Read Online Heroes 'Til Curfew (Talent Chronicles #2) by Susan Bischoff - Free Book Online

He wouldn’t want to chance running into Marco and his
friends in the caf’ today. And maybe he knew me well enough to know
I wouldn’t really want to be alone, after the news about that Kevin
kid. Just because I always was, just because I was used to being
alone, didn’t mean I really liked it that way. Did he know
that?
    I flopped down beside him on the landing and
dug our lunch out of my bag. More likely he’s just following his
stomach. Since Dylan had his big friend break-up with Marco and
was occasionally avoiding the cafeteria scene up here with me, I’d
started packing more food. I felt weird about it, because bringing
his lunch seemed kinda girlfriend-y and I didn’t want to
seem…whatever. But the boy had to eat, didn’t he?
    “What have we got today?”
    “Turkey and Swiss on wheat, mayo for you,
hold the tomato, and some spinach.”
    “So I can grow up big and strong?”
    I didn’t know how to answer that one. I kinda had the feeling Dylan was a little…put off, maybe, by
the fact that my brain could bench press more than he could. It was
on my long list of Why Dylan Isn’t Into Me . “No whining,
just eat it.”
    “Yes ma’am. And for you,” he pulled a soda
can out of each pocket, “diet. I don’t know why you want to drink
that stuff.”
    “‘Just for the taste of it.’ It’s what my
mom sneaks into the house sometimes.”
    “So…” Dylan drew out the word and then took
a bite of his sandwich and chewed for a bit.
    Usually he sat across the landing from me,
leaning against the wall, with one of his legs spanning the
distance between us. Today he chose to sit next to me. Right next
to me, so even if I tried not to look at him, his arm brushed mine
every time he moved and our legs were almost touching. He would do that today, when I was all wound up about him all
over again.
    It was like this right after the big fight
with Marco. Right after he laid that kiss on me, it was all Dylan,
all the time in my head. Then when nothing really happened after
that, I kind of settled down…a little bit. That whole thing with
him riding to my rescue last night just got me worked up all over
again. I can be such a girl sometimes.
    So…what? I swear this was the longest
chew and swallow on record.
    “Did you want to talk about what happened
last night?”
    That was pretty open-ended. Was he trying to
tell me he wanted to know how it went down, or was he asking if I
had feelings I wanted to share? Let’s face it: I’ve never been real
good on the sharing. Doesn’t mean I don’t ever kinda long to talk
to someone, you know? It just means I don’t really know how.
    “Um, what part?”
    “Any part you want. Or no part, if you don’t
want to talk about it.”
    “Oh. Um…I don’t know.” OMG, why am I such
a loser? Because you’ve spent your entire school career avoiding
any kind of conversation?
    Dylan almost never asked me direct questions
or put me on the spot. Unlike Kat, who would constantly direct the
conversation my way, which I knew was her way of trying to include
my awkward self in her circle of friends, Dylan didn’t do that.
He’s the kind of guy who always wants to smooth things over and see
everyone getting along. He was really good at making people feel at
ease.
    It wasn’t his fault I’d had this stupid
crush on him forever, I was always nervous around him, and was a
total social misfit besides. If he wanted to hear about it, I
really wanted to talk to him. But what was I supposed to
say?
    “You said Marco didn’t seek you out just to
mess with you, so how did you guys run into each other?”
    So I told Dylan about walking home past
Dog-Eared and what I saw.
    “I know it was reckless to just go in there.
I didn’t know Marco was there yet, but still, I didn’t have enough
information to do what I did. It was really stupid.”
    “It wasn’t stupid. You saw something wrong
and you stood up. That’s cool. I hope you’ll call for backup before
you go after a bunch of