Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell Read Free Book Online Page A

one
    who’d peed all over everything.
    She washed off the top half of
    her body, then the bottom, so that
    she wouldn’t ever be totally
    naked. Then she walked back
    through the living room, wearing
    yesterday’s clothes, trying really
    hard not to smell like pee.
    Her books were in her
    bedroom, but Eleanor didn’t want
    to open the door and let out any
    more acrid air – so she just left.
    She got to the bus stop fifteen
    minutes early. She still felt
    rumpled and panicked, and,
    thanks to the bacon, her stomach
    was growling.
    CHAPTER 12
    Park
    When Park got on the bus, he set
    the comics and Smiths tape on the
    seat next to him, so they’d just be
    waiting for her. So he wouldn’t
    have to say anything.
    When she got on the bus a few
    minutes later, Park could tell that
    something was wrong. She got on
    like she was lost and ended up
    there. She was wearing the same
    thing she’d worn yesterday –
    which wasn’t that weird, she was
    always wearing a different version
    of the same thing – but today was
    different. Her neck and wrists
    were bare, and her hair was a
    mess – a pile, an all-over glob, of
    red curls.
    She stopped at their seat and
    looked down at the pile of stuff
    he’d left for her. (Where were her
    schoolbooks? He wondered) Then
    she picked everything up, careful
    as ever, and sat down.
    Park wanted to look at her
    face, but he couldn’t. He stared at
    her wrists instead. She picked up
    the cassette. He’d written ‘How
    Soon is Now and More’ on the
    thin white sticker.
    She held it out to him.
    ‘Thank you …’ she said. Now
    that was something he’d never
    heard her say before. ‘But I can’t.’
    He didn’t take it.
    ‘It’s for you, take it,’ he
    whispered. He looked up from her
    hands to her dropped chin.
    ‘No,’ she said, ‘I mean, thank
    you, but … I can’t.’ She tried to
    give him the tape, but he didn’t
    take it. Why did she have to make
    every little thing so hard?
    ‘I don’t want it,’ he said.
    She clenched her teeth and
    glared. She really must hate him.
    ‘No,’ she said, practically loud
    enough for other people to hear. ‘I
    mean, I can’t . I don’t have any
    way to listen to it. God , just take it
    back.’
    He took it. She covered her
    face. The kid in the seat across
    from them, a twerpy senior who
    was actually named Junior, was
    watching.
    Park frowned at Junior until
    he turned away. Then Park turned
    back to the girl …
    He took his Walkman out of
    the pocket of his trench coat and
    popped out his Dead Kennedys
    tape. He slid the new tape in,
    pressed play, then – carefully –
    put the headphones over her hair.
    He was so careful, he didn’t even
    touch her.
    He could hear the swampy
    guitar start and then the first line
    of the song. ‘I am the son … and
    the heir …’
    She lifted her head a little but
    didn’t look at him. She didn’t
    move her hands away from her
    face.
    When they got to school, she
    took the headphones off and gave
    them back to him.
    They got off the bus together
    and stayed together. Which was
    weird. Usually, they broke away
    from each other as soon as they
    hit the sidewalk. That’s what
    seemed weird now, Park thought;
    they walked the same way every
    day, her locker was just down the
    hall from his – how had they
    managed to go their separate ways
    every morning?
    Park stopped for a minute
    when they got to her locker. He
    didn’t step close to her, but he
    stopped. She stopped, too.
    ‘Well,’ he said, looking down
    the hall, ‘now you’ve heard the
    Smiths.’
    And she …
    Eleanor laughed.
    Eleanor
    She should have just taken the
    tape.
    She didn’t need to be telling
    everybody what she had and
    didn’t have. She didn’t need to be
    telling weird Asian kids anything.
    Weird Asian kid.
    She was pretty sure he was
    Asian. It was hard to tell. He had
    green eyes. And skin the color of
    sunshine through honey.
    Maybe he was Filipino. Was
    that in Asia? Probably. Asia’s