Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Guarding Secrets
    Guarding Secrets
    Guarding Secrets
    Ebook69 pages46 minutes

    Guarding Secrets

    By Patrick Jones

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Everyone has secrets in high school. But no one has a secret quite like Camila Hernandez's.

    For as long as Camila can remember, her mother has been in prison. And Camila has tried to make sure no one finds out. She avoids all friendships. She keeps to herself. Because if people get too close to her, they might find out the truth. And once they know, they will see her only as a criminal's daughter.

    Sure, some of Camila's classmates also have parents doing time. But her mother isn't any ordinary criminal. Her mother is on death row.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLerner Publishing
    Release dateJan 1, 2015
    ISBN9781467776943
    Guarding Secrets
    Author

    Patrick Jones

    Patrick Jones lives in Minneapolis and is the author of many novels including the Support and Defend series. A former librarian, Jones received lifetime achievement awards from the American Library Association and the Catholic Library Association.

    Read more from Patrick Jones

    Related to Guarding Secrets

    Related ebooks

    YA Coming of Age For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Nanny

      Dec 15, 2019

      There isn’t much in the house,” Mary said. “I’m sorry.” Kayla looked around, shrugged. “I’m not even that hungry.” Mary set the table, bright Fiestaware on place mats alongside fringed cloth napkins. They ate microwave pizzas. “Gotta have something a

      21 min read

    • Article

      Lunch at Captain’s

      Nov 30, 2023

      Lunch at Captain’s
      8 min read

    • Article

      Bluebird Learns TO FLY

      Apr 29, 2020

      Bluebird Learns TO FLY
      6 min read

    • Article

      That Particular Sunday

      Jul 6, 2023

      That Particular Sunday
      26 min read

    • Article

      Mammy Dearest

      Mar 20, 2022

      Noelle McCarthy, the broadcaster, podcaster and journalist, has two obsessions: her mother and Dracula. She has written a memoir, Grand: Becoming my mother’s daughter, in which both characters flounce across the pages, one with fangs wearing a cape,

      8 min read

    • Article

      Australia Reads At Home

      May 18, 2020

      Australia Reads At Home
      7 min read

    • Article

      ‘In the Country of Women’: Featured Nonfiction from Susan Straight

      Nov 19, 2019

      In our latest edition of featured nonfiction, we present an excerpt from National Book Award finalist Susan Straight’s new novel, In the Country of Women, out now from Catapult. The post ‘In the Country of Women’: Featured Nonfiction from Susan Strai

      8 min read

    • Article

      Fieldwork

      Nov 25, 2021

      Fieldwork
      11 min read

    • Article

      Silver Spaceships

      Oct 7, 2022

      Push open the high school doors during lunch hour and breathe in the salty-sweet air of Burger King and Taco Bell and Starbucks, the delicious temptations of the franchised suburbs. Behind you, forever behind you, the cafeteria food is as appetizing

      10 min read

    • Article

      Come Stay

      Jan 16, 2024

      Come Stay
      23 min read

    • Article

      Lasting LOVE

      Feb 28, 2024

      Lasting LOVE
      6 min read

    • Article

      Better

      Aug 12, 2019

      Better
      18 min read

    • Article

      Come With Me

      Nov 22, 2018

      Come With Me
      23 min read

    • Article

      All Of Us Here

      Jun 4, 2020

      All Of Us Here
      6 min read

    • Article

      Everything But The Kitchen Sink

      Oct 10, 2021

      When Mary Little walks into her kitchen on Tuesday morning, the sink is under the window. At first she can’t even find it. She looks at the space where the sink is supposed to be, at the end of the island, and the sink is gone. Her son, Ben, sits the

      18 min read

    • Article

      Commentary: Grieving Over Mom: No, She's Not In A 'Better Place'

      May 10, 2019

      Two days before my mother died, she was incontinent, incoherent and, with the exception of some humming, incommunicado. Dementia had swept away her ability to swallow food or water, and danger of asphyxiation was real. Nurses swabbed her dry lips wit

      3 min read

    • Article

      Night Visions

      Sep 10, 2022

      Night Visions
      6 min read

    • Article

      Pledge

      Jan 17, 2019

      Pledge
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Traveler

      Oct 1, 2020

      The Traveler
      7 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Guarding Secrets

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Guarding Secrets - Patrick Jones

      years.

      1

      SEPTEMBER 18 / FRIDAY AFTERNOON / GARDENWALK MALL / ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA

      Do you want to know a secret?

      Someone was whispering behind Camila. She took her eyes off the row of long black dresses in front of her to dart a glance at the two girls behind her. She recognized both of them. She prayed they didn’t recognize her.

      They were from her current school, juniors like her. Lisa Guevara or Herrera, and Angela, or Angelina, or something like that. Camila got the sense that they were both divas. Too much makeup, perfume, and attitude. They probably didn’t know Camila’s name, let alone her secret.

      I heard Ricky likes …. And with that, Camila tuned out the girls’ voices. Rattling on about stupid crushes, acting like each break-up and hook-up was a matter of life or death. If they only knew.

      In the corner of the store, a young black security guard stared at Camila like she was a cockroach on a white rug. The watchful store clerks were giving her the same look.

      She started shuffling through the marked-down dresses faster, until she found one in her size. She checked the tag: still pricey, even on discount. This was why she shopped so rarely, and almost never at the mall. Like all the relatives she’d lived with over the past decade, Camila’s aunt Maria worked hard but never had extra money to buy nice clothes.

      Behind her, she heard one of the girls—Lisa—ask, Hey, don’t you go to Anaheim High?

      Camila didn’t turn around, not even when the girl tapped her on the back, sending a shock through her system. You deaf or something? Lisa demanded.

      Camila pulled in a deep breath, tugged down on the long sleeves of her oversized black hoodie, and pivoted. Eyes down, she stared at the girls’ identical black four-inch heels.

      I know you, Lisa said. We’re in advisory together. Camila Hernandez, right?

      A nod served as Camila’s only answer.

      What’s the dress for? asked the other girl. Camila didn’t respond. Instead she looked past the girls at the security guard.

      Lisa snapped her gum. That’s way too boring for homecoming.

      Camila fought an urge to laugh. Her, go to the school homecoming dance—right. This dress was for—well, it was for a homecoming of sorts, her mom’s after so many years away.

      Without a word to the girls, Camila headed for a dressing room. Inside the stall, she ripped the price tag and sensor strip from the dress, then stuffed it under her hoodie.

      A few minutes later she walked casually toward the store’s exit, past the two girls—who were still watching her—past the other customers, past the security guard. No alarm went off. No shouts followed her. If Lisa and what’s-her-face had guessed her game, they hadn’t bothered to tell the guard. At least not fast enough. In another moment Camila had blended into the crowd of passing shoppers.

      As she made her way toward the mall exit near the bus stop, she couldn’t stop thinking about all the answers she could’ve given those girls. Did they want to know a secret? Well, Camila had one she’d kept most of her life, walking around with it like a sharp stone in her black high-tops.

      She boarded the bus with the question still on her mind. What’s the dress for? Her answer was simple and sad. It was for her mother’s funeral.

      2

      SEPTEMBER 18 / FRIDAY EVENING / LINCOLN APARTMENTS / ANAHEIM

      Where have you been? Aunt Maria asked as soon as Camila walked in the door.

      Out, Camila muttered as she made her way toward her bedroom. The apartment was tiny. As she moved from relative to relative, it seemed her world got smaller.

      Her aunt followed her. Out where?

      Just at the mall. She could’ve lied to her aunt, since not telling the truth ran in her

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1