Sapphire: A Paranormal Romance Read Online Free

recognize.
    She nodded.  “A
little bit.  It’s a little cold tonight.”
    George let out
another of his laughs.  “It’s about seventy degrees.”
“George,” Jimmy said harshly. 
    George turned
towards him and shrugged, as if he had no idea what Jimmy was talking about.
    “We’re almost
there,” Jimmy said.
    Sapphire nodded. 
“Great.  Do you think your friends will like me?”
    Jimmy laughed a
short, snorty laugh.  “My only real friend is George here.  Despite his
rudeness, I think he likes you. And the few other people I know will be so
amazed that you’re with me, I don’t think they’ll care.”
    Her smile faded. 
“You don’t have a girlfriend?”
    Jimmy shook his
head after shooting another warning look at George.  “No.”
    “Why not?” she
asked.
                “As I
said,” Jimmy replied, “we are not exactly the most popular kids in school.”
            She laughed, and a chill went up Jimmy’s spine.  “You’re a very
nice young man, Jimmy.  I think you sell yourself short.  I think both of you
do.  Most people probably would have just driven past me.  You stopped to make
sure I was OK.”
    Jimmy blushed in
return.  George just shook his head.  The car barreled through the remaining
roads, up the steep hills and back down, taking the sweeping curves at speeds
that would normally have left Jimmy in a puddle on the floor.  Jimmy barely
noticed. He felt invincible.  Something about Sapphire had him dazzled.  His
heart hammered loudly in his chest.  He felt something he had rarely, if ever,
felt before.  It was much later that he realized that that feeling was
self-confidence. 
    They pulled into
the school parking lot.  The lot was jammed with cars, every one of them, even
the lowliest, looking better than the one George drove.  They found a spot at
the far end, amidst the gravel and almost in the football field behind the
school.  As soon as the loud engine and thumping rock and roll had ceased, they
heard the music from inside the gym.  When Jimmy looked back at the building,
he could see pulsing lights emanating from the windows set high in the gymnasium
wall.
    “Sounds like the
party has already started,” George said.
               
“Yeah,” Jimmy said.  “You go in first, George.  I’m going to follow behind you
with Sapphire.”
            George paused and opened his mouth to say something, but then he saw
the look on Jimmy’s face and shrugged.  He reached into the backseat and found
his jacket, put it on and closed the driver’s side door. 
    Jimmy listened to
George’s feet crunching on the gravel as he walked away.  He finally pulled his
gaze away from Sapphire’s face and looked around to confirm that George had,
indeed, entered the gym.  He turned back to Sapphire.  Her eyes bore into him.
    “Are we going to
dance?” she asked.
    Jimmy nodded. 
“Sure.  First, though, I have to ask you something.”
            She nodded, her eyes never leaving his.
    “Who are you?” he
asked.  “Is this all a joke?”
A look of pain crossed her face.  “What would make you say that, Jimmy?”
    Jimmy laughed. 
“Because this is supremely weird.  I mean, really.  Think about things from my
side.  I am one of the biggest losers in the school.  I am attending my senior
prom with my equally dismissed best friend and we are driving in the oldest,
ugliest, and loudest car in the town.  Then, from out of nowhere, you appear on
the side of the road.  You give us only your first name, make some strange
comments, and then decide to go with us to a dance at a school that, evidently,
you do not go to.”
    He stared at her
for a moment, catching his breath.  She continued to stare at him intently, as
if she had only one gear for looking at people and that was intently.  He
thought he saw tears forming in her eyes. 
    “Then there’s the
fact that you are, without a doubt, the most