Storm Read Online Free Page A

laughed. “I like trustafarians better.”
    “Me too,” Bethany giggled. “They wear clothes.”
    After they set a time to meet, Bethany flipped her phone closed and leaned back against the pillows on her bed. She should’ve been tired after all she had done today, but she was way too excited to be tired. Besides, it wasn’t dinnertime yet.
    She scrambled off the bed and dragged her daypack and hiking gear out of her closet. Not onlywas she looking forward to running the Hanakapiai Trail in the morning, but she was even more excited about the surf-a-thon—and the idea had come when her friend Liam popped into her head.
    If there was anyone who knew how to raise funds for a good cause, it was Liam. The surf contest he’d held in California for handicapped kids was not only successful, it was also a blast to participate in.
    Bethany smiled as she packed. How wild it was that God had put Liam in her path — and how Liam had been inspired to do something for handicapped kids after they met. And now Liam was inspiring her to do something for others too. And he didn’t even know it! She’d definitely have to write and tell him about everything—after she got back from her run with Holly to the falls. With Holly along, she was sure there would be more to report back to Liam.
    Bethany’s smile faltered for a moment as the memory of the girl from the limousine popped into her head again. Bethany wondered how her hike to the falls was going. She shook her head, not really understanding why someone she didn’t even know would be on her mind—especially someone who seemed to have everything.
    Still, the memory of her sad face lingered.
    Long way down,
Andrea thought as she and her mom stopped for a breather. They had beenconcentrating so hard on making it over the slippery boulders and around the mud puddles that they hadn’t realized they had climbed hundreds of feet. Until they stopped to view the scene below.
    It was a breathtaking view. The massive Na Pali cliffs were tipped in mist as they snaked along the coastline. They were so beautiful and immense, they almost didn’t seem real.
    “I heard
Jurassic Park
was filmed here,” Andrea said, her voice soft with awe, and her mom nodded.
    “I can see why,” said her mom. “It almost looks prehistoric.”
    Andrea bit the inside of her lip, thinking as she took it all in: the bowl of blue sky above them; the cliffs, bigger than anything she had ever seen; the trees; even the ocean below that spread out as far as the eye could see.
It was just too beautiful to be an accident. Why haven’t I ever thought of that before? Why did it take Uncle Mike’s death for me to wonder about life?
    She knew a lot of kids thought she had it made, but the truth was she felt like there was something
missing
inside her most of the time. She had so many questions—questions she didn’t even know how to ask—or maybe was afraid to ask …
    Andrea glanced over at her mom who was studying the sky, and she wondered if her mom was thinking about her uncle Mike. Did her mother wonder what happened when people die or ifthere really was a heaven or a God? She took a deep breath and plunged in before she could think of being scared again.
    “Mom … do you ever wonder if there is a God?”
    Her mom gave her a quick look of surprise, then turned back to look at the sky. “I guess it’s kind of hard not to wonder when you see something like this,” she answered slowly, then frowned. “I know you have a lot of questions about Uncle Mike. We all do. But your dad and I have always prided ourselves in being thinkers—thinking for ourselves, believing in what
we
could make out of our lives. It just doesn’t seem rational to depend on something or someone you’re not even sure exists.”
    Andrea felt like a balloon that had been deflated. She’d really hoped her mom might say something to help her with the “something’s missing” feeling.
    “Time to roll out, kiddo. I want to get back to