Sometimes By Moonlight Read Online Free Page B

know, I know. I shouldn’t have done it, okay? That’s why I didn’t wake you up.”
     
    Her cheeks reddened. “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
     
    Now it was my turn to feel embarrassed. “Sorry. I’m not used to anyone worrying about me.”
     
    “Well, I do worry about you.” She gave me a stern look. “You cry over this boy. You think he’s coming to find you at the school.”
     
    “You saw the note,” I said. “That had to mean something.”
     
    Marie-Rose nodded. “Of course, but you don’t even know it was from him or what it means.”
     
    “But, the sketchbook… that had to be his.”
     
    “Let’s go to bed. Maybe this is enough about Austin for tonight.”
     
    “Enough Austin? Do I really talk about him that much?”
     
    Marie-Rose’s mouth fell open. “Shelby, you talk about him all the time. From the moment you arrived here it’s been nothing but Austin.”
     
    “Oh.” I got out of bed and went over to the closet to swap my snow pants and heavy sweatshirt for pajamas. As I dressed, I thought about Marie-Rose’s observation. She was right. I’d been wrapped up in missing him. And maybe talking about him incessantly was another way I was holding on to us, to what we’d had. Now, I didn’t even know what that was.
     
    I slipped back into my bed. “I’m sorry. I guess you’re right. You know, about me talking about Austin a lot.”
     
    Marie-Rose pulled her ponytail band out and ran a brush through her hair. “Let’s go to sleep. I hear they are letting us video call home tomorrow night. If I have bags under my eyes, Maman is not going to be pleased.”
     
    “Ok.”
     
    She set the brush down on the nightstand and pulled her covers up. “So, was it worth it?” she asked, a quiet curiosity lacing her voice. “To sneak out?”
     
    “I’m not sure,” I said.
     
    Marie-Rose rolled over on her side, looking at me in the dark. “I wonder if it ever is, to risk something for a boy.”
     
    I knew the answer to that one—or at least I thought I had last summer—that yes, it was worth it, especially in Austin’s case. I lay on my back, looking out toward the moon moving slowly across the window. Austin had come for me, sort of. He was out there somewhere, though I had more questions than answers.
     
    And the biggest question of all was if I would ever see Austin again. That’s the one that kept me awake, staring at the waxing moon.
     
    ***
     
    It was almost my turn. I stood waiting outside the library door the next afternoon, waiting for Marie-Rose to finish her video call home. A high-pitched sound echoed out into the hallway as my friend laughed nervously. I could only imagine the coal-raking she was getting from her maman .
     
    I passed the time staring at the paintings from the Duke’s collection that lined the hallway’s walls. I assumed they were all relatives of the Duke. Bored looking girls in poufy dresses. Small boys in flouncy shirts. Stern-eyed old people gazing with reproach at all who passed down the corridor, as if we were the ones in funny clothes. Not my kind of art. I liked the modern paintings at the Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown L.A. This stuff was strictly Scooby-Doo haunted library.
     
    Another crescendo of fake laughter drifted out from the library. During these video chats, we were only allowed five minutes of talk time, which the school deemed long enough for us to convince our parents that we were being properly fed, clothed and bathed. I glanced down at my watch, noting that Marie-Rose only had another minute of torture left.
     
    My gaze tracked to the paintings again and settled on one portrait in particular—a knight with a two-headed spear tipped with gleaming blades. Covering his chain mail was a flowing blue and white tunic emblazoned with the design of a steed, legs raised in battle. Though the knight had a helmet concealing his expression, he was definitely a scary, intense dude. On a hill in the distance