A Soul's Kiss Read Online Free Page B

meant. She talked about Michael Hoffman like he was the best thing since Josh Hutcherson.
    “Oh, please,” I said, leaning over and drawing out the syllable until my head almost hit the floor. I took advantage of the position to stick my tongue out on a piece of popcorn and suck it up like a frog on an ant. “If I have to hear about him again . . . sheesh, he has a girlfriend, Jessica, leave him alone.”
    “He might have a girlfriend. I haven’t seen Hannah with him at his locker more than once a day.” She picked up a kernel, checked it for lint, and aimed it at my open mouth. I missed it.
    “Trust me; Hannah is not going to break up with him this close to Homecoming. She probably already has her dress.”
    Jessica scrunched up her mouth. Her cell rang and she checked it. My mom , she mouthed to me as she answered it.
    I looked at the remainder of the popcorn in the bowl. Jessica had eaten most of it. I wasn’t supposed to eat any, in fact, and all told I most likely only had ten kernels, but I could already feel the rumblings. I suffer from an inflammatory bowel disease that affects my intestines. Popcorn can give me major problems. If I finished the bowl I’d spend tomorrow in bed for sure. Next week I had another treatment scheduled at the hospital. It took four hours to get a bunch of expensive chemicals dripped into my arm while I did homework or snoozed. I should’ve been a lot more careful about what I ate, I know, but that popcorn was buttery and salty. I popped another piece in my mouth.
    “Gotta go,” Jessica said, closing her phone. “My mom needs the car, but I can drive us to the football game tomorrow. Okay?”
    *  *  *
    That was the third football game that Jessica and I went to together this fall. We bought our tickets, scurried through the barriers, met up with some kids we knew, and watched the game from various places. At first we stood around the fence and ran out onto the field to make a tunnel for the team to run through, then we moved into the stands until halftime. I say we “watched” the game, but mostly we goofed around, talked and yelled. And joked. Neither of us knew what was going on. We cheered when the crowd did, but there was no instant replay, so other than checking the scoreboard now and then, we didn’t have a clue.
    Of course, Jessica knew where Michael was on the field at any given moment. It was amazing that he was allowed to play football and also be in the marching band at half time. He must be a quick change artist. Coach let him leave the field when there were thirty seconds left on the clock and the band was moving down from the stands.
    I watched Jessica stare at him as he returned to the field and I suddenly had that creepy feeling that someone was staring at us. I didn’t move my head, just my eyes, and scanned the stands until I saw Tyler Dolan. We’ve known him since grade school. Nice guy. He’s always had a thing for Jessica. I waved.
    “Who are you waving at?” Jessica swiveled her head around and back. I knew she caught the motion of Tyler’s hand as he returned my wave, but she ignored it and fixed her gaze on the field again. “Oh, just Tyler,” she said and her face narrowed into a squint to locate Michael amidst all the kids in their band uniforms.
    “Hey,” I whispered, “Tyler could be plan B for Homecoming. I’ll bet I could get him to ask you.”
    “Nah, he likes you.” She kept her eyes on the forty yard line. “Besides, you’d make a better couple. Very exotic. The Irish freckle-man and the American quadroon.”
    I didn’t laugh this time and she didn’t notice. I was slightly tired of all the quadroon jokes. Of course she didn’t mean anything by it and we both thought it was funny before, but I’d been thinking about race a lot lately. My mom had two sons by a soldier, an African American man who died when the boys were eight and nine. They’re my half-brothers but because their dad was black they’re three-quarters black