Read Online Forbidden by Syrie James, Ryan M. James - Free Book Online Page A

and the kind look in his eyes—which she hoped implied that he wasn’t angry with her anymore, if he ever had been—unleashed the tears that Claire had been holding back. “I worked really hard on that paper,” she said brokenly as she and Alec moved down the path. “It wasn’t Shakespeare, but it didn’t deserve a D.”
    “A lot of kids got Ds. The guy behind me got an F.”
    “Really? What did you get?”
    Alec looked self-conscious. He silently formed an “A” with his fingers.
    His admission cheered her somehow. “You must be the only human being alive who’s embarrassed about getting an A.”
    “I just feel bad.” He shrugged. “Mr. Patterson seems to think he has to humiliate students to get results.”
    “Ds are so confusing. It’s like you didn’t pass, but you didn’t fail, either.” Claire wiped tears from her cheeks and took a deep breath. “Please don’t think I’m crying because I’m some übernerd who needs to get As on everything to feel validated. It’s because of my scholarship. It requires a 3.8 GPA.”
    “3.8? Wow. That must be difficult to maintain.”
    “You have no idea. I have to work my ass off. I’m not a genius like you.”
    “I’m not a genius,” he protested.
    “It’s not open for debate. I’ve heard you in class. Calculus, English, history, whatever. You always know the answers to everything. You speak Spanish better than Señora Guiterez.”
    He blushed. “Maybe I … should’ve taken a different language.”
    “You think?” Claire teased. They’d reached their locker now. As Alec dialed the combination, she continued, “Anyway, all the hard work is worth it. I love it here. I’d do anything to stay at Emerson. That’s why I basically have no life. Well, that and the fact that my mom is an overprotective worrywart who watches over my every move.”
    “That doesn’t sound so bad.”
    “What? That my mom never lets me go anywhere?”
    He opened his mouth to reply, but just then Brian and Erica descended on them.
    “Whassup, peoplez?” Brian crowed. “Anybody hungry?”
    “You’d better be,” Erica chimed in. “It’s Friday! I’m taking us all to Venice Beach for empanadas, maintenant . That’s French for now , in case you were wondering.”
    “Neil’s coming with us,” Brian added. “He’s waiting down by the circle.”
    Claire saw Alec’s smile fade at the mention of Neil’s name, but he didn’t comment.
    “Have you ever had an empanada?” Claire asked Alec, as they finished retrieving their books and headed toward the library stairwell.
    “Are we always going to play the ‘Has Alec Eaten This?’ game?” he asked quietly.
    Claire worried that she’d offended him, until she saw a good-natured smile tug at his lips. “I’m just curious. I mean, after the pizza thing—I’ve never met anyone before who hadn’t—”
    “Let’s put it this way,” Alec interjected. “If it’s fried, fattening, caffeinated, alcoholic, or high in sugar content, it’s safe to assume that I rarely eat it—or have never tried it.”
    Claire stared at him. “Why?”
    “Are your parents fitness freaks, or do they just hate you?” Erica said.
    Alec stiffened visibly. “They just followed a healthy lifestyle, which I continue to embrace. But they … died when I was young.”
    Erica went red in the face. A silence fell.
    “Way to go, Erica,” Brian said, clapping. “That was awkward.”
    “I’m sorry.” Claire felt terrible.
    “Me too.” Erica looked at her feet.
    “Thanks, but … don’t worry about it. It’s okay.”
    Now Claire understood Alec’s earlier comment about her mom. No wonder he’s often so quiet and moody , she thought, her heart going out to him. It was bad enough to grow up without a father. But to have no parents at all? That was too awful to contemplate. She’d assumed Alec had moved here with his parents because of a job transfer or something. Who does he live with? she wondered. A grandparent? An aunt or