In the Middle of Nowhere Read Online Free

but it had been almost two months and not one of them
had made any attempt. The “Fab Four” seemed to be fizzling
fast.
    I wasn’t sure if it was purposeful or simply
because they were continuing with their lives and other friendships
so many miles away. I, too, really had no choice but to carry on
with mine, even if I had to do it alone in the middle of the
Atlantic.
    A few times, during school, I hung out with
two girls who were in both my study hall and my lunch wave. Erica
and Taylor were best friends and had grown up together on Pike’s
Island. Erica was Italian and had a head full of tight, black curls
and a pretty, dark complexion. Taylor had shocking red hair and
white, almost translucent skin. Erica was short, while Taylor was
tall. Even though they looked like complete opposites, Erica and
Taylor were as close as two friends could be.
    Every now and then, the two of them would
fill me in on little tidbits of gossip that occurred in school or
back home on the island. I tried to act like I wasn’t interested,
but my ears perked up whenever I found myself around the two of
them.
    “Did you hear about Tessa Anderson and Connor
Finch?” Erica asked one day in the cafeteria, as she slid her lunch
tray toward Taylor and me.
    Taylor looked around nervously. “Shhh,” she
said. “You’re so loud.”
    Erica plopped down across from us, leaned
forward and whispered. “Sorry.”
    Dying from curiosity, Taylor flung her upper
body on top of the lunch table. “So … what happened?”
    Erica spoke so softly that I had no choice
but to lean in, too. “I guess they got caught having sexual
relations in the back of Connor’s car during lunch yesterday.”
    I slowly nodded. “Really?”
    Taylor added, “Very interesting.”
    Erica sat back and smiled like the Cheshire
cat. “Guess he didn’t like the food choices in the cafeteria and
wanted to eat his own special version of take-out instead.”
    A visual of Connor and Tessa in the back seat
of his Beemer popped into my head and I cringed. “Ewwww.”
    “I second that,” Taylor said as she took a
big bite of her pizza. “Although, he really is hot.”
    Erica scanned the room. “I guess Michael
Cooper is back to school again, for how long? Who knows?”
    I shot up. “He is? Where?”
    Erica looked at me suspiciously. “Why do you
care?”
    “Just wondered,” I said, trying to sound
casual as I sipped my iced tea.
    “You got the hots for him or something,
Willow?” Taylor teased.
    “Not at all,” I lied.
    I suddenly felt nervous and could tell my
face was turning red. Abruptly, I stood and grabbed my empty lunch
tray. “Gotta go! Gonna head to the library and finish up my history
paper.”
    Without any further explanation, I quickly
turned and fled and could distinctly feel both of them staring
after me as I did.
    • • •
    I walked through the halls toward the library
in a state of confusion. Why did Erica say Michael was back in
school? I knew for certain that he wasn’t in homeroom this morning
and why wouldn’t he have told me on MyWeb that he was coming
back?
    Once he graciously accepted me as he friend
back in October, we communicated regularly a couple of times a
week. He told me he was too sick to come to school, but wouldn’t
say why. I tried not to make a big deal about it since he
didn’t.
    His MyWeb page gave no hint as to his type of
illness. I was tempted many times to ask either Taylor or Erica,
but I didn’t want to bring up his name out of the blue. And now,
when I had just had the perfect opportunity to ask, after Erica’s
comment about his being back in school, I acted all giddy, got
embarrassed and basically ran away.
    Through our correspondence, I quickly
realized that Michael had a passion for writing. He’d send me his
newest poems while I kept him updated on anything that was
newsworthy in school, which, most times, wasn’t much at all. He
never asked me for my phone number and I didn’t dare ask him for
his. It seemed