Endangered by Lamar Giles Read Free Book Online

drama, it was vague, referring to an “incident of an inappropriate nature,” while reassuring everyone that Portside High was a safe, educational environment where the faculty upholds the highest moral standards. No names were mentioned.
    Taylor asks me, “Did you get one?”
    He’s so casual, like I didn’t almost kill him with my car. His nice-guy ruse. I nod simply to hurry this along.
    Redirecting his attention to Ocie, he says, “Has anyone seen Keachin since this blew up? Seems like it’s getting serious.”
    â€œI heard she’s in Alabama,” Ocie says. “She’s got an aunt there, the only person who’ll take her in because she’s shamed her family.”
    That’s BS. I saw the light glowing in Keachin’s bedroom when I rode past her house last night. “Where do you get this stuff?”
    â€œThe band,” Ocie says. “Nothing happens in this school that we don’t know about.”
    Her cluelessness makes me laugh; it’s one of my favorite things in the world.
    My giggles are the only sound now. Taylor shuffles foot to foot before saying, “Mei, tomorrow then.”
    â€œYeah, sure.”
    I rise and take my tray to the dishwasher window. They can finish this nonsense on their own. When I return to the table, he’s gone and Ocie’s twisted in her seat, tracking me with her eyes. Anxious.
    â€œPanda, about that—”
    â€œSorry,” I say. I grab my bag off the back of my chair. “Lunch is over. Gotta get to class.”
    There’s a full five minutes left in the period, but Ocie doesn’t argue. I’m sure she knows there will be plenty of time for that later.
    We’re all something we don’t know we are.
    Let me tell you about a girl who didn’t know she was a freaking idiot.
    It’s not a long story; take out the specifics and it probably isn’t even uncommon. A gorgeous boy came to her school. A military brat, like she used to be. Even spent time in her mother’s birthplace. Long enough to learn the language. They bonded over similarities until they started creating shared moments.
    Movies and pizza and birthday parties. His parents dropping him off for dinner with her family. Her sneaking kisses on the couch between her dad’s chaperone patrols.
    She told him about the camera she wanted for her birthday, and her subscription to National Geographic , and how she knew who took the picture of each and every panda on her wall. He told her private things, too, but even now she doesn’t share them, because she still can’t destroy their old trust the way he did.
    Things between them were good. Until they weren’t.
    One weekend she was home alone. His older basketball buddies brought him by well after dark. They took a trip to her room where it didn’t go all the way, but got close enough to frighten her and irritate him.
    She got it. She really did. She wanted him. Bad . But she was scared. Scared that something would go wrong, something that would last alifetime, and chase away all the dreams they talked about so much.
    He said he understood, said he wasn’t mad. When his friends picked him up, he must’ve said different things.
    By Monday morning, the school was saying them, too.
    Things like how she was obsessed with pandas, but not in a real way. Like a freak show.
    They called her “Panda Fucker.”
    Because she trusted the wrong boy.
    That girl is something different now. She won’t make that mistake again.
    Though she may need to consider which girls she trusts, if they can’t recognize the wrong boys either.

CHAPTER 9
    OCIE’S TEXTS BLOW UP MY CELL as I eat dinner with my parents.
    Dad’s complaining to Mom, for like the thousandth time, about how frightened Virginians get over “a little wind and rain.” There’s a bad storm forecast for tomorrow night, and whenever that happens, there’s a run on