In the Middle of Nowhere Read Online Free Page B

before. I was sure Michael could hear it. He smiled. I did,
too. He looked thinner and paler than I had remembered, but his
eyes seemed less brooding and genuinely happy to see me.
    “I’ll walk you,” he offered.
    “I’m already late for class. Aren’t you gonna
be, too?”
    “I’m at the nurse,” he winked as he slipped a
hall pass out of his coat pocket and showed me. We started down the
hallway.
    “Then why are you down here?” I asked as I
met his gaze.
    His eyes penetrated me. “To see your baby
blues.”
    Embarrassed, I looked away. I could tell he
was staring at me. What was I doing? I was already at least five
minutes late for class, yet was strolling down the corridor as if I
didn’t have a care in the world.
    “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming back
today?” I asked, hoping to end the awkwardness.
    “I wanted to surprise you.” He smiled.
    We finally reached the corner where my class
was located.
    “I really gotta go. I’m so late and might
even get a detention,” I frowned.
    “See ya’ later?” he wanted to know, his face
full of hope. “Maybe?”
    “Maybe.” I waved as I turned, hurried off and
ran toward my history class and Mr. Stickler’s room of doom.
    • • •
    Because I was so late to class, Mr. Winkler
punished me by deducting five points from my essay grade plus
gracing me with an after school detention. Mr. Winkler was more
than a stickler; I swear he was a sadist.
    Even though the detention was only for a half
an hour, I missed the ferryboat back to the island, which meant
that I had to sit around and wait another hour for the next
one.
    I never did see Michael in school the rest of
the day. I thought maybe I’d run into him during lunch or even as I
walked around the hallways after my sentence was served, but I
didn’t. Instead, I ended up at my locker and decided to clean it
out while I waited for the ferry. I sat on the newly polished tile
floor and sorted through my folders so I could throw away old
worksheets and quizzes. I hurried when I realized I had only ten
minutes until the late bus would be leaving to deliver me and the
other misfits back to the Portland pier.
    I crawled around on my hands and knees
gathering discarded papers off of the floor. As I went to pick up a
pile of old math sheets, a flashy, fuchsia cowboy boot pounced on
the top and stopped me.
    I looked up and saw Tessa Anderson staring
down at me.
    “Excuse me. Can I please have my trash back?”
I asked both baffled and annoyed. She was so rude.
    Slowly she removed her foot. “Sure.”
    I continued to gather my garbage and held
onto it for dear life. Why the hell was Tessa Anderson bothering me
anyway?
    “Why were you in detention?” she wanted to
know.
    “’Cause I was late to a class,” I answered as
I stood up. “What’s it to you?”
    “Just wondered what someone like you could
have done in order to get a detention.”
    “Someone like me? What’s that supposed to
mean?” I asked indignantly.
    Tessa flipped her hair and shrugged. “I don’t
know. You don’t strike me as the type of person who’d get into
trouble.”
    “Well, I don’t think I should have gotten a
detention for being a few minutes late to history, but Mr. Stickler
… I mean Mr. Winkler is an idiot.”
    “Mr. Stickler, huh?” Tessa teased. “I’m
telling him.”
    “Go right ahead!” I said as I slammed my
locker shut.
    Tessa smirked. “I just might.”
    I rolled my eyes and walked away. “I’ll deny
it,” I yelled over my shoulder as I quickly made my way toward the
closest steel door exit and entry back to freedom.
    • • •
    After I finished my homework, I, once again,
signed onto my MyWeb account hoping to get a message from Michael.
Nothing. I clicked on his page and didn’t notice anything new right
away. When I looked under his profile picture, I realized that he
had updated his quote. It read, “Stars at night, shine so brightly,
but in the day, you’re the beam that guides