Duality: Vol 1, Melancholia (A New Adult Paranormal Romance) Read Online Free Page A

possible.  That’ll solve the problem.  Distance.  All I need to do is put some distance between us.  Skipping school was not an option.  I had the State on my ass all the time, and they always came knocking when I didn’t show for school.  Until I was eighteen, they called the shots in my life.  Three more months.  Three more months is all I need.
    Kootch came around a corner, lugging one of the heavy wood and metal chair-desk combo units at his side.  “Dude, what’re you doing out here?  Coming to help me?”
    “No.  Mr. Adams wanted me to run an errand.”
    “Oh, okay.  I’ll see ya.  I’ll take notes for ya while you’re gone.”
    I didn’t say anything.  Even a little encouragement was a bad idea.  I jogged to the end of the corridor and ran down the stairs.
    Pushing open the exit door, I realized I was in the smoking section of the school, outside under the overhang that protected the smokers from inclement weather - as much as it could anyway; the school didn’t want to make smoking too convenient.
    There was only one person out there.  Jasmine is her name.  She’s one of those rebels without a cause, making herself look ridiculous just to cause a fuss.  But I like her.  She doesn’t take shit from anyone, and she’s also one of the people least affected by me.  It’s weird because she seems like she’d be a full-on Miserable the way she’s always scowling, but she pretty much lives in her own world, not bothering with me or anyone else.
    “What’s the matter?” she asked.  “Bullies after ya for your lunch money?” She blew smoke up above her head, kind of smiling.  Her expressions always have a tinge of bitterness to them.
    “No.”  I shoved my hands in my pockets, looking around and jumping up and down a little bit to stay warm.  It wasn’t yet summer and some days were still too cold for a t-shirt.  I’d left my sweatshirt in my backpack, which was sitting by my desk in the classroom.
    “Ass on fire?” she asked, sucking hard on her cigarette.
    I looked behind me.  “Not that I’m aware of.”
    “Good.  I hate flaming asses.”  This time she blew the smoke in my face.
    “Do you mind?”  I scowled at her.
    “What?” she asked, her face the picture of innocence.
    “I don’t smoke, and I don’t particularly want to get cancer from your second-hand crap either.”
    She rolled her eyes and then pointed with her cigarette at the sign affixed above her head on the overhead support.  “Then why are you hanging out in the smoking section, freak?”
    I stared at the red sign for a few seconds, its bright white letters glaring out at me, calling me stupid.  SMOKING SECTION. PUT YOUR BUTTS IN THE PROPER RECEPTACLE.
    “I have no idea what I’m doing here,” I said under my breath, turning and grabbing the door handle.  I left the smoke to Jasmine’s lungs and entered the dark stairwell, climbing the steps with little enthusiasm.
    I was practically in slow motion by the time I got to the landing.  I could have left my backpack in the classroom and just said screw it, but my poetry journal was inside, and I didn’t want some idiot like Kootch getting his hands on it.  I had to go back.
    I really didn’t want to return to that classroom and have to sit by that girl, though.  She was trouble, no doubt about it.  Maybe she’d even be like … 
    No .  Do not go there. Focus on what matters now - the future.  Stay away from the past.  I had to keep my head up and my nose clean, stay under the radar for just a little while longer.
    I can do this.
    I walked out into the hallway and took slow, measured steps to the classroom, hoping to get there just before the period was over.  The only problem was my watch said I had thirty more minutes before that would happen.
    I took a detour around the inside of the building, passing every set of lockers twice before I got back to the classroom.  I was just reaching for the handle when the bell