Read Online Ghost Program by Marion Desaulniers - Free Book Online Page A

you’d hired me to teach you math, not seduce you.”  I wasn’t sure in the dusky room, but I thought his cheeks were red.
       “I would’ve been surprised .  I thought you looked down on me, being two years older and all.  Don’t you have cooler people to hang out with?”
       “Not really, none of them are girls.  I sure couldn’t spoon with any of them.”
       “That’s true.”  I snickered.  “Unless you were into that sort of thing.”
       “So many girls in college are attractive bitches, so into themselves that I’d never....feel anything for them.”
       “But I was different.”
       “I hope so.”
       “You hope so?”
       He laughed.  “I know so.”
       “That’s what I thought.”  I touched his arm, and he wrapped his fingers around mine, then pulled away a minute later.  “But why me?”
       “I remember watching you,” he said.  “Your forehead scrunched up from reading a math equation.  You looked...so innocent.  Like a girl who never thought bad about anybody, who never thought she was better than anybody, who could never be anything but kind.” 
       “I got to get dressed,” I said.  “My clothes are soaked from my brief foray outside.  I’m sorry I don’t have anything for you to borrow.  Unless you’d like a lacy nightgown, I think I’ve got an extra.”
       “Oh,” he said.
       “A joke at your expense.”  I grinned.
       “I know.”
     
       I stood up and walked to my closet.  The room had darkened significantly in the last thirty minutes, and it was hard to find where I’d folded and put away my nightclothes, but I finally felt the familiar short sleeves of my purple nightgown and felt the plastic Girl Power logo printed upon it.  I held it in one hand and pulled my jacket and sweater off with the other.  I unsnapped my bra and dropped it to the floor as well, then pulled my purple nightie over the my head.  Brent watched me undress in the candlelight curiously, and I couldn’t tell if he smiled as strips of shadow covered his face, writhing, colorless serpents that contorted and changed position as the candle flames jumped around.  I kicked off my jeans and pushed them with my foot into the corner.
       “Do you like it?” I asked, spinning around in my dim sanctuary to show him my night clothes.
       “Very nice,” he said.
       “Do you need me to set the alarm?”
       “I’ve got one set on my phone.”
       “Geez, I’m not sure I’ll be able to sleep with the window rattling like that.”
       “It should calm down soon.”
     
       I pulled back the bed cover and climbed inside the sheets, then motioned for Brent to follow.  He removed his shoes and placed them beside the bed.  The house was silent except for the wind and rain beating against the window and roof.
       “I’ll blow the candles out,” said Brent.
       “Leave one on,” I said.
       “If you insist, but we’ll have to remember to blow it out before we fall asleep.”  He bent over the table and blew out two candles, then lay down on the bed with his outdoor clothes still on.
       I pulled the blanket over us.
       “It’s really too bad I couldn’t find you something of mine to wear,” I said.
       “You can give me what you have on now,” he replied.
     
       I pinched his side, and he wheezed.  His face was mostly shadow, but I heard him giggle.  He tickled my armpit, and I squealed.
       “I almost hate to leave in the morning,” he said.
       “The roads are going to be terrible.  Even if they work all night, no way they’ll get them all cleaned up.”  I lay my head on a pillow next to him.
       “I hate to leave you here alone,” he admitted.
       “I’m going to class tomorrow, too.”
       “Is it going to be okay?”
       “I thought about...about what you said about Casper.  I think I’m just going to turn it in for a grade.  I’m too afraid to use it again, you