Compulsion: Magnetic Desires Read Online Free Page B

grades had improved because of it.
    "Get your homework out already," she snapped at me and stuck out her tongue.
    "Fine."
    I’d interject questions whenever I got stuck, and she helped me find the answers. She never gave them up, insisting I do the work myself. Shoulders aching, I scribbled down the final words on the two-page essay, and glanced up to find her checking her watch. The sun was trekking toward the horizon, and I rubbed a hand over my eyes.
    "Zack should be here any minute." She jumped up and stuffed her things back in her bag.
    Happy I’d finished my English paper I picked up my bag. "We’ll go up to the house and wait. I’m starving."
    Dumping both our bags inside the door, I went into the kitchen and she trailed after me. "Do you want anything?"
    She darted a glance between her watch and the front door. "Yes, I guess."
    I opened the fridge and stared at the almost empty space. "How do you feel about peanut butter?"
    She nodded, and I set about slathering it on a couple of pieces of bread. We each took a plate and settled at the kitchen table while we waited for Zack to show up. While she kept checking for him, I couldn’t help but hope he didn’t show up.
    "I don’t know why he does this." She stared at her watch. "Why is he always late? Do you think he forgets me?"
    I chewed on a mouthful of sandwich, and put my hand over her watch so she wouldn’t keep checking it. "I don’t think anyone could forget you."
    Her gaze lifted to mine, her blue eyes wide, and she took to fiddling with her hair. "You always say the right things."
    It wasn’t hard when the right things were the truth. If only I could tell her everything that was on my mind.
    A horn blasted out the front, and my fingers tensed on her wrist for a moment before I let her go. What else could I do? A small part of me argued I could pull her into my arms and tell her he wasn’t what she needed, but she was already rushing for the door. The peanut butter tasted like paste, and I dumped the rest of my sandwich on the plate beside the pile of crusts she’d left. That was all I was as long as she had Zack. Nothing but the scraps she left behind.

Chapter Seven
    "I told myself I was happy, and that it didn’t matter we were only friends. It was enough, but happiness is subjective; gone in a minute."
    April 2005
    I’d been out all morning, enjoying the peacefulness of wandering along the hiking trails. My thoughts had strayed where they would, and as usual, they revolved around a certain angel who danced on my heart.
    The silence as I approached the house was eerie. Birdie was waiting at the front door. Her eyes were red and puffed up in her delicate face, her hair in disarray.
    Dumping my bag inside the door, I touched her arm. I’d never seen her look so fragile. My normally boisterous sister shattered and threw herself against my chest. Sobs shook her, and I gathered her closer. "What’s going on?"
    "He’s dead."
    "Huh?" For a fleeting second I hoped she was talking about a TV show, or movie, but my sister had never been the type to cry over characters. No, it was someone real, someone I knew, and my stomach filled with ice. "Who’s dead?"
    Mom slipped into the room. She swayed as she took halting steps toward us.
    "Mom?" I asked, looking at her flushed face; her olive skin was pale. She hugged herself, her whole body trembling as she stared at me silently. Time passed slowly, though it was only a minute before she too flew into my arms. As much as I didn’t want to think it, didn’t want to admit I knew the answer; the sound of their crying was evidence of what I already knew.
    "Your father... " It was all she could get out.
    "What happened?"
    "Stroke." Mom sniffled. "He was working on the shed. He fell. They said he had a stroke."
    "Where is he?" It was too much to take in. I needed to see him for myself.
    "I don’t know. They took him to the hospital." She let me go and gathered Birdie into her arms, her head falling onto mom’s