Read Online Bright Purple: Color Me Confused with Bonus Content by Melody Carlson - Free Book Online Page B

tears.
    “What’s wrong, Ramie?”
    “Me. Life. Everything.”
    “Seriously, Ramie, what’s wrong? you sound really upset.”
    “I guess I am upset. Everything is such a mess.”
    “Are you home now?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Well, I was just getting ready to leave. you want me to stop by? Do you need to talk?”
    “Could you? I really do need to talk, Mitch. But I’m not sure if—”
    “I’m on my way. you got anything to eat there?”
    “I’ll look around,” I tell him. Then I hang up, dry my tears, put on some lip gloss and even brush my teeth. you never know. Then I go down to the kitchen in search of something to fix. It’s just a little after six, and Mom won’t be home for a while yet. Not that having Mitch here is a problem. I’m sure she wouldn’t care one way or another. Finally, I decide on tomato soup and grilled-cheese sandwiches. I hope Mitch isn’t picky.
    “Smells good in here,” he says as I let him inside.
    “Thanks.” Then I take his jacket and lead him into the kitchen.
    “I like your house,” he says as he looks at what I’ve concocted. “And that looks yummy!”
    So we sit down at the island and eat and before long he is asking me what’s wrong and why I was so upset.
    I set my half-eaten sandwich back on my plate. I really don’t feel very hungry anyway. Then I tell him I quit the team.
    “You what?” He stares at me with a creased brow.
    “I quit. Today.”
    “Why?”
    “Why?” I echo. “This is where the story gets complicated,” I tell him, looking down at my bowl of soup.
    “I can handle complicated,” he says as he dips his sandwich into his soup and takes a big bite. “Try me.”
    “I know,” I say. “Let’s make a deal. I’ll tell you a secret, if you tell me where you work.”
    “Hey, is this a trick?”
    I shake my head with a somber expression. “Trust me. My secret is pretty big. And I need some kind of reassurance that you won’t tell anyone.”
    “You really quit the team?” he says again.
    “Yeah. Coach Ackley was really ticked too.”
    “Can’t blame him.”
    “Okay. That leads me to believe that you have a
real
secret, Ramie. And so I will tell you where I work if you also promise not to tell anyone else.
Deal?”
He sticks out his hand to shake now. And we lock eyes and shake. “All right, you also need to promise not to laugh. Okay?”
    “Okay.”
    “I’m a computer geek.”
    “Huh?”
    “You know those guys you see on the commercial, who wear the geeky outfits and drive those funny little cars and go help people to figure out their computer problems? That’s my job. It’s what I do. I’m a computer geek. And I really don’t want anyone else to know about it. Okay?”
    I smile. “Okay. And, actually, I think that would be a cool job. In fact, now that I quit the team, I’m thinking about getting a job myself. I thought I might start earning enough money to buy a car.”
    “Wait, wait,” he says. “First I want to hear your big secret, Ramie. Then you can share all your future plans with me.”
    I take in a deep breath. “Okay. And I think it might feel good to get it out. It’s like I’m starting to feel like I’m going crazy, you know.The weird thing is that it’s not really my secret. But it’s something that someone told me. And, well, it’s just pretty disturbing and—”
    “Come on, Ramie. Just tell me.”
    “Jess is a lesbian.”
    He kind of blinks. “Really?”
    I nod. “She told me last Saturday, which oddly enough seems like about a year ago. I went into shock when she told me. I mean, seriously, my lip went numb and then I actually threw up.” For some reason I feel a need to make this clear to him. I do
not
want him making any assumptions like Ms. Fremont today.
    “Man, that’s gotta be tough, Ramie.”
    “It is. I mean, Jess used to be my best friend. And now, well, I can’t stand to be around her. She makes me sick, Mitch. And that makes me feel even worse. I got my locker changed today. And