Fifteen-year-old Brandon Delacruz’s wants are simple. He wants to be popular, drive a cool car, and have the girl of his dreams on his arm. Instead, he’ll have to settle for being on the honor roll, riding his ten-speed bike, and having his best friends, Josh and Ally beside him as they learn the ins and outs of high school.
But as Brandon begins to discover feelings for Ally, a tragedy occurs that changes their lives. And now, he’ll spend the rest of the year sorting through his complicated feelings and his uncertain relationship with Ally…all while keeping his grades up. Because unlike getting a driver’s license, life doesn’t offer a practice test. Brandon will have to rise and meet the challenges of the real world, whether he’s ready for it not.
Brandon Delacruz is destined to write the next great novel. At least, that’s what he hopes what’s in those stacks of notebooks around him. And why shouldn’t he be full of confidence? He’s doing great in school and after a long hard road, he finally has the girl of his dreams, his best friend, Ally.
But before the year can even start, Brandon’s life is turned upside down. Nothing is what he thought and things don’t happen the way he hoped. And as he sifts through his feelings and tries to make sense of everything, he meets Rachel, a confident and self-assured girl that doesn’t suffer fools lightly.
Ally has been the love of Brandon’s life, but things between them have become complicated without explanation. While he and Rachel are seemingly a perfect fit. Which girl will he choose? And more importantly, which girl will choose him?
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Book Excerpt from Ready For The World: Driver’s Education
We pulled into
the parking lot at the 32nd Street Bowl-A-Rama and jumped out of the car. Every
Friday during the summer, they cleared the game room and turned it into a club.
Josh spent the first few minutes gawking at every perm and pair of neon leg
warmers that walked by.
“You‘re making us
look like a couple of stalkers,” I said.
He walked up to
this short blonde girl with a triangular haircut and neon green sweater. “Which
girl did you think was cute, Brandon? THIS ONE?”
The blonde girl
glared over at the troublemaker, which was me and not the doofus pointing right
at her. Josh looked over at me and laughed his famous silent laugh with
squinted eyes. But it wouldn‘t be complete without the knee-slap.
A few hours
later, we were sitting at a table in the corner of the club. We were toasting
ourselves with a couple of sodas on a great night out.
“Good times,” I
said.
“This night ain‘t
over yet,” Josh said after taking a sip. “Whose turn is it?”
“Mine,” I said. I slammed my empty glass on the
table. “Go ahead. Bring it.”
Josh and I always
played a game we called “Two Bucks.” It was “Truth or Dare” but without the
truth part. One of us would come up with a task and a time frame to complete
it. Whoever failed gave the other two bucks. Neither one of us had to give up
any money in the last month and a half. The last time we played, Josh started
every conversation by barking like a dog. It made for some great entertainment
when we went to the McDonald‘s drive-thru that night.
“Since you‘re
grounded, I‘m gonna go easy on you,” Josh said. “Two bucks says that you can‘t
go over to that girl in the corner and get her to dance with you in less than
fifteen minutes. You have to dance one whole song. If you guys start in the
middle of one song, you must keep her on the floor with you through the
entirety of the next song. Deal?”
I took his hand
and shook it. “Which girl is it again?”
“That one,” he
said. “The girl wearing the white sweater and pink dress.”
I saw a tall
brunette with long straight hair and shapely legs in the far corner. She looked
pretty good from where we were, but her back was to us.
I whipped off my
jacket and threw it at his face. “Keep an eye on that for me.”
I walked through
the dance floor and made a beeline toward the girl. It was getting near the end
of the night and the DJ had already started up the slow jams. If I was going to
win the bet, I had to work fast. I checked my breath by huffing into my palm
and taking a whiff. It smelled passable enough, like a mix of French fries and
spearmint chewing gum. I got close to the brunette and leaned in her ear. “Excuse
me, do you wanna dance?”
“That depends,” the
brunette said as she turned around. “Do I get a share of the bet?”
Standing before
me was Ally. Gone was her ever present Cincinnati Reds baseball cap. In its
place was a long, silky head of hair that flowed with every little motion. Her
funky rimmed glasses were gone too. I saw a pair of deep brown eyes and long
eyelashes touched with a bit of makeup. Her lips, which were usually smacking
on a piece of bubble gum, looked redder and fuller. She had on a fluffy white
sweater and a soft pink dress that made me think of the sky before sunset. She
was the most beautiful girl that I had ever seen.
Ally snapped her
fingers. “Earth to Brandon, come in.”
I blinked for
what felt like the first time in a long time. “Um…sorry about that.”
“You and Josh are
playing ‘Two Bucks‘ aren‘t you? What‘s the bet?”
“The bet is that
I‘m…um, supposed to talk to um…the girl that he pointed at…um…you…which you
already know…and we‘re supposed to dance for one song.” Jeez, how many times
can a guy use “um” in a sentence?
She tilted her
head and her hair cascaded down alongside her like a waterfall. “Well, I don‘t want
to make it too easy for you,” she said.
“Huh?”
“The bet. I‘ve
gotta make it at least look good.”
I smiled. “Oh you
do, do you?”
“Of course,” she
beamed. “So, let me hear it.”
I had never
noticed how beautiful her smile was. “Um…hear what?”
“Your pick up
line. If you didn‘t know me, what line would you have used to get me to go and
dance with you?”
I shuffled my
feet a bit. “I pretty much gave it.”
“So your best
line consists of ‘Excuse me, do you wanna dance?’”
“Well, I tend to
say it with a great deal of charm,” I said as I extended my hand. “So, what do
you say?”
She gave me a
tiny smile. “Okay.”
I walked beside
her toward the dance floor until we got to a small clearing in the middle. We
faced each other and I put my hands at her waist. A flush of heat ran up to my
head and pulled my hands away. “Sorry, was that okay?” I asked her.
She put her hands
on my shoulders and laughed. “Yes, Brandon. It‘s fine.”
Neither of us
said anything for the first few moments. At times, I‘d look at her face and watch
the colored lights move across her cheeks and shine on her eyes. But when she
turned toward me, I‘d look away and marvel at the mirror ball above us. When I
thought it might be safe to look back, I‘d catch her looking down toward the
floor. This happened a couple more times until we finally met eye to eye. We
both laughed and the tension in my shoulders melted away. From that moment on,
neither of us looked away.
“Hey,” I said.
“Hi,” she said.
“Tell me if I
step on your feet. “
She smiled. “I
will. “
“They‘re nice,” I
said. “Your shoes, I mean. They‘re nice.”
“Thanks,” she
said as she stroked her hair behind her ear. “I like your shirt. “
“This old thing?”
I asked. I moved my hands from her sides to her back.
She rested her
hands on my shoulders and bit her lip. “It fits you really well. “
My hands brushed
against her hair. “I never knew your hair was so long. “
“That‘s because I
usually have it tied up and under a baseball cap. “ Her fingers grazed the back
of my neck.
“I like it,” I
said. I moved my hands upward until I could feel the ends of her long strands
of hair near the middle of her back. “It‘s soft. “
She brushed a few
stray hairs away from my eyes. “You‘ve got soft hair too.”
The music swelled
in my ears. My fingers brushed against the tiny straps of her dress. She
caressed my neck with both hands and nestled her cheek against mine. I lifted
my head from her shoulder and pressed my forehead against hers. I stared right
into her closed eyes and I could feel myself losing air.
“Ally?”
I asked.
Her eyes opened. “Yes,
Brandon?”
I tilted my head
and drifted toward her. I felt the heat from her lips getting closer and closer
to mine. I got a whiff of her cherry perfume and felt dizzy. But as our lips
were about to touch, I felt a rhythmic buzzing on my chest. Ally looked down at
her tiny purse trapped between us. She looked down and I felt her shoulders
slump.
“It‘s my pager,” she
said.
“A what?” I
asked. I knew what a pager was. But my brain wasn’t exactly working at the
moment.
“Dad makes me
carry one whenever I go out,” she said as she reached into her purse. “It‘s
from home. I‘d better call them back. Did you see a payphone around here?”
I shook my head
to get my vision back in focus. “Um…there‘s
one near the bathrooms toward the back.”
She smiled and
grabbed my hand. “I‘ll look for you when I get back.”
“I‘ll be here,” I
said. We kept eye contact as she made her way across the room.
About the Author
Charmeljun Gallardo is a former Radiologist and author. His first book is Ready for the World young adult book series. He graduated from San Francisco State University with a Creative Writing degree in 1996. He is a writer, photography enthusiast, sports fan, movie geek, stroke survivor, and an adventurous foodie. He lives in San Diego, California with his wife and son.
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