Home > Topic > Candace
1 " In my experience, if they love you, they'll find their way to where you are. It just takes some people a little more time than others. If they don't? Well, sometimes you just have to accept that and move on." Candace watched tension etch Jameson's features. " Relax," she said. " You worry too much about things you can't control, sweetheart. "
2 " In my experience, if they love you, they'll find their way to where you are. It just takes some people a little more time than others. If they don't? Well, sometimes you just have to accept that and move on. Candace watched tension etch Jameson's features. Relax, she said. You worry too much about things you can't control, sweetheart. "
3 " Question." " Yes," Candace asked expectantly, eyes fixed on the dark street ahead." Have you ever had to chose sides between a friend and a boyfriend?" Candace nodded." Which side are you suppose to pick?" " The right one." " What if they're both right?" " They're not." " But they are," Melody insisted. " That's the problem." " No." Candace slowly rolled past a police cruiser. " They both think they're right. But who do you think is right? Which side represents the thing you think is worth fighting for?" Melody glanced out the window as though she was expecting the answer to be revealed on a neighbor's lawn. Every house except hers had the lights turned off. " I dunno." " You do," Candace insisted. " You just don't have the courage to be honest with yourself. Because then you'd have to do the thing you don't want to do, and you hate doing anything that's hard. Which is why you gave up singing and why you have no life and why you've always been a -" " Um okay! Can we get back to the part where you were sounding like Oprah?" " I'm just saying, Melly, what would you do if you weren't afraid? That's your answer. That's your side." She turned into the circular driveway and put the SUV in PARK. " And if you don't choose it, you're lying to yourself and everyone around you." She opened the door and grabbed her purse. " Oprah out!" The door slammed behind her. "
4 " Sooo, I'm tired of people thinking I'm a freak. I know you can't relate to that but -" " Get over it already, will ya?" Candace stood. " You're not Smellody anymore. You're pretty. You can get hot guys now. Tanned ones with good vision. Not geeky hose jousters." She shut the window. " Don't you ever want to use your lips as something other than veneer protectors?" Melody felt a familiar pinch behind her eyes. Her throat dried. Her eyes burned. And then they came. Like salty little paratroopers, tears descended en masse. She hated Candace thought she had never made out with a boy. But how could she convince a seventeen-year-old with more dates than a fruitcake that Randy the Starbucks cashier (aka Scarbucks, because of his acne scars) was a great kisser? She couldn't. "
5 " It was becoming more and more evident that Salem was a town that celebrated individuality, a real live-and-let-live kind of place. Melody felt a gut punch of regret. Her old nose would have fit in here." Look!" She pointed at the multicolored car whizzing by. Its black door were from a Mercedes coupe, the white hood from a BMW; the silver trunk was Jaguar, the red convertible top was Lexus, the whitewall tires were Bentley, the sound system was Bose, and the music was classical. A hood ornament from each model dangled from the rear view mirror. Its license plate appropriately read MUTT." That car looks like a moving Benton ad." " Or a pileup on Rodeo drive." Candace snapped a picture with her iPhone and e-mailed to her friends back home. They responded instantly with a shot of what they were doing. It must have involved the mall because Candace picked up her pace and began asking anyone under the age of fifty where the cool people hung out. "
