Certainty by Eileen Sharp Read Free Book Online Page B

greeted Ren as if he were a prisoner being released from a painful incarceration—Noah fist bumping him and Maddy twining her arm around his. I kind of hated her for two seconds as I stepped away from the happy trio. Ren looked back and winked at me as he was dragged away, which made me feel better.
    Right after Biology Katie texted me that Noah had asked her to the dance. I did a pretty good job of sounding excited, which isn’t easy in a text. I used lots of exclamation points.
    At lunch I met Katie and her eyes were sparkling, her cheeks flushed. “I knew he was going to ask me.”
    “How did you know that?” I asked. “He flirts with everyone.” A little of the brightness left her eyes and I immediately regretted the dig at Noah. “I mean, he didn’t seem more friendly than usual.”
    It wasn’t a great recovery, but she smiled again.
    “He’s been hinting. I think he wanted to make sure I didn’t like someone else. I’m so mysterious, you know,” she said mockingly.
    “Well, I’m glad you’re going to the dance. More importantly, what are you going to wear?”
    She grinned and scrunched her nose. “His favorite color on a girl is pink.”
    “How on earth do you know that?”
    “I’m a collector of Noah facts. If they ever have a game show about Noah, I’m going to win.”
    Impressed, I paid for my lunch and then told her I was going to the dance with Ren, Steve and Noriko. That seemed to make her date with Noah all the more exciting, and she almost spilled her salad. “I can’t wait!”
    We found the lunch table and Katie sat next to Noah, who was eating a lunch from home—his mom always packed a lunch for him. I’d met her a few times and she was nothing like him, in my opinion. I wasn’t even sure how he even came from the same gene pool. She had his olive complexion and beautiful green eyes but where he was thin and angled with sharp bones she was round and comfortable and always laughing or putting someone at ease. The fact that he adored her almost made him redeemable. His father was just as amiable, but with a mischievous sense of humor and twinkly eyes.
    Katie smiled at Noah and he pulled a chair out for her, his eyes locking with hers. Did he really care about her? It seemed like he did.
    Noriko wasn’t reading a book, for once, and Ryan’s calculator was sitting next to him, off. Crystal sat on the other side of Noah, sipping her diet soda and watching Katie and Noah.
    “So we’re going to the dance together,” Steve said to me, as he pushed his glasses up on his nose.
    “Yep! I can’t wait. It sounds like so much fun,” I said, and I meant it. Not only because of Ren, but I realized that this was probably Steve’s first dance.
    Noriko pulled her chair closer to mine, a strand of her silky black hair falling out of the twist at her neck. “I have to shop for a dress. I don’t have a formal.”
    I shook my milk carton, thinking about shopping. “I need one, too. Hopefully it isn’t too late to find something.”
    “Sorry about that,” Ren said.  “I just moved in two days ago.”
    Katie raised an eyebrow at Noah. “What took you so long?”
    He shrugged. “I knew you’d say yes.”
    She smacked him on the arm and he winced. “Ow.”
    “We’ll all be fah-bulous,” Crystal said, her eyes turning dreamy.
    “Almost all of us,” Noah said, smirking at me and Steve.
    Katie smacked him again. “That was mean.”
    I agreed but didn’t say anything. Steve didn’t defend himself either. Either we had no self-esteem or it wasn’t worth defending ourselves.
    I caught Ren peering back at me through his hair, concern in his eyes. It caught me off guard and I looked away. I realized he was trying to soften Noah’s words without calling him out. So he cared about me, but he didn’t want to hurt Noah’s dumb feelings? At least he cared about the way I felt. But he didn’t want to date me. Was he going to turn into another Kyle for me? Another guy who flirted with me but