uncontrollably. When I stopped, and caught my breath, I started talking again.
"Finnian White is Finn? How did I not make that connection before!" I started to laugh a little again.
I remember in the car, when Declan and Finn kidnapped me. I knew the name Finn sounded familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I remembered Finnian as a boy who was as skinny as a twig, and who always followed me around. He used to have the biggest crush in the world on me. I remember him being...much nicer.
Will looked puzzled. "What's so funny?" He asked me.
Quinn waggled her eye brows up and down.
"Oooh. What connection?" She asked me. I just shrugged her off.
YOU ARE READING
Whispering Pines Woods
Teen Fiction© 2014 Maggie Reid Gemma Donnahue lives with her mother and her abusive boyfriend, Todd. When Gemma is kidnapped and taken to her father, who she was told 7 years ago was dead, it is revealed to her by the dark, mysterious, and moody Finn what Gemma...
