Momentum

Excerpt

It was summer and we were bored and the moon was full. We sat on the public dock, the boat launch parking lot behind us deserted except for Sid’s Pacer, which squatted in the security light near the bathrooms. He loved that car, a rusted mess covered with bumper stickers that said things like “My Rottweiler ate your honors student” and “If Darwin was right, why aren’t you extinct?”

The beer was almost gone, summer was almost gone, and I was leaving in three days for college. I was leaving, and the moon was shining its silver light on our sorry excuse for a final Saturday night.

“We need more beer,” Sid said, crumpling the empty can in his fist and shoving it into the box the twelve-pack had come in. With six of us drinking, the beer hadn’t lasted long. We should have gotten more. Earlier, one of the hangers-on, a kid in an orange trucker hat, had chucked an empty into the lake. Sid, in his t-shirt and cut-offs, dove in after it, emerging wet and indignant. “We’re not animals,” he said to the can-thrower, shaking the dripping PBR logo in the kid’s face. “Recycle, you puke-muncher!”

The kid giggled. They always did the first time they heard Sid fake-swear. At home, shouted curse words dominated the bulk of Sid’s family interactions, so he’d come up with a huge repertoire of insults that didn’t technically qualify as swears. It was a small act of rebellion that went largely unnoticed by his parents.

Kris Dinnison

Kris Dinnison learned to read when she was five years old. She grew up reading books nobody else had read and listening to music nobody else had heard of and thinking she was weird, which she kind of was. She spent nearly two decades as a teacher and librarian while dreaming of becoming a writer. Now she lives and writes in Spokane, Washington. Her first novel, You and Me and Him, came out from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in July, 2015.

Patrick Ryan on “Momentum”

Sid and Leo are best friends who are standing on a precipice: one of them is about to move away; the other is going to stay behind. They’ve spent many a night in Sid’s Pacer—driving around, sipping beer, playing “Truth or Dare” to help pass the time. They always choose “dare” because it’s the riskier, more interesting choice.

Until tonight.

Choosing “truth” can be risky too, can’t it? Sid and Leo are about to find out.

When I asked Kris Dinnison, author of our new issue, to describe “Momentum” in one word, I thought she might say that the story is about “friendship” or even “secrets.” But what she said was “authenticity.” One Teen Story is proud to introduce you to Sid and Leo. Climb into Sid’s Pacer, and get ready for an authentic ride into the most honest night of their friendship.