Out of the Ashes by Valerie Sherrard Read Free Book Online Page B

know. I’m going to be pretty busy with family plans and stuff.”
    â€œAh, a full social calendar. You must be very much in demand. Perhaps I should call your secretary to make an appointment.”
    I smiled at that, feeling foolish. Greg wasn’t dumb enough to think I had no time for a movie over a whole two weeks off school.
    â€œI meant, it would depend on when you wanted to go,” I said, figuring I could always put him off when he tried to pin me down for a specific time.
    â€œThis may be a challenge, what with your full schedule and my shifts at work. But I think we can overcome these formidable obstacles. If we want to.” He had a look on his face that was both serious and teasing at the same time.
    Why did he have to talk like that? Formidable obstacles, for goodness’ sake! He sounded like some character in a book, not a normal teen having a normal conversation. I glanced around, hoping no one had heard.
    â€œYes, I suppose we could. If we want to.” I put the same emphasis on “if we want to” that he had when he’d said it. Maybe he’d take the hint.
    Across the room, Nick was laughing at something Jane had just said. I’d never found Jane to be much of a wit myself. He was probably being polite.
    â€œYou know, Shelby, nothing makes a girl more attractive to a guy than the fact that another guy is interested in her.”
    â€œHuh?” I thought I must have missed something between the last thing we were saying and this remark. It seemed to come out of nowhere.
    â€œFor example, let’s just say hypothetically that there was a couple sitting here in the lunchroom and that the female half of the couple was rather taken with someone else. So she’s half listening to the fellow at her table, but following every move made by the other guy, who, for example, could be sitting across the room with another girl.”
    I felt myself getting red. He hadn’t missed my glances at Nick, which I thought were pretty well hidden.
    â€œForget for the moment whether the other guy is suited to this young lady, or whether her affection for him is a shocking display of bad taste. Ignoring the fact that he is all wrong for her, let us say that her heart is firmly set on him.”
    â€œThis is ridiculous.” “Is it?
    But Shelby, we are only speaking hypothetically, remember?”
    â€œThen get to your hypothetical point. You’re starting to aggravate me.”
    â€œExcellent. I’d begun to think myself incapable of evoking any emotion from you whatsoever. But I digress. Returning to our situation, let us examine what the best course of action would be for our heroine toobtain the affections of the undeserving cad who has mysteriously captured her heart.”
    I have to admit I was starting to enjoy the way he was talking. It was different and fun and interesting to listen to the way he said things.
    â€œThis delightful young woman, who so foolishly desires the wrong fellow, has but one chance of securing his interest.”
    â€œAnd what would that be?”
    â€œWhy, she must be sought after, longed for, by another. This will make her more desirable to the unworthy fellow she imagines herself smitten with.”
    â€œAnd how does she manage this?”
    â€œWhy, by seeming to accept the attentions of the fellow at her side. By showing interest in him, even if she is only playing at it.”
    â€œAnd what advantage is that to him, since she’s not really interested in him at all?” This may have been a bit cruel, but he’d said enough embarrassing things about me that it seemed only fair for me to take a shot back at him.
    â€œHis advantage is that he then has the chance, however slim, to open her eyes.”
    â€œMeaning what?”
    â€œThat perhaps, just perhaps, she will realize that he is the right one for her after all.”
    â€œAnd if that doesn’t happen?”
    â€œThen they must both pay