Every Rose Read Online Free Page B

What is it?” If I get in trouble for doing or not doing something, I was gonna wring his neck.
    “Well, I was supposed to tell you that Mike Bang has decided to marry you,” he explains.
    That was one thing I never expected Jerome to say to me, so I didn’t really have a response. I don’t even know who Mike Bang is. Nervous laughter bubbles out of me, “What are you talking about? I don’t even know anybody by that name?”
    “Yeah, you do. You just don’t talk to him. He sits in the back of the bus with all the older kids. He’s in like 9th grade and…” my brother starts to get distracted by the rock throwing competition and tries to walk off mid-sentence.
    “Hey! Wait a second? Are you talking about the boy with the really black hair and dark skin? He lives by the Taylors?”
    “Yeah, that’s him. He told me that he hung out with Daddy at the river this summer and knows all about you. He says he’s going to marry you one day.” With that, Jerome rejoins he competition.
    I vaguely know who he is but have no idea why he would tell my brother that. I am flattered, of course, being the vain person that I am. However, since I am new at the school, pretty much every guy wants to date me. It isn’t vanity for me to think that part, though. It is a reality of small town living.
    That day on the bus I pay special attention when we near his stop. I want to see if he will make eye contact with me after telling my brother something so brazen. Unfortunately, my curiou s nature would be denied; he doesn’t get on the bus. I don’t dare ask anyone where he might be less I be accused of liking him. I may not know him very well, but I knew enough about his type. Bad boy. As if to prove my thoughts just, one of my friends offers up intelligence as to Michael’s whereabouts. He had been suspended from school for fighting.
    Later that day, while cleaning up at the barn, I hear my brother on the phone in the tack room. That’s weird. Who would he be talking to? It better not be a customer. I open the tack room, an d his guilty gaze meets mine. “Jerome, who are you on the phone with?” I snap.
    He has the nerve to laugh and say, “It’s for you.”
    “I didn’t hear it ring,” I state as I move toward the phone. “Hello?”
    “Hey, Lorraina. Do you know who this is?” a velvety voice asks.
    All I can think is that it’s a boy and my parents will beat me senseless if they find out I am talking to a boy. “Um…no,” I utter.
    “It’s Mike. Mike Bang from the bus.”
    “How did you get our number?” I demand. I look over my shoulder for my brother, but he is long gone. Little rat!
    “You do realize that your grandparents’ business phone is in the book, right?” Before I can offer a retort, he explains, “I had a friend ask your brother to call me actually. I thought it would be better if he just handed you the phone and I was on it rather than you having to decide if and when you would ever get around to calling me.”
    “Oh, really?” I laugh, “And why would I ever want to call you?”
    “Well, how else are you going to get to know your future husband?”
    I hear myself laugh a flirty little laugh, but it is bravado for sure. I don’t know what game he was playing at, but I do know I don’t want any part of it. “Well, it was nice talking to you, Michael; but I have to go and get my chores done.”
    “That has a nice ring to it—Michael,” he rolls it around on his tongue as if savoring the thing.
    “Well, that is your name, right?!” I bite out; his voice had taken on a new quality—a dangerous one.
    “Yeah, but everyone usually calls me Mike.”
    “Oh, then. I guess I should call you Mike.” I mentally shrug. I’ve just never been one for nicknames.
    “No, Lorraina,” he replies thoughtfully. “You should call me Michael.”
    Confused, I ask, “Why’s that?”
    “Because you’re not everyone. See ya tomorrow, Lorraina.”
    That was the whole of our first conversation.