Circus Summer (Circus of Curiosities Book 1) by Kailin Gow Read Free Book Online Page B

in the place. I think Dr. Dex knew it too, because he barely asked me anything before sending me down to stand here.
                I’m not alone. All the others are here. I know some of them. Banford and Ellis are two hefty guys from the football team. Banford plays defense, while Ellis is on the offensive line. At practice, that means they spend a lot of their time crashing into one another. On Banford, it shows. He’s maybe six two, massively built, but his face already has that kind of squashed look that comes from getting hit too many times. Ellis is still baby faced and handsome, with features that seem almost too young for him, on a body that’s even taller and broader than Banford’s.
                There’s a thin guy I don’t recognize. He’s as tall as Ellis, but he’s stick thin, without much real muscle. He’s dressed in what look like old clothes, or maybe they’re just the best he can afford. I’d write him off as just a wannabe who isn’t going to get very far, except that I can see his expression. There’s a kind of determination and intelligence there that says he isn’t going to give up or stop, no matter what he has to do in the circus.
                There’s a girl who’s easily the same size as any of the guys. I recognize her from my class. I don’t really know her. She sits at the back of the class like she’s trying to make sure that nobody notices her. She isn’t fat, she’s just muscular, though she also looks as feminine as any of the other girls there. She wears her red hair long, spilling in a ponytail over one shoulder, and she’s wearing casual jeans and a t-shirt.
                There’s another girl, whose name I don’t know again. She looks younger than the rest of us. In fact, I think I recognize her as a girl from a couple of grades below me in school. She’s kind of sweet and pretty looking, with pixie cut blonde hair and blue eyes. She doesn’t look old enough or strong enough to be here. Except that she looks every bit as determined as everyone else. I guess I’m not going to be the one to try to tell her that she shouldn’t be here.
                There are two more guys, who look kind of ordinary. One has short brown hair, the other blond hair, and they joke with one another like they know each other. I don’t know them. I don’t even think I’ve seen them before. Maybe they live outside the town, on one of the farms there, or maybe they’ve come over from the next town to take part. The same goes for the athletic looking girl standing near them. She has short dark hair and a very serious expression, but otherwise she looks as ordinary as the other two. Maybe that’s why she’s here. Maybe she wants the chance to be extraordinary.
                Maybe that’s why they’re all here. They must have reasons. For some of them it will be the money. For some it will be the kind of local fame that comes from getting a place in the circus, and maybe the chance at more than that if we get through to the next stages. Or maybe it’s just that this is somewhere they can fit in. I guess a lot of the kids here are ones who don’t really fit in at school, and the circus… well, it’s a chance for people to finally see them as something more.
                Does that include Leela Sinclair? She’s standing right next to me, and she looks amazing in the delicate yellow dress she’s wearing, with those dainty sandals on her feet. Everything about her is beautiful. Her name. Her face. Her hair. Her body. Even her scent, which carries to me this close, smelling of jasmine and gardenias.
                I’ve seen her around. Of course I have. It’s impossible not to notice a girl that beautiful, even if she doesn’t seem to realize just how beautiful she is. I’ve seen her at school, at my parents’ store, walking around town, at that restaurant she works at…
                And