Rain Read Online Free Page A

out and turned on the radio, and a rock band projected through the speakers. Kyle quietly sang along to the song. “‘You left me here like a chalk outline on the sidewalk, waiting for the rain to wash away; you keep coming back to the scene of the crime, but the dead can't speak and there's nothing left to say anyway.’” He had a nice voice—not hidden talent, break-out artist but nice and enjoyable to listen to. I listened until the song finished and a new one came on.
    “Who sang that?” I asked.
    He glanced over at me. “Three Days Grace.”
    “Cool, I liked it,” I responded as I tried to remember so I could look them up later.
    He glanced at me again with a look that said he didn’t believe me.
    I rolled my eyes at him. “I’m serious. More than a blond girl here,” I scolded. He just smirked.
    We pulled into a small shopping center and parked.
    “We’re here,” Kyle said as he got out of the car. I exited, looking around and wondering what place we were going to. There was a little food place and what looked to be a craft store along with a few other stores I wasn’t close enough to see. He led and I followed, trying to peek in the windows while keeping up with his fast pace. I almost ran into him when he stopped suddenly, opened a door, and signaled with his free hand to go in. I stopped abruptly when I realized it was a hair salon. I turned to look at Kyle as a woman with short, layered blond hair went over to Kyle and hugged him.
    “Kyle! How are you? I haven’t seen you in so long!” Her voice was excited and friendly.
    “I’m good. Just moved back, so you should see me more.”
    “Good,” she stated and then pulled away and looked at me. “I’m Monique.” She introduced herself and put out her hand. I shook it uneasily, but she just smiled at me.
    “She would like her hair dyed,” Kyle’s always-smooth voice came.
    I turned around and faced him again. “I can’t dye my hair; my parents will kill me,” I said, shaking my head and crossing my arms in front of me. Monique looked at us and then gave us space.
    “Taylor, it can’t be worse than losing your hair, so why does it matter if you dye it?” he argued quietly so other people wouldn’t hear.
    “Because my mom will freak out,” I justified, but I agreed fully with what Kyle had said.
    “You don’t have control over that, but right now you can take control of your hair and do whatever you want to it.” He looked at me seriously, and I could tell he wasn’t going to stand down. I couldn’t help but smile.
    He was right. I had wanted to change my hair forever, and now I could; after all, it was going to fall out anyway. I got excited and couldn’t hold my grin back. I walked to the desk Monique had gone to and she looked up.
    “I want to get my hair dyed, please,” I told her.
    “Are you sure”
    “Very,” I smiled at her. She smiled back and looked at Kyle.
    “Okay,” she said and showed me to her station. “I’ll go grab a book of colors for you to look through; make yourself comfortable,” she told me.
    I slid my jacket off and laid it on top of my purse next to my chair. I was about to sit down when Kyle’s hand wrapped around my left wrist lightly and pulled up my arm. The suddenness of his touch was startling. I looked at him, confused, and saw fire in his eyes—raw anger I didn’t understand. His eyes looked up at me and penetrated mine.
    “Did your boyfriend do this to you?” he asked angrily, pointing at my arm. I could tell he was struggling to keep his voice low. I looked down, unsure of what he was talking about, and saw a bruise wrapped around my arm. I remembered Liz grabbing my arm in the hallway; she hadn’t grabbed me very hard, but I knew that was what had caused it. Bruising was one of the things that had caused me to go to the doctor in the first place.
    “No,” I told him honestly; his expression said he didn’t believe me. “It’s a symptom,” I said calmly, still looking into