Carswell's Guide to Being Lucky Read Online Free Page A

needs to help with his ‘problems,’ it’s a shame Kate Fallow is the best he can find.”
    Someone else guffawed. A few girls giggled, before putting their hands over their mouths.
    Carswell glanced back to see Ryan Doughty smirking at him – a friend of Jules. He shot him a glare,
    before turning back to Kate. Her smile had vanished, her eyes filling with mortification.
    Carswel curled his hand into a tight fist, having the sudden, unexpected urge to punch Ryan
    Doughty in the mouth. But instead as the class quieted down, he ignored the feeling and once again
    scooted his chair closer to Kate’s.
    “So, like I was saying before,” he said, teetering on the line between casual and nervous, “maybe we
    could eat lunch together today, out in the courtyard.” He would have to cancel the afternoon’s card
    game, which would put him behind schedule, but if he could submit today’s homework during math –
    completed and on time – it would be the fastest way to start turning around his marks. And he only had
    a week to show his dad that things were improving before mid-July break started. “What do you say?”
    Kate’s jaw had dropped again, her blush having returned ful force.
    “ Carswell ?”
    Sighing, he didn’t hide his glare as he turned back to Blakely. “Yes, Blakely?”
    Her glower put his to shame. “I thought you and I were going to be partners today.”
    “Uh – I’m not sure, Blakely. I’m afraid I already asked Kate, but . . .” He grinned in Kate’s direction. “I guess she hasn’t given me an answer yet.”
    Blakely harrumphed. “Wel then, maybe we should cal off our date to the dance, too. Then you two
    can go fight obstacles and achieve goals together.”
    He sat up straighter. “Huh?”
    “Last week,” Blakely said, curling her fingers around the edge of her desk, “I asked if you were going
    to the Peace Dance and you said I’d be the girl you asked if you did. I’ve been planning on it ever since.”
    “Oh, right ,” Carswell was losing track of how many girls he’d said some version of this line too, which was probably bad planning on his part, but at the time Blakely had asked, he’d been hoping to get
    her to invest in his Send Carswel to Space Camp fund.
    “Unfortunately,” he said, “it’s looking like I may have to be babysitting my neighbors’ toddlers that
    day. Two-year-old triplets.” He shook his head, “They’re a handful, but so blasted cute, it’s impossible
    not to love them.”
    Blakely’s anger fizzled into war adoration. “Oh.”
    “But if they end up not needing me, you’l be the first to know.”
    She squinched her shoulders up from the flattery. “But do you want to work together today?”
    “Ah, I’d love to, Blakely, but I did ask Kate already . . . er, Kate?”
    Kate had her head down, her hair falling over her face so that he could only see the tip of her nose.
    Her body had taken on a new tenseness, her knuckles whitened as she gripped the stylus.
    “It’s alright,” she said, without looking up at him. “I’m sure the teacher will let me work on my own.
    You can work with your girlfriend.”
    “Oh – She’s not - We’re not-“
    Blakely grabbed his arm. “See, Kate doesn’t mind. You said that you chose Joel Kimbrough?”
    Clearing his throat, Carswell looked first at Blakely, then back up at Kate, now hidden behind her
    wall of hair.
    “Um, fine.” He leaned toward Kate again. “But, are we still on for lunch? So I can, you know, check
    out that homework assignment?”
    Kate tucked her hair behind her ear and leveled a look at him that was both annoyed and intelligent.
    It told him that she knew exactly what he was doing, or trying to do. To her. To Blakely. To every girl
    he’d ever asked a favor from. Carswell was surprised to feel a tingle of shame down his spine.
    Her jaw twitched. “I don’t think so. And we probably shouldn’t study together after all.”
    Turning away, she fitted a pair of speaker-plugs