A Different Kind will be available for purchase
MARCH 30th. But, for all my lovely readers out there I have a sneak peak for you!
If you haven't already heard about my next book here's what it's about.
"Payton Carlson was the head cheerleader, the prom queen, the selfish,
self-absorbed mean girl. But, did she really deserve to be abducted by
aliens?"
Back Blurb:
Payton
Carlson’s life is perfect – until the night she’s abducted by aliens. Now she’s
plagued by pieces of memories from a night that feels as hazy as a dream, and
that’s not the only strange thing that’s been happening. When Payton’s
neighbor, Logan Reed, who spends every night sitting on his roof staring at the
stars, starts to pay extra attention to her, Payton starts to wonder if he
knows more about the night she can’t remember than she does. Suddenly finding a
date to the Homecoming dance and cheering at the football games aren’t as important
as they used to be - especially when the aliens return for a second time.
Praise from Early Reviewers and Beta Readers:
"Seriously loved this refreshingly different YA read."
"I'm hooked already and nervous as to where it's going! That's a rare, good thing!"
"A story that felt contemporary with realistic issues that were only better highlighted by the paranormal elements."
"Lauryn April delivers a fast paced, exciting story full of vivid characters with an effortless combination of paranormal elements and day to day high school issues."
A
Different Kind
Prologue:
All I could see was bright, blinding
white. I tried to glance back at my bedroom window but couldn’t move. My eyes
were frozen open and watering as I stared into the abyss. God, this can’t be real.
My night shirt
fluttered around my thighs. A cold breeze swept up my spine. I could see
strange, shadowed forms blocking out the light – dark bulbous figures in a halo
of white. They were watching me. This has
to be a dream. If I could have moved, I would have been shaking. I would
have been screaming, but I could do nothing but internalize my fear. I could do
nothing but wonder, Why me? It didn’t
take much to answer that question. This was karma biting me in the ass for how
terrible of a person I’d been.
I’m just going to be
honest about this - I’ve always been a bitch. I know this, have always known
this, and truthfully, it never bothered me much. But, as I floated up into the
night sky, my body prone, wishing I could move but completely paralyzed in the
light, I wondered if this was my punishment for being such a mean person.
This was what I got for
stealing Stephanie’s boyfriend last year, two weeks before the junior prom. This
was what I got for telling Erica she looked a little fat in her cheerleading
outfit – as if saying a little lightened
the blow. This was what I got for making Andrea cry at lunch last week by
pointing out to our whole table that she was flat as a board, and that Eric
would never notice her. Replaying the image of Andrea blinking back tears made
my stomach twist. My words had really hurt her.
“What do you think,
Payton?” she’d asked. “Think Eric was flirting with me after practice last
night?” She bit her lip. Her eyes filled with this nervous hope.
“I mean, let’s be
serious,” I said. “Eric’s a boob guy, and you don’t exactly have anything
working for you in that department.”
The hope vanished from
Andrea’s eyes. She looked down at her chest, her eyes glistening and her cheeks
red. A few of the girls at the table laughed.
I didn’t mean to hurt
her; I’d just been telling the truth. Yeah, this was what I got for being the
person that I was.
As I floated up to
their ship, I stopped trying to convince myself this was a dream. Instead I wondered
what they wanted with me. I wondered what they would do to me, but all the
while part of me thought that whatever it was, I deserved it.
1.
Earlier that night I heard the shouts
resounding from the stands. My heart pumped wildly with excitement as my squad
led the crowd, cheering the Raiders on to victory. We went through our routines
with precision. We landed every step. I smiled from my position at the top of
the pyramid. With my arms wide and silvery pompoms sparkling beneath the bright
lights that lit the field, I was on top of the world. I smiled, a real smile,
different from the perky grin I plastered on my face for the crowd. Then I felt
those few moments of weightlessness as I tumbled backwards until my teammates
caught me. Those were the moments I enjoyed most about cheerleading, not the
chants and cheers and moves I made for the show. It was those few seconds I had
to myself where no one could see my face and I could just fall.
We won the game. As the
football players hustled their way off the field, their helmets bobbing in a
sea of red and gold, Melissa Fischer squealed and wrapped her arms around me.
Melissa was a sophomore. She’d just made the varsity squad that year.
“Did you see my round
off? I feel like I nailed it this time.” She was smiling, but her eyes begged
for my approval. We’d been working on tightening up her round off for the last
week.
“It was better, not as
good as mine, but you totally fixed that sloppy landing,” I said.
A huge smile spread
across her face. Her blond curls bounced as she jumped up and down. “Thank you, thank you.”
We shuffled off the
field after that. Before we’d even made it through the locker room doors, there
was talk of partying. Jared Hoffman, quarterback and my ex-boyfriend, was
throwing a kegger, and I was invited. He’d been trying to get back with me
since we broke up sophomore year, after I caught him kissing the now-graduated
Angela Resner under the bleachers. But, since he’d told the entire school we’d
slept together when we hadn’t, that was so not happening. Not that the rumor
still bothered me. It had at first, but within a week of word getting around
that I’d “lost” my v-card, I had five guys ask me out on dates. The cutest two
had taken me out to pretty nice dinners.
I think that was when I
realized people were crazy hypocrites. I was questioned by every girl in school
to talk about the steamy night Jared and I had never shared. I thought up
details that made their hearts swoon. I made them wish they could hook a guy as
hot as Jared – minus the part where he’d cheated on me. For that they reminded
me I was gorgeous, and that I could do better. But Julie Martin, who had slept
with her boyfriend sophomore year, and had been unlucky enough to get pregnant,
was considered the biggest whore in school. It was all stupid and unfair. I
knew that even then, but all I could do was be glad I was Payton Carlson and
not Julie Martin.
I walked with Hailey
and Joanna to the parking lot. There was a chill to the air that seemed
uncommon for a late September Texan night. For the first time, I was glad Mrs.
Davis had vetoed my vote for uniforms with exposed midriffs.
“So, you’re going,
right?” Hailey asked, smoothing her straight brown hair back into a tight
ponytail.
I shrugged. “To another
one of Jared’s infamous parties where
he spends the whole night trying to convince me I really need to see his new laptop or flat screen, or table lamp in his bedroom?”
Hailey rolled her eyes.
“Forget Jared. Ian will be there, and he so has a thing for you.” Masterfully
waxed brown eyebrows rose as if to say “duh.”
I smiled. “Well, maybe
I should be playing hard-to-get then.”
I didn’t want to go to
Jared’s party, but everyone would be expecting me there. Last year Jared had a
pretty serious girlfriend. He and I actually managed to be friends for a while.
Now that they were over though, he was trying to remind me how “perfect we are
for one another.” It was getting to be a little much.
Hailey rolled her eyes.
“You’re no fun.”
“I might go, we’ll
see.” Normally if there was a party, my going wouldn’t be a question, but I
wasn’t in the mood to deal with Jared. After winning against our rivals, the
Panthers, his ego would be inflated to the point of popping.
“What about you, Jo?”
Hailey asked.
Joanna shrugged.
“Maybe, we’ll see.”
“Well, I hope to see
you guys there.” Hailey turned toward her car. “If not, call me tomorrow,” she
yelled over her shoulder.
Jo rolled her eyes, and
we walked to my red convertible. The car had been a birthday gift from my
parents. They’d tried to convince me it made them the coolest parents in the
world, but I’d quickly realized it was just a parting gift for barely being
around the last eighteen years. Mom and Dad had never been cut out to be
parents. They did alright when I was little. I remember trips to the zoo and my
father teaching me to ride my bike, but as I’d gotten into my teen years they’d
gotten more and more distant. Their idea of giving me “the talk” had been to
stick me on birth control when I was thirteen. While I knew they both loved me,
it was no surprise I was an only child.
“You know the only
reason she wants you to go is because Darren is going to be there. Every time
you blow him off, he chats up Hailey the rest of the night to stay close to you.”
Jo shut her door. “Otherwise he doesn’t even bother to talk to her.”
I shrugged, turning my
key in the ignition. “Do you wanna go?” Jo’s wanting to go would have been the
only thing that could have made me change my mind about putting up with Jared’s
cheesy advances for a night.
“No, I’m beat,” Jo
said. “I don’t know how Hailey is up to it. After practice all week and that
game, I’m worn out.”
I nodded. Jo and I had
been best friends since she moved to New Liberty when she was twelve. In the
six years we’d lived next door to one another, we’d become more like sisters,
which was surprising since we weren’t that much alike. Jo was more down to
earth. She was the girl who actually read the book when she had a report to do,
while the rest of the class, including myself, rented the movie. She wasn’t the
social butterfly or girly girl that I was, but I figured our differences was a
good thing. It made our friendship feel balanced. Looking back I have to credit
her with keeping me grounded and preventing me from being completely plastic.
When I pulled into my
driveway, Jo asked, “So, are you gonna go?”
“No, I think I’ll stay
in tonight.”
Jo nodded. “Running
tomorrow?”
“Yeah, same time?”
“Yep, I’ll meet you
outside.” Jo paused for a minute, then said, “We should get lunch or something
tomorrow too. I’ve got some stuff I kind of want to talk to you about.” She
gave me a nervous smile, then got out of my car.
“Yeah, sure,” I said, watching
as she made her way across my yard and inside her house. Something about the
way she said that struck me as odd, but I pushed the thought aside.
My house was empty when I walked
through the front door. Mom and Dad were out with my father’s business
associates. They wouldn’t be back until after I fell asleep. I hit the hallway
light and made my way upstairs. The house was silent, but I was used to that.
Sometimes I wondered what it would be like to come home to the sound of the TV
and conversation from the living room, the way it was at Jo’s. Whenever I’d
stop next door, there was commotion. Jo’s younger brother running up and down
the stairs, her mother busy in the kitchen, or her father flipping through the
channels, or watching football on the flat screen. I wondered if I’d like that
better.
I washed my face,
wiping away the thick eyeliner and red lipstick I’d worn for the game, and
pulled my hair out of its restraining ponytail. My normally straight blond
strands were kinked from the band and fell around my face. After taking out a
sleep shirt from my dresser, I went to the window to draw the blinds. As usual
I saw Logan Reed lying on his roof. Logan was my age. We’d lived across the
street from one another for as long as I could remember.
When I was six, my
mother had invited the Reeds over for a summer barbecue. I hid behind the trunk
of the maple tree in the front yard when Logan and his mother arrived. Mrs.
Reed held Logan’s hand tightly. She was a thin woman with long light brown hair
and wide brown eyes. My mother greeted her and started light conversation. Mrs.
Reed explained her husband was in the Army. Twelve years later, he was still in
the Army. I can’t ever remember seeing Logan’s father. After all these years
there were rumors he died overseas.
I’d never been fearful
of strangers. I wasn’t shy, but for some reason all I can remember doing at
that barbecue was peering at Logan and his mom from a distance. I hid behind
the edges of tables or behind my father’s legs, never venturing out to meet
them in person.
As I stared at him from
my bedroom window, I realized not much had changed. I watched Logan sweep his
dark hair back and adjust his glasses. He kept to himself and though we’d never
talked, almost every night I’d see him on his roof. Usually he lay on his back
staring up at the sky, but every so often I’d see him gazing through his telescope.
More than once I’d wondered if he’d aimed it at my bedroom window; because of
that I made sure to close the blinds.
I played around on my
laptop for a while, working on homework and stalking a few friends on Facebook.
It was only eleven when I turned off my computer, but I was feeling worn out
from the game. After getting ready for bed, I hit the lights, turned on the TV,
then crawled beneath the covers.
I woke in the middle of the night, my
eyes squinting even before I opened them. Bright light assaulted my eyelids. I
opened my eyes only to squeeze them shut a moment later. The scratchy noise of
salt and pepper static echoed through the room. I wondered if the cable had
gone out. With a groan I twisted around, throwing an arm over my head. I tried
to fall back to sleep, but it was no use. It was too bright.
Slowly, I opened my
eyes again. After a moment, they adjusted. The world came into focus, and I
found myself staring at a tiny, shiny gold figurine. I realized I was looking
at the topper to one of my cheerleading trophies – a trophy I’d placed on a
shelf above my desk. Sometimes I’d look up at that trophy from my bed,
remembering that first award I’d won, but now I was eye level with it. Through
my hazy, sleep-riddled mind, I wondered how that trophy had gotten off the
shelf. Had I set it on my desk? I didn’t remember moving it – had it fallen?
Light reflected off the
statue’s surface. The wall behind it was stark white. Is my TV this bright? I spun around, squinting as the light
intensified. It was so strong that for a moment all I saw was white. When my
eyes adjusted again, I saw the light wasn’t coming from my TV. It was coming
from my window.
That was all I
remembered the next morning, and even that felt distant and hazy like a dream. I
sat up and looked around my room. Everything was normal. My cheerleading
trophies all sat in their normal places on the shelf. The TV was still on; an
infomercial played at low volume across the screen. Sunlight filtered in
through the blinds, and everything was fine.
