01 Untouchable - Untouchable by Lindsay Delagair Read Free Book Online Page A

your
business.”
    “ You’re the one who
mentioned his name,” he said, clearly enjoying my
frustration.
    “ I think the Raven
symbolized his broken heart for Lenore,” answering my own
question.
    He didn’t say anything at first; he
just leaned closer to me. I responded by leaning the other
way.
    “ One more thing and then we
can study. It’s a simple yes or no question.”
    “ Fine.” I crossed my arms
and waited.
    He gave me that ‘come closer’ signal
with his index finger as he lowered his head and leaned
forward.
    I knew whatever was going to come out
of his mouth would be quiet, so (like an idiot) I bent forward to
hear him.
    He spoke so quietly that I couldn’t
understand. “What,” I whispered back. Our faces were now inches
apart.
    “ Do—you—have—a—boyfriend?
    The partial smile fell off my
face.
    “ It’s just a yes or no
question,” he reminded me.
    “ Why?” I wasn’t going to
give him the satisfaction of providing an answer.
    “ You have a sexy voice, a
beautiful face, I love long hair and—well, you’re kinda funny. Do
you want to go out with me?”
    That hit me like a bomb. I wondered if
he could possibly know my financial status, because that sounded
like a Palm Beach pickup line. He was going to make it impossible
to do the Poe assignment. “What are your plans after high school
graduation?”
    He seemed to like my odd response.
“I’ll be in the air force academy.”
    “ Can you flunk high school
and still get into the academy?”
    His mouth closed and opened again.
“Huh?”
    “ This is an AP class and we
have an assignment. Got it?”
    “ It represents his hopes and
dreams for the future being destroyed.” He caved.
    I grabbed my pen and finally found my
smile.
    After thirty minutes of
intensely scrutinizing The
Raven , I felt we’d done a good job. He had
different opinions about the poem than I did, but that was okay
because Mr. Schultz said he wanted uniqueness not a consensus. The
only problem was that I was mentally exhausted, because keeping
Ryan at bay and on task was like a tough game of chess.
    I was looking forward to going to psych
class just so I could relax. The only good thing was that it had
been challenging enough to keep me from thinking about my problems
at home, Evan, or even the mystery of what had happened to my car
yesterday.
    The bell rang and I wearily rose from
my seat.
    “ Hey,” Ryan said, catching
my arm. “Can you tell me how to get to 3-101?”
    I snatched the schedule from his hands
and looked at it in disbelief; he had Psych II next.
    I survived psych, but only due to the
fact that the two available seats were nowhere near mine. He had
the nerve to ask a couple people if they would trade seats so he
could sit beside me, but Doctor Moss overheard and informed Ryan
that the seats in her class were assigned; no one would be
moving.
    Although we didn’t have our next class
together, I knew we’d have the same lunch period. If I were lucky,
I’d get there before him and our table would be full.
    Evan actually met me at the cafeteria
door and asked me if I was doing better. He was being impossibly
sweet today, so different from his attitude yesterday afternoon. I
told him yes, but that I was honestly so tired that I had dozed off
in my economics class. I’m sure he figured my exhaustion was due to
my restless night last night (which was a big reason). But what he
didn’t know was that I’d burned the last of my energy fending my
‘I’m not looking for a boyfriend,’ attitude against Ryan’s
onslaught first period. To tell the truth, I don’t think Ryan was
used to a girl turning him down. They probably all melted like
butter in his hands, so I’m sure I was an oddity.
    Evan and I went through the line and
sat at the usual table. Kevin, Carlie, and Natasha were already in
place. Jewels usually flitted around the room, doing her
social-butterfly routine, but not today. It was starting to bother
me that I hadn’t seen her, but