Glass Heart by Amy Garvey Read Free Book Online

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    “I’m sensing a little sarcasm there, sweetie,” Jess says in the perfectly calm, frightening voice I hate.
    “Oh, do you think ?” Dar answers before I can get a word out.
    Jess’s jaw is tight, but I can see it quiver. “What the hell crawled up your ass and died?”
    “Hey, come on, this is stupid.” I stand up as if I’m going to have to physically break them up. I can’t remember the last time Jess and Dar fought. Well, with me, sure, but not with each other.
    “It’s not stupid.” Jess pushes her books out of the way and grabs her bottle of water. “I want to know what she has to say.”
    For a second, I’m sure Darcia is going to open up and explode, spraying angry words all over both of us. The air in the room suddenly feels too thick, oppressive, and Jess’s golden retriever, Lass, whines from beneath the table.
    Out of nowhere, I’m flooded with the memory of shouting, “Stop!” at Danny, and watching him crumple to the ground, strings cut and nothing more than a lifeless collection of bones in the grass. I shudder and turn around, digging into my bag.
    I can’t do that here, now, but I can do this. When I turn around again, my phone in my hands, Darcia’s eyes are blazing darker than I’ve ever seen them. Jess is waiting for whatever Dar is about to say, fingers too tight around her water bottle, but I knew neither of them could ignore me.
    “What the hell are you doing?”
    I snap a picture, catching the angry set of Jess’s jaw and the stray blond hair that she’ll tuck behind her ear any minute now. “Taking pictures of my best friends acting like assholes.”
    “Hey,” Dar starts, and I turn to her. The shutter clicks before she can close her mouth, and she blinks.
    “Oh, that’s a keeper,” I say, looking at the screen. “Totally a Facebook moment.”
    “Don’t you dare,” Dar warns me, but she’s trying not to smile now, and Jess actually snickers.
    “Are we done now?” I set the phone down on the table. “Seriously, guys, it’s exam week, not war. Get a grip.”
    “I wish I could,” Darcia sighs. Her shoulders sag and she crosses her arms on the pile of books before laying her head on them. “All I keep thinking about is college applications and grades and scholarships and my sister coming home next week, and I just want to scream.”
    “As long as you don’t scream at me, I’m cool with it,” Jess says. She reaches across the table and pulls one of Dar’s curls. “Come on. I think it’s time to re-caffeinate.”
    I have to pull Dar to her feet, but we follow Jess into the kitchen, where she pulls three cans of diet soda out of a carton in the fridge. “I think I want a smoke, too,” she says once she’s cracked her can with a fizzy pop.
    We troop outside through the kitchen door, and the dry brown grass is brittle underfoot. “Coats would have been smart,” Dar says as we huddle together on the splintered wood bench behind the garage.
    “Don’t be a wuss.” Jess reaches under the bench, where her pack of Marlboro Lights is stashed. When she lights up, she exhales a stream directly at Dar, who sticks out her tongue.
    “I still need to get Gabriel something for Christmas,” I say, scuffing the toe of my boot in the dirt. “I’m drawing a total blank.”
    It’s really the least of my problems, when I factor in my trigonometry exam, which I am in danger of failing, Robin’s continuing sulk, and whatever the hell happened between Gabriel and me last night, but it doesn’t seem like it. I want to give him something awesome, something special, and I don’t have any idea what that could be.
    “A book?” Dar suggests, sticking her hands between her thighs, and huddling closer to me. It can’t be more than thirty out here, and the air smells like snow, thick and damp.
    I roll my eyes. “He works in a bookstore.”
    “How about a watch?” Jess asks, blowing a bluish stream of smoke in the opposite direction.
    Dar and I exchange a look.