A Trick of the Light Read Online Free Page A

physics, last period.”
    Mike: “That’s great! If you, you know, need help after school, I could, you know . . .”
    Valerie: “Actually I’m a dancer, and I have to go to class after school every day.”
    Mike (as if she couldn’t get any more wonderful): “You’re a dancer?”
    Valerie (nodding): “Ballet.”
    Mike: “Wow. Just . . . wow.”
    She’s way too curvy to be a ballet dancer. The bell rings.
    Mike: “Anyway, see you in physics.”
    She smiles briefly and leaves. Mike thinks her smile is like the sun and the stars and the entire Milky Way. I try to warn Mike of the pain that awaits him with this girl, but he’s lost in daydreams. His visions of him and her together are too absurd to describe.
    He texts Tamio about being in love with Valerie Braylock. Tamio texts back that she’s in his math, English, and music appreciation classes, and also his lunch period. Mike is instantly jealous.
    Tamio (text): She’s cute.
    Mike: I saw her 1st.
    Tamio: She’s all yours.
    Mike: U better believe it.
    I don’t like anything about this. Girls flock to Tamio. What will happen to Mike when Valerie invariably does the same?
    The day is uneventful, just the usual high school nonsense. Ralph Gaffney is wearing a T-shirt that says I’M NOT AS THINK AS YOU DRUNK I AM , and Melissa Sacks reports him, explaining to the Rubys, “I texted my mom. As head of the PTA she says that even though we don’t have a dress code per se, we can’t allow clothing that promotes substance abuse. If Ralph doesn’t change his shirt, my mom will take it up with the school board.” Melissa can’t stand Ralph because last year she and the Rubys made a video of themselves dancing (it was called “The Belles of Belle Heights”) and posted it on YouTube. Ralph wrote something so pornographic in the comments section that Melissa had the video removed. Well, she’s having her revenge now. Ralph has to borrow a shirt from the lost & found, which already has clothing in it on the first day of school.
    By the time physics rolls around and Mike sees Valerie again, her hair is in a tight bun. Mike can barely catch his breath. Now he has a different image to add to his collection.
    Mike (rushing up to her): “How’s your first day been?”
    Valerie: “Fine! Everyone’s been really friendly.”
    Mike is sure all the boys have been friendly, at least.
    Mike: “Your hair’s different.”
    Valerie: “I have to wear it like this for dance.”
    Mike notices that beneath her button-down shirt, there’s a scoop neckline that wasn’t there before.
    Mike: “You have a change of clothes on, under?” He instantly regrets saying that.
    Valerie (not upset): “I have my leotard and tights on. That way, when I get to the studio, I can rip my clothes off and be ready for class.”
    Mike is practically hyperventilating.
    Valerie: “I can’t be late—in fact I have this recurring nightmare of being late. There’s a performance and I’m not in costume because my hair’s not ready or something, and the music’s starting. The whole ballet is ruined because of me.”
    Mike wishes he had a recurring nightmare he could tell her about.
    Speaking of late, Amber walks into the physics lab right now. She scoots into a seat at a table diagonally in front of Mike. He can smell her cinnamon smell. Melissa Sacks, up front where she always sits, turns around to look at the Rubys and pretends to stick her finger down her throat. Amber makes Melissa want to throw up, apparently. These girls are so shallow. Amber is so much deeper than any of them could ever hope to be.
     
    Mike goes to Tamio’s house after school. Tamio lives four blocks from Belle Heights High, on Seventy-Fifth Crescent, which means crossing Seventy-Fifth Road, Seventy-Fifth Circle, and Seventy-Fifth Street. It’s another two long blocks before you get to anything with a seventy-six. All the streets in Belle Heights are that way. Places are never exactly where you think they’ll