Off the Grid
()
About this ebook
When he comes to DeMarco’s defense in an altercation at school, Cody finds himself in trouble with the police. A second confrontation puts Cody in more trouble with the cops, and he is convinced he must escape to the family homestead or be arrested. But Cody is torn between fleeing the city or staying with his ailing father and facing whatever consequences come his way.
Lesley Choyce
Lesley Choyce, who has been teaching English and creative writing for over thirty years, is the author of more than ninety books of literary fiction, short stories, poetry, creative nonfiction and young adult novels. He has won the Dartmouth Book Award, the Atlantic Poetry Prize and the Ann Connor Brimer Award. He has also been short-listed for the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humor, the White Pine Award, the Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award, the Aurora Award from the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association and, most recently, the Governor General’s Literary Award. He lives in Lawrencetown Beach, Nova Scotia.
Read more from Lesley Choyce
Sea of Tranquility: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Saltwater Chronicles: Notes on Everything Under the Nova Scotia Sun Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Nova Scotia Shaped by the Sea: A Living History Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Sudden Impact Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Republic of Nothing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cold Clear Morning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wave Warrior Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Thunderbowl Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Skate Freak Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shoulder the Sky Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Refuge Cove Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Deconstructing Dylan Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Rat Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Driving Minnie's Piano: Memoirs of a Surfing Life in Nova Scotia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRunning the Risk Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Reckless Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crash Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIdentify Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBreaking Point Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Smoke and Mirrors Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dance the Rocks Ashore Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Thing You're Good At Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsScam Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Rules Have Changed Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Off the Grid
Related ebooks
Ghost Soul Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Last Thing You Ever See Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMaddie's in the Middle Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUpwards Asphyxiation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUgly Earthling Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRoom 42 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsI Am Joshua: Heart Matters Series Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsScam Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOnce Upon a Time Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPassing Through (Dream Sequence) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKysma: The Adventures of Viago and Khan Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCharlie's Park Bench Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Mother's Curse Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLife in the Palace (Book 1 - The Palace Saga) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Dragon's Whisperer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWho's Living in You Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNo Regrets Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Frenzy Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Falling Star Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Fall of My Beginning Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Night Comes for Us: Desolation Row, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCan I Do This Alone: One Girl, Big World, Hard Dream Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChievous: I Choose Me Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWinding Roads of Change: A Collection of Short Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEvery in Between Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHidden Series Box Set Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Wright Brother Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wright Brother: Wright, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDetour: Unforeseen Legacy, #1 Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Neither Out Far Nor In Deep Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
YA Social Themes For You
Powerless Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Giver: A Newbery Award Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Way I Used to Be Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Better Than the Movies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Witch of Blackbird Pond: A Newbery Award Winner Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Children of Blood and Bone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Firekeeper's Daughter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thunderhead Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Me and Earl and the Dying Girl: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Toll Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hate U Give: A Printz Honor Winner Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Summer I Turned Pretty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Little Prince: New Translation by Richard Mathews with Restored Original Art Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Is Where It Ends Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5They Both Die at the End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Giver Quartet Omnibus Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gallant Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Allegedly Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ace of Spades Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Poet X Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Out of Darkness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Daughter of the Pirate King Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pretty Little Liars Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Son Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Face Like Glass Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Elsewhere: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Monday's Not Coming Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (Movie Tie-in Edition) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Poison Heart Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Off the Grid
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Off the Grid - Lesley Choyce
Choyce
]>
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
]>
Chapter One
It all happened so quickly. When my dad got sick, we had to move to the city so he could get treatment in the hospital. None of us had seen this coming. Especially me.
So I traded the wilderness for the city. My home for some crappy apartment. My life alone in the woods with my family for this insanity of city life and going to a big high school. Nothing could have prepared me for it. Nothing. It was like a bad dream. But it wasn’t a dream. It was real. Too real.
On my first day at Citadel High, I felt like I was on another planet. I was a freak, a sixteen-year-old freak who had grown up in the woods. Off the grid, as my father liked to say. The clothes I wore were secondhand, given to me by the Cancer Society, which was taking care of us. My regular clothes would have made me stand out even more than I already did. I hated what I had to wear. My mom said I didn’t have a choice. I had to go to school. My dad wasn’t well enough to continue with my homeschooling, and my mom said she was too upset to help me with my schoolwork.
So I arrived at school on my own, first thing in the morning on our third day in town. The hallways were filled with kids shouting and bumping into each other. They all looked at me and they could tell I was lost and hopeless in this zoo. I’d been lost before in the forest, but it was never like this. I could always find my way home. The wind, the sun, even the birds could guide me. But here I had no guides. This was lost lost.
And I hated to admit it, but I was scared.
I didn’t even know where I was supposed to go or what I was supposed to do. I was about to bail on the whole crappy thing when someone walked up to me. A big guy, maybe a head taller than me and thick around the neck. He stood in front of me and just looked at me, a smirk on his face. Holy Christ,
he said, staring at me. Where did you come from?
He sniffed the air. When was the last time you had a bath?
Some other students were watching. They began to laugh. I wanted to run. I just didn’t know where to run to.
Then this girl who had pink hair and a piece of metal stuck across her nose walked up and jabbed an elbow in the gut of the tough guy in front of me. Leave him alone, Austin,
she said. I know you can’t help being a jerk, but lighten up.
I couldn’t help but notice she had some words painted on the back of her neck: Wild at Heart. I think maybe she scared me more than big Austin, but at least she was trying to help.
Austin snorted once, just like a bear I had met in the woods one summer. Then shot me a look that said this wasn’t over. But he left.
The girl looked at me. You must be autistic or something,
What?
I asked.
"Oh, so you do speak English. Got a name?"
Cody,
I said. Cody Graham.
Kids were still looking at me, at us.
She didn’t seem to care, but I felt like I had bugs crawling on me.
I gotta get to class. Where do you need to be?
I don’t know. I’ve never been here before.
I’ll take you to the office.
Thanks.
In the office, I saw a kid with a nose-bleed and a girl who was crying. She kept repeating, But I lost my iPhone,
over and over.
There was this loud noise and I jumped. The girl shook her head. It’s just the bell, Moonboy. I gotta go. See that guy in there?
She pointed to a small inner office. That’s Mr. Costanzo, one of the vice-principals. Talk to him. He’ll know what to do.
She squeezed my arm and then left.
I stood in the doorway to his office. Mr. Costanzo was sitting