Between the Lives Read Online Free Page A

shop.
    Shit.
    I never should’ve gone in.
    ‘Yeah.’ I held up the brown bag. ‘Thanks, I better get to school.’
    My heart pounded in my ears; the dry bitter taste in my mouth was the familiar flavour of disappointment.
    Whoever I’d seen, whether it had been him or not, he had no idea. He wasn’t like me.
    No one was.

CHAPTER THREE
Wellesley, Friday
    ‘O ne more week and freedom is ours!’ Miriam proclaimed as we walked down the hall. We’d been counting down for the past twelve weeks. For me, it had been twice as long, so there were smiles all round.
    ‘I for one intend to make the most of the break,’ I said with a cheeky bite of my lip.
    ‘You and Dex?’ Miriam asked, raising a well-manicured eyebrow. Miriam had long blonde hair, which she’d worked into a stylishly messy up-do. She had a thing for obscure clips and today she was sporting at least a dozen embedded in her hair, all varying pastel shades. Combined with her pale complexion, ice-blue eyes, and today’s outfit of a soft-pink pencil skirt and a cream off-the-shoulder T-shirt, she looked like a fashion goddess.
    I shrugged. Miriam had already travelled the ‘first time’ road with her boyfriend Brett, and I’d been trying to pull her out of the back seat of his BMW at every party since.
    ‘I think he’s waited long enough. It would be an appropriate graduation marker,’ I bluffed, holding my smirk and not letting my dry mouth give me away. It’s not that Dex wasn’t paper-perfect. And it’s not as if paper-perfect wasn’t exactly what I wanted in this life. It worked for me, made it easier to be who I was. It was just … when he kissed me I could feel … everything. And not in a good way. The shape of his lips, which didn’t quite melt into mine the way I’d dreamed about, the rough grating of his stubble against my skin, the way he leaned in so close I couldn’t breathe and held me behind my head so there was no escape. It wasn’t that he was a bad kisser technique-wise, it just wasn’t the way I’d imagined it would be with someone I really … We were just a beat off each other. And then there was the way his hands …
    I closed my eyes and shrunk away from the thought. Dex was gorgeous, and we fitted in the ways that mattered. No couple was perfect.
    Okay, so Dex wasn’t going to rock my world. But I’d been waiting to make this decision for twice as long as every other eighteen year old, and had already held off a lot longer than those of the ‘one life’. I refused to keep going on as a twice-lived virgin. And if something better were available to me, something earth-rockingly good, surely I would’ve spotted it by now.
    In either world.
    ‘So …’ Miriam started, her sly tone cutting into my thoughts. ‘Tonight?’
    ‘No,’ I said, casually flicking my hair while my mind screamed – NO! I was not going to be sex-ready by tonight. ‘I’m thinking graduation night. We’ll go to the dinner and I’ll have everything arranged. It’ll be perfect. And besides, tonight is about a different kind of fun. How are preparations?’ I asked, redirecting her focus just as the third of our powerhouse-three joined us.
    ‘Morning, ladies,’ Lucy said, a notebook in hand and cunning smile on display. ‘Did I hear someone ask how preparations were going for this evening’s do?’
    I smiled back, relaxing for the first time all morning. Lucy always helped with that. She didn’t bother with annoying questions. She stuck to the fun.
    ‘You did indeed. How are we looking?’
    ‘Done, done and done. The boys have beverage arrangements in hand. I have the music and decorations sorted. Invites and RSVPs are all confirmed. The juniors who applied have been assessed and selected for serving.’ She ticked off her notebook, then squealed. ‘Tonight is going to be legendary!’
    ‘So how many people?’ I asked.
    ‘Oh … you know,’ Lucy said vaguely, looking around the hall.
    I stopped mid-step. ‘Lucy, how