Once Again Read Online Free Page B

store
was the perfect fit for him.
    “It’s a really cool place,” Lucas said.
“People come from everywhere to buy guitars there.”
    I nodded. “One of the many reasons my parents
decided to buy it.”
    “Do you play?” he asked.
    I stifled a laugh, but not a grin, as I shook
my head. “Uh, no. My dad’s tried to teach me a few things, but I
don’t really have a gift for guitar the way he does.”
    He smiled at me. “Well, I know nothing about
guitar, so you should show me what you’ve learned sometime.”
    I struggled not to crack up. As if I’d ever
let him hear me fumble around with a guitar!
    Mrs. Chadwick stood up to take attendance,
just as the warning bell rang, and curbed our conversation.

CHAPTER 5
     
    Over the
course of the next couple of weeks, Luke and I settled in to a
pattern of chatting before class. After our day off for Labor Day,
he’d been in the parking lot after school each afternoon, and
walked me to my car. The breezes became more and more blustery as
summer pushed toward autumn, and the girly part of me found it
terribly romantic to walk through the wind with Luke.
    Of course, he was always on the way to
cross-country practice, and I forced myself to acknowledge that his
running was the only reason we ran into each other as I left
school.
    Despite my internal struggles to keep all
things Lucas in the proper perspective, I discovered his reputation
for being a nice guy was absolutely warranted. Whatever iffy
feeling he’d had about me that first morning of school seemed to
have disappeared. But I continued to be confused by his attention.
He hadn’t been anything more than friendly, but it all seemed very
strange. High school boys weren’t supposed to be friendly. They
were either interested or uninterested, for a variety of reasons
that usually had nothing whatsoever to do with the type of person
you really were.
    And besides, I was so ordinary, and Lucas was
so... not ordinary.
    Our quasi-friendship hadn’t gone unnoticed.
Jessie was constantly interested in what Luke and I talked about. I
assured her over and over again it was nothing - that we talked
only because we happened to be in lit class together. But she was
certain more was going on and successfully swayed Marsha and
Tiffany to her way of thinking.
    Most of the time I just rolled my eyes at
them when they suggested Lucas was interested in me as more than a
friendly acquaintance.
    But apparently, other kids had started to
notice as well. Several times, when Lucas walked me to my car in
the afternoon, his normal crowd of people – fellow runners Corey
Jacobs and Will Harlow, I’d learned - just waved at him from across
they way, rather than trying to get his attention or convince him
to join them.
    I’d never been the object of so much
speculation in all my life. I felt uncomfortable with the attention
I was attracting, but secretly thrilled during those moments when
Luke chose me over his buddies. It was stupid, this crazy mix of
feelings I had going on.
    Even Kara, attempted to gain his attention
without success, though her efforts were a little less conspicuous.
The best I’d been able to figure out, without asking him outright,
he and she were not getting back together.
    Which made me happy. Which, in turn, pissed
me off at myself.
    And yes, I had to admit, I’d called Adrienne,
several times, and given her the scoop on Lucas. I thought it
couldn’t hurt, since she was like ten states away. I missed her,
but the “miss” was getting less and less the more I became a part
of Sky Cove.
    So, my first two weeks at Sky Cove Senior
High were both easier and weirder than I imagined they would
be.
    It was my end-of-the-day locker stop that
turned unfortunate, yet so very typical.
    The piece of notebook paper taped to my
locker read “Tennessee Hillbilly”.
    Fantastic. How long had that been there? I
hadn’t been to my locker since just after lunch, and nausea
threatened as I thought about how many people could’ve