Twilight by Meg Cabot Read Free Book Online Page A

I mean, who knows if maybe he really has come up with some new way to… to keep you and me apart? And now, with Father Dom gone for who knows how long, I… Well, don’t you think it might be better if you came back to my house for a while?”
    Jesse, even though he’d almost just had his hand up my shirt, didn’t like that idea at all. “So you can protect me from the nefarious Mr. Slater?” Was it my imagination or did he sound more amused than, er, aroused? “Thank you for the invitation, querida , but I can take care of myself.”
    “But if Paul finds out Father D. is gone, he might come after you. And if I’m not around to stop him—”
    “This may come as a surprise to you, Susannah,” Jesse said, lifting his head and placing my hand in my lap once more, “but I can handle Slater without your help.”
    Now he definitely sounded amused.
    “And now you’re going home,” he went on. “Good night, querida .”
    He kissed me one last time, a brief peck good-bye. I knew that any second he was going to disappear.
    But there was still something else I needed to know. Ordinarily, I’d have asked Father Dominic, but since he wasn’t around…
    “Wait,” I said. “Before you go… one last thing.”
    Jesse had already started to shimmer. “What, querida ?”
    “The fourth dimension,” I blurted out.
    He had begun to dematerialize, but now he looked solid again.
    “What about it?” he asked.
    “Um,” I said. I’m sure he thought I was just asking to keep him there for a few more precious seconds. And truthfully? I probably was. “What is it?”
    “Time,” Jesse said.
    “Time?” I echoed. “That’s it? Just… time?”
    “Yes,” Jesse said. “Time. Why do you ask? For school?”
    “Sure,” I said. “For school.”
    “The things they teach now,” he said, shaking his head.
    “Cat food,” I said, holding out the bag. “Don’t forget.”
    No wonder we can’t seem to make it past second base.
    He took the bag from me.
    “Good night, querida ,” he said.
    And then he was gone. The only sign that he’d been there at all were the badly fogged windows, steamed by our breath.
    Or rather, by my breath, since Jesse doesn’t have any.

Chapter

five
     
     

    Mr. Walden held up a stack of Scantron sheets and said, “Number-two pencils only, please.”
     
    Kelly Prescott’s hand immediately shot up into the air.
    “Mr. Walden, this is an outrage.” Kelly takes her role as president of the junior class extremely seriously… especially when it has to do with scheduling dances. And, apparently, aptitude testing. “We should have been given at least twenty-four hours’ notice that we’d be undergoing state testing today.”
    “Relax, Prescott.” Mr. Walden, our homeroom teacher and class advisor, began passing out the Scantron sheets. “They’re career aptitude tests, not academic. Your scores won’t show up on your permanent record. They’re to help you”—he picked up one of the test booklets lying on his desk and read from it aloud—“‘determine which careers are best suited to your particular skills and/or areas of interest and/or achievement.’ Got it? Just answer the questions.” Mr. Walden slapped a pile of answer sheets onto my desk for me to pass down my row. “You’ve got fifty minutes. And no talking.”
    “ ‘Which do you enjoy more, working while a) outdoors? or b) indoors?’” I heard my stepbrother Brad read aloud from across the room. “Hey, where’s c) heavily intoxicated?”
    “You loser,’” Kelly Prescott chortled.
    “‘Are you a ‘night person’ or a ‘day person’?” Adam McTavish looked mockly shocked. “This test is totally biased against narcoleptics.”
    “‘Do you work best a) alone or b) in a group?’” My best friend, CeeCee, could hardly seem to contain her disgust. “Oh my God, this is so stupid .”
    “What part of ‘no talking,’ ” Mr. Walden demanded, “do you people not understand?”
    But no one paid any