Appassionato by Erin M. Leaf Read Free Book Online Page A

fingers. “Let me guess. You met here and as soon as you touched you felt better.” Both teens nodded, looking guilty but calmer. “And then after making out for a few minutes, you realized that kissing not only made you feel better, it made you feel incredible, right?” Both of them were looking at her like she was talking a foreign language, and Emma didn’t blame them. Usually when a teacher caught kids making out somewhere in the school they got immediate detention. Emma knew what she was supposed to do, but they were showing the same symptoms she’d just spent two weeks suffering, the same symptoms she could no longer deny were real. She took a deep breath. “Have either of you heard of bonding?” They looked at her blankly. “It was on the news about a week ago? How two people are drawn to each other, and then strange markings appear on their arms, like tattoos?”
    Jonathan cleared his throat. “I saw it on the internet but didn’t think about it much. Seemed weird. And anyway, this bruise isn’t a tattoo.”
    Samantha shook her head. “No, Ms. Bell, I never heard of bonding.” Emma noticed that though Jonathan was no longer hugging Samantha, their hands were still clasped. Emma didn’t want to think about what prying them apart would do to them. In the back of her mind, she felt Duncan and Jake agreeing with her.
    “Okay, look, I’m sending you to the nurse. I think you should both go home for the day.” They protested that they didn’t want to be separated, but Emma ignored them. “And I will personally tell the nurse about the bonding thing. I’m sure we can work something out.” They nodded at her, trusting that she would help them. Emma felt a sinking sensation in her chest. Their parents were not going to deal with this well, she just knew it. In her mind she felt Duncan frown and caught the stray thought that at least the kids were boy-girl and not gay. She felt her blood go cold at the thought of trying to untangle that kind of mess. Emma worked in a very conservative community. She knew that many of the parents weren’t that open-minded. She watched as the marks on the kids’ arms grew more prominent the longer they touched. This is a disaster waiting to happen , she thought as she ushered them out of the library.

* * * *

    Much later, Emma dropped onto her sofa, exhausted. She knew that she should get up, get ready for the concert, but she was totally wiped out after dealing with the nurse and the kids’ parents. Samantha and Jonathan refused to be separated. It took a lot of cajoling, but Emma was finally able to convince the parents not to force the issue. She showed them the news reports on the internet. They weren’t easy to find, which worried her greatly. The phenomenon was widespread, and just a few days ago, she was able to find a lot more data on bonding. Now, however, articles she remembered reading were missing. It was as if someone had done a methodological search and erase on all bonding data on the web. That freaked her out because she knew how hard it was to get rid of anything once it appeared on the internet. She’d finally had to resort to a little-known archive that cached articles and web pages. Something was happening, and she didn’t understand what it was. Why weren’t the people who were experiencing the bonding posting anymore about it on any of the social networks? What happened to all the blog posts? And even more disturbing, why had all the official articles about bonding disappeared? It was weird, and Emma was too weary to think about it any longer today. She closed her eyes and idly followed Duncan and Jake around the pre-show sound check, smiling as she felt Jake freaking out over some detail or other with the venue’s PAs. She tried not to think about the fact that Julie would be here in fifteen minutes, ready for their drive to New York. They had just enough time to get to the city, park, and not miss too much of the opening act. Emma felt a