Read Online Between These Lines (A Young Adult Novel) by Jennifer Murgia - Free Book Online Page A

impenetrable.
    Not
that I wanted to talk to her.
    After
driving home from Evie’s last night, I was wired, unable to sleep, so I tried
to focus on the paper, which ended up making me think of her anyway, so that
was pretty pointless. I had gone ahead and made a new timeline using the
outline I already had, even though she’d said she was going to do it for us.
    I
couldn’t shake the feeling that Evie had gotten preoccupied last night with
Shane, and I hoped he didn’t give her a hard time for going to the library with
me. My blood boiled at the very thought of him. As if it weren’t enough seeing
his name on that stupid paper, he had to show up just as I walked her to the
door.
    I
took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I had to remind myself this was just
a project and to keep my feelings guarded.
    But
I couldn’t.
    And
to make things worse, Shane was Evie’s boyfriend. That was the reality of the
situation.
    It
was a project, nothing more. So she asked me to sit by her at lunch, so what?
That didn’t mean anything. So I happened to blurt out what happened to my
parents in the car, feeling there was something in that moment, in that
instant, to make me say what I did; to trust her.
    So
what? Did it make her more significant to me than she was two days ago?
    Probably
not to her.
    I
forced myself to see that as I stared over at her locker.
    The
timeline I held felt like a ton in my grip. Who was I kidding? I wasn’t
lingering around just to give her our homework. I was wasting time here so I
could see her face—so I could look into her eyes and know that
something happened between us last night.
    And
I realized how idiotic that really was.
    I
slipped the paper into my backpack, pushed myself away from the wall and headed
for homeroom. Tara was already a few yards ahead of me, her plaid skirt
swinging behind her as she slowed down in front of the girls’ lavatory. My
heart stammered as Evie emerged from the bathroom, and then, she looked over,
as if she knew I’d be right there, watching. Her hair hung in soft waves across
of her face. She gave a little smile then turned to keep up with Tara’s quick
steps down the hall.
    It
didn’t matter that she didn’t wait for me. Everyone would have stopped and
stared—and then Shane’s friends, Alex and Max, were in front of me, blocking
me from continuing on to class.   
    “Chase,
Chase, Chase . . . just the guy we wanted to see this morning,” Max chimed. He
made no attempt to move out of my way.
    “Really?
I’m so honored.”
    Alex’s
arm pushed down on my neck, using the added weight of my backpack to make it
incredibly uncomfortable. “Shane wants to talk to you,” Max whispered in my
ear.
    I
looked past Alex’s arm to see Shane and Jake against the wall, as if nothing
out of the ordinary was happening, other than Shane’s cold, blue eyes boring a
hole into my face.
    “Productive
trip to the library last night?” he asked.
    I
didn’t answer him.  
    “I
bet it was,” he answered for me, and held the bathroom open. He motioned for me
to step inside while Jake stayed behind to keep watch.
    I
stepped into the empty white and gray tiled room as the door shut heavily
behind us. Shane stepped over to the sink then turned around to lean his
backside against it. He stared at me for a few moments, probably enjoying the
fact that my mind was swiftly whirling inside to figure out what he wanted.
    “Was
it good enough to mess up my girlfriend’s face?”
    I
stared back at him. “What’s wrong with Evie’s face?”
    Frantically,
my mind played back this morning: Evie not at her locker, coming out of the
bathroom, the way her hair hung over her face.
    I
flung my backpack off my shoulders and onto the floor. “What are you saying?
That I hurt her? I would never do anything like that.”
    “Wouldn’t
you?” he threw back at me and eyed my defensive attitude with a sense of
enjoyment. His light eyes held a dark fury behind them at the discomfort he
roused