Read Online If I Tell by Janet Gurtler - Free Book Online Page A

asked.
    He lifted a shoulder. He didn’t look proud or sorry. Accepting maybe. “Some rumors are true, I guess.”
    “I guess.” I slammed the door behind me and wanted to climb back inside his car almost immediately. Mistakes seemed easier to forgive in there. I wondered if he was in danger of going back to juvie. I didn’t want him to leave.
    Instead of opening the car door to ask him or beg him to stop, I headed up the driveway. Back to real life.
    Where mistakes mattered.

chapter six
    Sitting up made my head feel like it might explode, so I rolled over and reached for the phone beside my bed. For the first time, I called in sick to work. At least it wasn’t another lie. Inhaling coffee fumes all day would have made me throw up
    I also couldn’t risk Nathan showing up at Grinds and giving me knowing looks. I’d rather die alone in my room than face him. I rolled over on top of a lump and grabbed it, pulling it out from under the covers. Jackson’s hoodie. Mortified at all the babbling I’d done with him, I nonetheless sniffed the hoodie, hugged it, and lay back down, falling back to sleep with my arms around it.
    “Jasmine. You can’t sleep all day. It’s way past noon.” Grandma poked her head in my room, but she didn’t come inside. Her voice woke me from a sleepless dream. It could have been hours or minutes later.
    “Flu,” I croaked and made a pitiful face. I peeked at the clock beside my bed. It was almost two.
    Grandma lifted her nose and sniffed the air. “Flu, my butt,” she said in a most un-old-lady-like way. “Get up.” She closed the door quietly behind her.
    I groaned, not wanting to wake up and face myself and what I’d done the night before. I stared at the posters on my wall. Johnny Cash. Janis Joplin. Neil Diamond. They all stared down at me as if asking the same question.
    What would Neil do?
    Well, for sure he wouldn’t have gotten into such a mess, making out with Nathan and needing to be rescued shoeless by Jackson.
    I closed my eyes and tried thinking about the song lyrics I’d been working on for the past few days. Usually writing songs in my head soothed me, but my brain hurt too much to concentrate.
    Outside my room I heard the landline ring, and a few minutes later the door opened.
    “Your mom called,” Grandma said, stepping through the doorway. “She told me she’s been asking you out for dinner with Simon, and you keep making excuses.” She crossed her arms, pulling her rose cardigan around her tiny body. “I told her you’d meet her and Simon tonight. You’re meeting her at Pasta de Resistance at five.” Grandma leaned against the door. “Get out of bed.”
    I lay back. “I don’t want to go for dinner. I feel terrible.” I lifted my arm and draped it across my eyes.
    “Too bad.” I didn’t hear her budge from the doorway.
    I moved my arm away to glare at her. “Fine. I’m getting up.” My voice made me sound like an angry little kid, and I covered my face with my arm again.
    Grandma clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth. “Lacey also called. She’s got your backpack. She wanted to make sure you made it home okay, which I assured her you did. Now get up and shower before I change my mind and ground you.”
    “Okay, okay. I’ll go, I’ll go.” I sat up slowly, holding on to my head. I glanced at Grandma. “Headache,” I said.
    Usually she preferred old-fashioned cheek turning. She’d rather put on a pot of tea and talk about the weather than deal with stuff like this. Her lips disappeared into a straight line, but it had always been Grandpa’s job to talk to me about serious stuff.
    “You were drinking last night,” she said. Great. Suddenly she wanted confrontation instead of tea. Perfect timing.
    “Um.” I looked her in the eye. “I only drank a little.” The lie rolled off my tongue as if I’d been lying to her for years. I remembered being a kid and thinking she could read my mind. Except about the pool. She hadn’t read my