Arielle Immortal Awakening Read Online Free Page A

Andrew, thanks for coming,” she replied, and waved.
    As she was about to walk toward Gabrielle, she was startled to find Stefan standing right next to her again.
    “Arielle…I was wondering if we can talk for a moment?” he said, and gave her an alluring smile.
    Ignoring the look of surprise on her face and not waiting for her answer, he took her hand and pulled her toward the balcony.
    “I know that you’ll never believe me if I told you that I wanted to ask you out the first moment I set eyes on you three years ago,” he said.
    Arielle blinked in surprise. “I do find that hard to believe. So why didn’t you?”
    “I lost my nerve. I thought you would turn me down.”
    “Well, you were wrong,” Arielle said a bit petulantly.
    “Well,” he continued, ignoring the tone of her voice. “When I finally got the nerve to ask you, the guys at school changed my mind.”
    “What? How did they do that?” she asked.
    “I became friends with them, and there was talk…”
    Arielle was absolutely horrified, automatically thinking the worst.
    “What kind of talk?”
    “The guys said that you had turned down every guy that asked you out, and they were waiting to see who the next loser was going to be.”
    “You’re joking,” she said. She was completely surprised, but thinking back she suddenly realized that what he was saying was absolutely correct. She had turned down several guys, but that was only because none of them were right for her.
    Stefan’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts again.
    “No, I’m not joking. I was not going to be the loser; I didn’t want everyone to laugh at me.”
    Arielle frowned. “Stefan, it had nothing to do with any particular innuendos and rubbish talk. I just didn’t want to go out with any of those guys, and so I turned them down.”
    “What about me? Did you like me?” he asked cautiously.
    “Maybe then, but it’s too late now,” she said evenly.
    “I wish I could go back and do it all over again,” he murmured.
    “I actually thought you didn’t like me at all,” she said in a low voice.
    “What would ever give you that idea?” he asked, seemingly confused.
    Arielle didn’t try to mask her surprise. His question was utterly absurd. “Stefan, you wouldn’t talk to me for three years, and you avoided being anywhere near me. I thought that was a pretty good indication of where I stood with you.”
    “Well, like I said, I was always afraid that you would turn me down, so I stayed away from you.”
    He reached out and tried to pull her closer, but she pulled away from him and smiled, letting him know that this was really not a good idea. In spite of all the bad feelings she had about him and the anger she held inside for his rejection, she was happy about this turn of events. Unfortunately, she didn’t really hold the same feeling for him anymore.
    Stefan winced at her reaction. “I’ll be leaving for college in a couple of months and I wanted to find out if maybe there could be something between us now that we are out of school,” he said softly.
    She smiled at him, but she didn’t find it difficult to tell him that she wasn’t interested in a relationship. He looked frustrated and hurt, but he too kept a smile on his face.
    “I don’t feel anything romantic for you, but I do like you,” she said. Stefan was tall and stunningly handsome, even somewhat irresistible, but she felt sure that by the end of the summer she would probably have forgotten all about him.
    As he started to walk away, she heard his voice, low but clear.
    “Maybe you’ll change your mind over the summer.”
    Then he was gone, and she stood there staring into the night, thinking about what-ifs.
    Gabby was now walking towards her, and Eva was coming back inside the house alone, all flustered, a wide smile on her face.
    “What happened?” they both asked Eva.
    Her smile got wider and her eyes were sparkling.
    “Oh, nothing, I just had a great time with Jack. He’s such a great