Hidden Moon by K R Thompson Read Free Book Online

time I grabbed my books and shoved my feet into my sneakers. I opened the door. His hand was raised up in front of him, ready to knock. He grinned at me and pushed his hair out of his eyes.
    “Good morning,” I said, “Sorry you had to come all the way up to the door. I tried to catch you before you had to come this far.”
    “It’s okay. I’m a little early.” His eyes sparkled with unexplained humor.
    “Okay.” I watched him warily. “I’m ready if you are.”
    “I’m ready. I thought we might try something different today if you’re game.”
    “You tell me what it is first, and then I’ll tell you if I’m in or not.” I stopped walking and stood still. The last time he had badgered me into something, I ended up being a cheerleader. I still wasn’t happy about that.
    “Well, I know how you feel about driving,” he began. My mouth opened to protest, but he hurried on before I could speak, “It’s just that I know you’re going to need a way to get around, you know, to study with Adam a couple times a week. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind taking you anywhere you’d like to go. Actually quite the opposite, but I’m getting off track. What I’m trying to say is, if you had a vehicle you wouldn’t have to worry about me waiting for you. You could come home whenever you wanted to. Besides, what if your mom has the car and you need to go somewhere else? You never know what might happen. Anyway, I thought if you wanted, I could let you borrow the truck a few days a week. We could take turns driving to school. It would be good practice.” He stopped for breath and smiled.
    I chewed on my bottom lip. The offer was sweet and well-meant, but we were talking about an extra pedal and a gearshift. How was I supposed to keep both hands on the wheel? And what about coordination? I had to use both hands and both feet to drive this thing. Nope, I didn’t see that happening in the near future.
    I opened my mouth to say no thanks when I looked back into his hopeful face and said the opposite, “I’ll try.”
    “Great! You don’t have anything to worry about. I’m a great teacher and nothing bad will happen, I promise. Here let me take those,” he chattered as he took my books from me and walked over and opened the driver’s door.
    He jumped in the passenger side and handed me the keys. After a deep breath, I put them in the ignition got ready to start down the road to disaster.
    “Okay, put your left foot on the clutch and start her up. Good. Now put it in first and ease up on the clutch pedal,” he instructed.
    The truck lurched three times and tried to die before it started down the road. I made it up to the third gear before I had to stop at the stop sign at the end of the road. Then, I forgot to push the clutch in and the truck shuddered and died.
    “Don’t worry, you’re doing great. Just put it in neutral and start it back up,” Brian coaxed.
    I hoped he was going to say that was enough for one day, but it seemed he wasn’t going to let me off that easy. I ground my teeth together and started the truck up again. I was paying rapt attention to applying the clutch at every stop until we made it into the school’s parking lot. Then I saw Adam and I forgot everything.
    He was leaning against the front of his car with his arms folded across his chest again. He was watching me. All the other guys had already walked to the front of the school.
    “Okay, just pull in right there. Slow up a bit,” Brian said as he scoped out a parking place.
    I slowed down too much. The old truck coughed, shuddered, and died just as I pulled in. I set the parking brake, leaned my forehead against the steering wheel, and said a silent prayer of thanks.
    “You only killed it twice. That’s great for a first try.” Brian beamed a grin that stretched from one ear to the other.
    “I don’t think I can handle anymore today. You get to drive us back after school,” I groaned.
    “Not a problem,” he smiled.