Read Online Cloudburst by V.C. Andrews - Free Book Online Page B

wee-wee?” Lily Albert added, and everyone around us laughed. Everyone, that is, but me.
    â€œSometimes,” I told them, “it’s nice to talk to someone who’s not trying to upstage you all the time. You don’t have to guard every word you say or worry he’ll go making up stories about you afterward. Try it. You might like it.”
    Some of them actually did, and I laughed to myself, thinking how the other boys were wondering why Gary was suddenly so popular.
    I think Ryder felt comfortable with him as well, and when I went to lunch after instrumental class, I saw them sitting together at a table outside the cafeteria. I sat with my girlfriends and watched him out of the corner of my eye. Our lunch conversation had returned to more ordinary subjects such as soap opera stories, clothes, and makeup. Halfway through lunch, Jessica came out of the building. I had been wondering where she was. I could see the excitement in her face. She obviously had something to tell me.
    I deliberately stayed back when the warning bell sounded and everyone started back into the building.
    â€œWhere were you?” I asked her.
    â€œClaire found out about Summer,” she said, sotto voce.
    â€œYou heard about this just now?”
    â€œI called her. She told me to try reaching her about now.”
    â€œYou’re not supposed to have your cell phone on in school. You could have been suspended.”
    â€œI went into the bathroom. No one heard me.”
    â€œWhy risk it?”
    â€œAre you kidding?”
    â€œYes, I guess so. There should be a motto over the front entrance,” I said. “ ‘Gossip, the lifeblood of Pacifica.’ Let’s go in.”
    â€œDon’t you want to know what she found out?”
    I watched Ryder walk into the building with Gary and then looked at her. “Well, obviously if I don’t let you tell me, I’ll be responsible for the first human being to really burst from scandalous information. Go on.”
    â€œSummer was caught in the athletic storage room making love to her boyfriend, who happened to be a junior. She was to be quietly expelled, but the Garfields were given the option of just having her and Ryder transferred.”
    â€œWhy him, too?”
    â€œIsn’t it obvious? I figure he’s supposed to be keeping an eye on her. That explains the outburst in the parking lot yesterday about her going braless. Well?” she asked, as if she had climbed Mount Everest or something.
    I gave her my best stern glare. “If you spread this stuff around, you’ll make it really hard for both of them here,” I said. “And if one other person tells me this stuff, I’ll know you did.”
    â€œWhat are you so upset about? I thought you wanted to know.”
    â€œNever mind. You just remember what I said,” I warned, and started in ahead of her.
    When I was at my hall locker, I saw Ryder talking to his sister. She stood with her arms embracing her books and listened. Then, without speaking, she turned and walked away from him. He watched her a moment and headed in my direction. I deliberately walked a little slower, but he didn’t stop to walk with me. He passed me, but I heard him mumble, “Shouldn’t you be in your hive?”
    â€œVery funny!” I shouted after him.
    I glared at him across the aisle when I took my seat.
    â€œWhy are you so nasty?” I asked before Mr. Malamud began the class.
    â€œJust comes to me naturally, I guess,” he said.
    â€œMaybe we all need to be inoculated before we catch it,” I said.
    He looked at me wryly and then gave me a much warmer smile.
    I held my breath, expecting some sort of sarcastic comment to follow, but it didn’t come. He actually looked friendly for a few moments in English class. Throughout the day, I had noticed that aside from Gary, he rarely spoke to anyone. It wasn’t that the other boys had a lack of interest in him. I