Clever, Friendships, Cold Water

Clever, friendships and what happens in Cold Water the Young Adult Mystery Suspense novel by Billie A Williams

What is a friend? How do you build friendships?
Zip is Clever, but is he so clever that he doesn't need a friend?

These are all questions that the free Readers Guide will ask about Cold Water. Here is a snippet of the chapter where Zip is befriended by a suddenly homeless woman. Why?

Zip shot his skateboard into the alley. He stopped short. His heart beat so hard he thought it would burst through his ribs. He gulped for air. His lungs hurt from the chase. He had forgotten the new addition to the factory had closed his favorite escape route. Now what? He was doomed. As he was about to try to climb over the fence separating the buildings, he heard the dogs. Were they in the connecting yard or down the street? Panic tied his insides into tighter and tighter knots. Despite the cold, he broke out in a sweat. If not over the fence, where? He couldn’t’ reach the top of the fence anyway, but maybe if he…

“Over here,” a woman’s voice called to him.

He jerked to attention. He scanned the dark alley for the source of the voice. He didn’t see anyone.

“In here, quickly.”

The lid on the paper recycling bin raised high enough that he could see a splash of white skin and the top of a woman’s head. Zip froze in place.

“Hurry,” the woman’s voice sounded insistent, urgent. He bolted to the bin. She reached for his skateboard and he handed it to her. Beautifully manicured white female hands grabbed the board. Zip leapt up, bracing both hands on the edge of the bin to lift him up and over the edge. He somersaulted in and the lid came down quietly behind him. The box grew dark and silent. The delicate smell of vanilla perfume slid by his nostrils. What street person wore perfume?

“Sh,” the lady’s voice said.

Zip held his breath as he heard Snake and Tony’s sneakers slap, slapping up the street and squeak to a stop at the end of the alley. Silence. He needed to swallow, but he was afraid it would make noise. His heart was loud enough. How do you quiet your heart, how do you keep it from beating so loudly, he thought.

Snake sped off down the alley and Tony bounced up to the top of the paper recycle bin and jumped off into the yard on the other side of the fence. The dogs snarled and barked. Tony obviously got past them or they were in the next yard. Then it grew silent again—dead silence slipped through his mind, like he might have been if it hadn’t been for the vanilla lady. 

Cold Water will be released July 1, 2012. Get your Readers Guide, questions, information and resources on bullying by emailing me here Billie A Williams put "Bullying" in the subject line.  And I will send it to you.

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