Carnelian Read Online Free Page B

voice said beside me to
the second girl at the table. A thick, dark arm reached in front of
me to point to a name tag, which read Taraq Sangre. The guy that
was the wall I ran into yesterday was standing beside me, and he
had the same last name as the underwear model, Seth. He smiled at
me and his white teeth sparkled against his chocolate-colored
skin.
    The girl handed him his name tag while the
second girl returned with two bags and handed one to each of us.
Both girls paused to smile and flirt a little at the guy beside me,
and he smiled back. I turned to quickly leave, but he spoke even
quicker.
    “I’m Ty,” he said to me before I could turn
to find Sim.
    “I’m Mari,” I replied, looking for a clear
path to get through the mass of people. More students had arrived
after us, and they were all now pressing into the room. Ty smiled
and began walking forward. He didn’t even hesitate for people to
move, because they simply all moved to get out of his way. He was
massive in size, and I’d have moved, too, if I was them. His arms
alone looked like they could pound a person into the ground.
    “You’re a freshman?” I asked, surprised as
he seemed older.
    “I should be a sophomore with my brothers,
but I had to take an extra year to catch up with them,” Ty replied,
walking across the room.
    “You have brothers?” I asked, wondering if
they were all as massive in size as he was.
    Ty flashed his bright smile and nodded.
“You’ve already met my brother Dee, kind of. He was with me
yesterday. Tall, skinny, looks like he’s sucking on a lemon?”
    His path led to the other side of the room
where students were lounging around the empty floor, most of them
sitting or sprawled out trying to get more sleep in. There were no
seats, just a stage at one side of the room. Ty found an open area
and sat. I hesitated to sit beside him, and quickly scanned to be
sure Sim wasn’t already through her line. She was not. I had no
excuse not to take a seat. I settled down beside Ty.
    “How could you and your brother be the same
age? You don’t look anything alike,” I said without thinking first.
I hadn’t meant to point out the obvious difference that they were
both different races.
    “We were adopted at the same time,” Ty
replied, not even batting an eye at the question. He must have had
to answer that a lot.
    “Oh,” was the only reply I could muster. I
had to change the conversation fast.
    “Do you play any sports?” I asked. A guy his
size had to play something. If not, there would be a recruiter
following him around soon trying to get him into something.
    “Yeah, I’m here on a football scholarship,”
Ty replied as Sim made her way through the crowd. It was funny to
watch. Sim was only just over five feet tall, and she got lost
between students as she bobbed between everyone. Groups had started
to form around us as students were greeting old and new
friends.
    I waved to Sim so that she would see us.
    “That makes sense,” I replied to Ty. It
really did. He was huge and if he had answered tennis, I might have
laughed.
    Sim plopped down next to me.
    “I got stuck with Honors Lit.,” she
complained, handing me her schedule.
    “And you didn’t sign up for that?” I
replied, looking at the form. Her schedule was full of courses like
Honors Literature and other subjects I was avoiding until
necessary.
    “Honors Lit. isn’t the problem,” Sim
complained, opening her bag and sifting through the contents. “The
problem is that it’s Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at
eight-thirty.” I laughed. Her standing in line seemed to have woken
her up a bit, and now I realized why she was complaining. She was
not a morning person.
    “Oh, Sim, this is Ty. Ty, this is my
roommate Sim,” I introduced them, remembering Ty beside me. “Then
why did you sign up for it?”
    “I didn’t,” Sim complained as she shoved
everything back in the bag. It was an assortment of notebooks, a
day planner, pencils and pens with the