Read Online Don't Forget to Breathe by Cathrina Constantine - Free Book Online Page A

because Henry liked me more than just a friend. I went for it, “Becket Kane asked me to go for coffee after school today.”
    His face screwed up. “Kane? That quarterback dude?”
    “That’s the one.”
    “You’ve got to be joking?” Henry halted. His nose scrunched like he whiffed something foul.
    Guilt and anger roiled into my chest. “Why would I joke about it?” Students gaped at us as they stormed by.
    His head hung in dejection like he was walking to the gallows. “See ya…” He rounded the corner leaving me behind to feel— what ?
    An arm encircled my lower back. “Hey, Leo.” Nona gifted me with a bubbly smile. “Did you tell your father about your phone yet? I didn’t want to upset him with a late night call, and I was dying to talk to you.”
    “I wanted to talk to you too.” Forgetting about Henry, all guilt and anger dissolved. “You’re never going to believe what happened—”
    “Wait, girl—me first.” Nona shed a strict eye and I buttoned my lips. She glimpsed the crowded hallway, then summoned me to the side lockers. “I finagled some information from Reggie. And guess what he told me?” Riding up on her toes like an excited child. “C’mon, guess?”
    “Reggie revealed—” putting fingers to my temples like I was reading her mind— “that Becket asked him for my cell phone number, because , he was going to ask me to go for coffee after school today.”
    Her entire face knotted. “How’d you know that? Reggie gave Becket your cell number before picking me up for the movies last night. But then I explained to Reg that you lost your cell. Reggie texted Becket your house phone num…” Her eyes lit up. “He called you at home?”
    “Nope. He never called me.” I grinned, liking this game.
    A heedful pucker to her lips, she said, “So, you’re not going for coffee, and, he never called?”
    “We’re definitely going for coffee.” I snickered at her look of befuddlement and alleviated her musing. “Becket came to my house.”
    From befuddlement to surprise, she yelped, “ Really !”
    “Actually he came to my bedroom window.”
    “Tell me more, this is good stuff.”
    Nona wouldn’t be so psyched if she knew Henry had been clambering in my bedroom window. In her eyes, Becket was acceptable. “It was kind of awesome.” Depicting my late night visitor and my making him wait snub, Nona ate it up.
    “You are going to go?”
    “I’m still thinking about it.” I sounded sanctimonious.
    “Oh, you’ll go,” she said, certain, adding a positive nod. “You can’t pull the wool over these honey browns. I know you better than you know yourself, hun.”
    Her mothering splintered my smart-aleck bravado, turning somber. “I had another one of those dreams last night.” My best friend’s cheerful features faded.
    “I prayed you were over that hump.” She embraced me, patting my back. “Leo, I wish I could help. Maybe you need to see the psychiatrist again.”
    “Hell, no! Psychotherapy and the anti-depressants didn’t agree with me.” On the brink of tears, I countered, “You’re my psychiatrist.”
    After she pulled back, I played with a loose strand of hair. “Something changed this time. The dream didn’t end like it usually does.” I ran a finger under my nose. Don’t get emotional, keep your head together. “After I was grabbed from behind…I remember cutting into their arms with my fingernails trying to get away. And then…I thought I knew who it was.”
    Nona’s eyeballs popped out of their sockets. “Who…who was it?” she whispered.
    “I knew who it was in my dream. As soon my eyes opened, I forgot. It’s like I blacked it out all over again.”
    ***
    By lunchtime I was behind schedule and wondered if Becket had waited, or thought I stood him up. Turning the corner, I couldn’t miss him. Tall and imposing, his back leisurely fixed on the wall, a swarm of girls surrounded him. He’d been smiling at Marcy, the captain of the