Seers by Kristine Bowe Read Free Book Online Page B

this fake loss pales in comparison to my real one. So I really don’t feel like watching them pity me.
    “We’re so sorry, Leesie,” Patrick offers.
    “Thank you.” I glance around the table at the concerned faces, hoping they feel as if they have looked appropriately concerned long enough and are ready to go back to being just plain curious. I stop at Luke’s. He’s frowning.
    “So who do you live with now?” His voice borders the line of casual interview and inquisition.
    “I live with my legal guardian, I guess until my eighteenth birthday.” Mostly true. I live above him. Alone.
    “Legal guardian? You have no parents?” Eri, who had until now remained silent, is wide-eyed and somewhere between shock and awe. I can understand her reaction, knowing what I do about her. She swims in the middle of the pool—at the shallow end is the safety net of her family’s love, and in the deep end is the imminent drowning she feels as they weigh their expectations on her shoulders.
    “Nope. No parents.” We lock eyes. She purses her lips, turns the corners down, and nods slightly as if to say,
Well, okay, then.
She says more in that nonverbal gesture than she could have aloud. She says she doesn’t know what to say, so she isn’t going to try. I like that. Besides, she doesn’t need to say anything. What is there to say?
    Around the table there is a tag team exhale as we all take a break from my heavy sharing. Daisy is the first to attempt to lighten the mood. “Hey, we’re all going to watch Patrick and his crew team annihilate the competition this afternoon. Want to come along?”
    “Sure. Sounds like fun. You’re all going?”
    “We’re
all
going,” Luke says with emphasis. I still can’t tell if he is interested in me because he is simply selective about who can join the group or because he wants to make sure I
don’t
join the group. I hate to break it to him, though: no matter how he feels about it … I’m in.

Chapter

    I have studio art with Eri after lunch, but we don’t walk there together. Luke hustles immediately after Eri and sets their quick pace. I’m behind, with Daisy and Patrick. Frances is already back in work mode and has moved off on her own. Daisy and Patrick chat about the arrangements for the afternoon. They’ll take two cars. Eri will drive Daisy and Luke in her car, and Frances and I will ride with Patrick in his. Someone will drop me off at my truck afterward. Obviously my goal is to be as close to Eri as I can get, but, because I cannot be obvious, I can’t attempt to change the car situation. Besides, getting close to her friends is a step closer to her at this point.
    There’s more to it than that, though. I want to get close to her for the success of my mission, of course. I am committed to my mission and to achieving my goal for myself and for Tobias. But what is it? Why does it already feel like more? I get attached to my mission subjects. Tobias is working with me on that. But it usually happens later as a result of spending so much time invested in someone’s life. Why, then, do I feel such a strong connection to her now? Not an attachment. A connection. Why does this mission already feel so different? As I weave through the halls, I make a mental note to address this creeping connection with Tobias, though I can imagine the lecture that will follow.
    Eri and I have eased into a comfortable arrangement in art. We usually chat for the first fifteen minutes of the period while we set up, and then we settle down to work. We comment on each other’s progress and artistic genius halfway through, and with ten minutes remaining, we help each other clean up. We’ve become easy partners. The conversations aren’t forced, and the silences aren’t awkward. It’s become my favorite part of the day, which used to be my lone commutes here and back in my truck.
    However, when I walk into art today, Eri is already getting to work.
    “Hey.” I put my books down and look over at