Bookishly Ever After by Isabel Bandeira Read Free Book Online Page B

dress. Why he hadn’t yet gone away, though, was totally beyond my understanding. “Wrong scene. I’m in Maeve’s battle outfit. You know, like on the cover?” I used my finger as a bookmark and gestured with my new book at the giant version of it on the banner above me.
    “Oh. Right.” He shuffled his feet impatiently. “And you have a bow because…”
    I protectively hugged my recurve with my free hand. “Because Maeve was the reason I became an archer. I wantthe author to sign it.” I dropped my eyes and added, “I know this all sounds incredibly stupid.”
    “No, that’s actually really cool. I didn’t know you were an archer.” He poked at my bow. “I didn’t know anyone did that stuff outside of gym class.”
    “Hello, it’s an international sport, you know. Not just a chance to almost shoot freshmen who run across our field during gym class.” I shrugged and added with more than a little bit of pride, “I placed second in States at my level. Coach Rentz thinks I’ll make it to Nationals next year. I wouldn’t have had that without Maeve. I really want Niamh—” at his look of confusion, I added, “the author—to know that.”
    “Wow.”
    “Books are powerful things.” I tried raising one of my eyebrows, like Maeve would at a moment like this, but I had to settle for a twitch that probably made me look like I’d escaped from an insane asylum.
    “I’ll take your word for it.” He started backing up and gestured with his thumb towards the escalator. “Uh, I’d love to stay and talk, but I’ve got to go take care of something.”
    My heart sunk right into my kneehigh boots, but I just flipped my book back open and tried not to let the disappointment show in my face. I couldn’t have expected him to wait on line with me. “Have fun.”
    He stared at me a moment longer. “How long do you have to wait for this?” He wasn’t walking away.
    The snarky side of me wanted to point at the poster again, but I didn’t. The girl behind me made an exasperated snortingsound and I saw her doing it for me. “It starts at one.”
    His eyes grew wide. “So you’re going to sit here for two hours?”
    The girl behind me was practically going into apoplectic fits. Dev and I tried our best to ignore her. “Four hours. I’ve been on line since the bookstore opened.”
    “Are you kidding? Who does that?” I gestured towards the people in front of us and then the line snaking along the mall wall behind me. “Okay, stupid question. What
normal
person does that?”
    “What normal person breaks into a Bollywood flash mob at a school dance?”
    “Point taken.” He ran his hand through his hair, leaving it standing in dark spikes. “I gotta go. Maybe I’ll swing by later.”
    “And buy a book? It’ll be good for you.”
    He flashed me a wide grin. “Sure, Dr. Phoebe. I’ll pick up two and call you in the morning?” I laughed and watched as he disappeared into the crowd. I could see what other girls saw in him, especially with the messy hair. That smile nearly killed me.
    As I turned back to my book, the girl behind me poked me with her copy of
Gilded.
“Boyfriend isn’t much of a brain trust, is he?”
    I ignored her and turned back to my book. A little bit of Maeve and Aedan would take my mind off of the past few minutes.

8
    Maeve doubted any of her teachers or the foreign exchange program organizers would take ‘my homework is late because I had to protect Ireland and the whole world from fairytale creatures last night’ as an excuse. A small part of her was tempted to take up Aedan’s offer to move to the Otherland full time, but—
    A milkshake floated in front of my eyes, blocking my view of the page. Condensation dripped off of the plastic cup and I squeaked as a drop hit my page. I scrambled to wipe up the water before looking up at the culprit.
    “What the heck—” I stopped short as Dev’s greenish eyes came into focus. “Dev?”
    He was clutching a bag and bottle of soda