Another Saturday Night and I Ain't Got No Body (A Page Turners Novel) by Jennie Marts Read Free Book Online Page B

empty promises of coming back to get her soon.
    The bell rang, and Piper found herself alone in the hallway, staring into her half-empty locker. She pulled her English Lit book free, slammed the locker door, and trudged down the hall to class.
    She tried to quietly sneak into the back of the class and into her desk. She had thought for years that she could will herself invisible and felt it work many times in the past.
    It didn’t work today.
    “Thank you for joining us, Ms. Denton,” her teacher said. “We’re discussing the homework assignment. Have you finished reading the assigned book?”
    As luck would have it, her English class was reading Catcher in the Rye . When Cassie saw the book in Piper’s backpack, she had been so excited.
    Piper had reluctantly accepted the invitation to join her aunt’s book club, secretly happy, and feeling quite grownup to be a part of the coffee house discussions. She had never been in any kind of club, and she liked the feeling of being included. She liked Aunt Cassie’s friends. Sunny was always nice to her, and Maggie cracked her up. She didn’t know what to make of the old lady yet. She was funny, but didn’t act like any other old person Piper had ever met.
    “Yes, I’ve finished it,” Piper answered the teacher. She didn’t like the attention of the whole class looking at her.
    In the seat next to her sat a boy with dark hair who she had noticed watching her at times when they were supposed to be studying. He was cute and athletically built. She had plenty of experience with boys looking at her, but usually in a more predatory way. This boy looked at her with kindness, and she sometimes felt him study her from across the lunchroom while she sat alone at a table, reading a book, and eating the sandwich Cassie had packed for her. When she would look back at him, he’d always look quickly away, engrossed in his lunch or his work. The way his cheeks tinged a slight red gave her a funny feeling in her stomach, and she found herself watching the halls or glancing around at lunch in search of his tousled dark hair.
    “Would you like to share your thoughts on the book?” the teacher asked.
    “Um, sure,” she stammered. She tried to recall what the women had said about the book the other night at Starbucks. They had veered off topic, planning blind dates for Sunny, but she had such fun being included in the conversation and the plans.
    “I think it felt like I was reading a sixteen-year old’s blog who was venting all his anger at the world and at grownups in general.” She hated being put on the spot and could only think to mimic Maggie’s thoughts on the book.
    She snuck a glance at the boy next to her and found he openly smiled at her.
    “I agree,” the boy said, without raising his hand. “I think Piper nailed Holden right on.”
    Shocked he knew her name and had spoken on her behalf, Piper could only stare down at her desk and try to keep a goofy smile from taking over her face.
    “Well, thank you for your opinion, Drew,” the teacher said. “Who else would like to share their ideas?”
    Beginning a new thread of discussion, the class moved on, once again forgetting the new girl with the weird black clothes.
    The bell rang, and Piper collected her things, and filed into the hall.
    “That was good, what you said about Holden.”
    Piper looked up, stunned someone spoke to her, and found the boy walking alongside her.
    “Oh, thanks,” she said.
    “I’m Drew.”
    “Piper.”
    “Yeah, I know. My mom is friends with your aunt. I think she had the same opinion about this book.”
    “Really ? Who’s your mom?” Piper asked, confused.
    “Maggie Hayes.”
    “Oh, cool.” She flushed at being caught using a quote from this boy’s mother. Trying to come up with something to change the subject, she said, “Your mom’s funny.”
    Drew smiled at the description of his mother. “Yeah, I guess she is funny sometimes. So I packed my lunch today. Mind if I sit