Trouble by Taylor Jamie Beckett Read Free Book Online Page B

rude but it came as a blunt question. The situation
was made worse by Carly Rae’s song Call Me Maybe booming loudly in
the confined space. In his own brave way, Byron had stood up to the
biggest bully in school and had provided Natalie with a face saving
solution for leaving him. He suspected that by humiliating himself,
he had also humiliated Russ and this was done out of his deep love
for Natalie. What he was not sure about was whether this love was
brotherly or romantic or a mixture of both. He was going to find
out soon enough!
    He could
feel Byron’s anger as he looked at him sharply.
    Carly Rae
oblivious to what was going on sang about ripped jeans, skin
showing and the hot night. It seemed to echo the incident the
previous afternoon with Quentin and Natalie. Matt’s choice of song
further antagonized Byron. He thought Matt had played it to show
his inner feelings.
    “ You strike me as another frisky guy with a fast car and I bet
a faster motorbike. I just hope you don’t hurt her.”
    Carly
Rae’s voice came clearly about ‘just meeting you and this is crazy
but here’s my number.’
    “ You love her too?” Immediately he regretted that howler of a
response. He should really think before he spoke, he thought
wistfully to himself.
    Carly Rae
continued about ‘all the other boys chasing her but here’s my
number.’
    Byron
slammed the door and came to his side. He could barely control his
anger. He was staring down at Matt. “Yes I love her. Is that a
problem for you?” Before Matt could answer he added.”If you don’t
like the sound of that, come out and we’ll settle it right
now.”
    Matt had
the presence of mind to realize that the song was adding fuel to
the situation and shut it off. “Look whatever my faults I’m not
frisky. I didn’t mean to sound the way I did. You popped the
question so suddenly that I said the first thing that came into my
mind. If I’m camping on your territory, let me know and I’ll move
on.” He felt he had given a speech.
    Byron
relaxed considerably.
    “ Okay,” he said almost absentmindedly. He was in a quandary but
Natalie had obviously agreed to see Matt and being a true
gentleman, it was not in Byron’s nature to argue with her. He had
an almost obsessive kind of love and Natalie was not sure if she
could handle it at this delicate moment in her life with her dad
leaving them abruptly. She wanted some breathing space and Matt
suspected that was the reason she had agreed to their friendship.
Byron did not like this arrangement at all. He was perceptive
enough to realize that Matt loved Natalie and would do everything
in his power to retain their friendship. Oh the trials of being
sophomores, Matt groaned.
    Can we
shake on this one?” Matt said as he extended his hand.
    “ I think we’ll keep this one open for the time being,” Byron
said forcing a smile.

     

Chapter 12: The Moment of Truth
    They were
leaving for Griffin Observatory in the 6th period and were all
expected to appear very promptly at the planetarium by 2.00pm.
Natalie and Byron went in Matt’s sports car. The Observatory was on
the south side of Mount Hollywood with a breathtaking view of the
greater LA city area.
    Their
lecture was held in the Oschin Planetarium Theater and was on the
theme Centered in the Universe. The presenter also talked and
demonstrated supernovas. These were exploding stars. They were
intrigued to see and to be told that some stars seemed to go
through tantrums like in soap operas. They seemed to fake their own
deaths. These were oddball sort of stars that were born out of the
merger of other stars, They ran on nuclear fusion and when they ran
out of fuel their core collapsed and they exploded making up new
cosmic bodies. The presenter showed a stellar merger image showing
that large stars brushed against each other. Although they appeared
to die, they didn’t and merely became much larger stars.
    For some
strange reason Byron thought that these stars resembled them