Read Online Kiss of Broken Glass by Madeleine Kuderick - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Madeleine Kuderick
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sky
and lightning and how that probably means
I’m on some kind of evil path. Or maybe
she’s gonna key in on Rennie and the spiders
and say that means I’m caught in a web.
But Ding Dong doesn’t seem to care
about any of that. All she wants to know
is what the horse is doing.
The bucking.
The kicking.
The flailing.
The fury.
Ding Dong takes in all in, studying me with her dark eyes,
and I wait for her big dream interpretation to ramble out.
But in the end, she only has one thing to say:
“Seems to me, if you are that horse,
you’re tryin’ awfully hard to fight that fence.”
And that’s all I can think about for the rest of the night.
UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE
HarperCollins Publishers
..................................................................
Friday 8 a.m.
Donya’s packing up.
Her 72 hours were officially over last night
but her mom works second shift at a factory,
soldering circuit boards, and Donya says
the supervisor’s a real prick and wouldn’t
let her mom off. So she’s coming today instead.
I don’t ask Donya about her dad.
It feels weird.
How I know so many things about Donya,
but I don’t really know anything at all.
Like I know
that when Donya’s tense she grinds her teeth,
and that her hair color isn’t permanent
because she leaves purple streaks in the sink,
and that there really was a girl at Chicory’s
because Donya cries about it in her sleep.
I know all those inside-out, private little things.
But I don’t even know Donya’s last name
or where she lives, or goes to school,
or if that buzz-gone-wrong
was really something more.
And I still don’t know what to expect from her.
Not from one minute to the next.
Which is why I’m only half surprised
when she takes the silver stud out of her tongue.
“Going away present,” she says.
She can tell I’m trying to puzzle it out,
so she shakes her head and fills in the blanks.
“I told those idiots it was a fresh piercing.
That I had to keep it in for medical reasons.
But really, I just needed it in case of emergency.”
She unscrews the bottom of the barbell
and shows me the sharp point at the end.
“Anyway, it’s yours now.”
She drops the stud in my hand and
I curl my fingers around it fast.
When I hear footsteps in the hall
I slip it into my pocket, like instinct.
Bullhorn tells her it’s time to go,
and since Donya’s not the hugging kind
she gives me a quick wink and one last hooyah.
Then she’s gone.
UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE
HarperCollins Publishers
..................................................................
Jag Says He Doesn’t Have Much Choice
Military school.
The Florida Sheriff Youth Ranch.
A group home for troubled teens.
Or suck it up and do the family meeting.
We’re sitting in the TV room and I say how
it sucks to be fifteen because all our so-called
choices are like the consolation prizes on a
really lame game show.
Sorry you didn’t win the BRAND-NEW CAR!
But here’s a bag of corn chips
and a cheesy bumper sticker.
Jag’s lips curl into that sexy half smile
and I feel this global warming rise up
in my body all the way from that tickly
spot in my stomach to top of my head.
I get so nervous that I fumble my
notebook, and little wisps of paper
flutter to the ground.
Jag drops to one knee and I swear when
he picks them up it look like he’s holding
the five pointed petals of white fairy orchid.
And that’s when the universe
starts moving in slow motion.
Jag reaches across the invisible hula hoop
of space and he touches my arm. The one
that’s still laced with screaming red lines.
And suddenly I’m aware how ugly it is.
But before I can pull my arm back,
Jag leans down and plants his lips,
soft and tender,
right on my scars.
“You’re beautiful,” he says. “All of you.”
And then this planetary blackout happens.
Or maybe I just close my eyes.
All I know is that when I open
and lightning and how that probably means
I’m on some kind of evil path. Or maybe
she’s gonna key in on Rennie and the spiders
and say that means I’m caught in a web.
But Ding Dong doesn’t seem to care
about any of that. All she wants to know
is what the horse is doing.
The bucking.
The kicking.
The flailing.
The fury.
Ding Dong takes in all in, studying me with her dark eyes,
and I wait for her big dream interpretation to ramble out.
But in the end, she only has one thing to say:
“Seems to me, if you are that horse,
you’re tryin’ awfully hard to fight that fence.”
And that’s all I can think about for the rest of the night.
UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE
HarperCollins Publishers
..................................................................
Friday 8 a.m.
Donya’s packing up.
Her 72 hours were officially over last night
but her mom works second shift at a factory,
soldering circuit boards, and Donya says
the supervisor’s a real prick and wouldn’t
let her mom off. So she’s coming today instead.
I don’t ask Donya about her dad.
It feels weird.
How I know so many things about Donya,
but I don’t really know anything at all.
Like I know
that when Donya’s tense she grinds her teeth,
and that her hair color isn’t permanent
because she leaves purple streaks in the sink,
and that there really was a girl at Chicory’s
because Donya cries about it in her sleep.
I know all those inside-out, private little things.
But I don’t even know Donya’s last name
or where she lives, or goes to school,
or if that buzz-gone-wrong
was really something more.
And I still don’t know what to expect from her.
Not from one minute to the next.
Which is why I’m only half surprised
when she takes the silver stud out of her tongue.
“Going away present,” she says.
She can tell I’m trying to puzzle it out,
so she shakes her head and fills in the blanks.
“I told those idiots it was a fresh piercing.
That I had to keep it in for medical reasons.
But really, I just needed it in case of emergency.”
She unscrews the bottom of the barbell
and shows me the sharp point at the end.
“Anyway, it’s yours now.”
She drops the stud in my hand and
I curl my fingers around it fast.
When I hear footsteps in the hall
I slip it into my pocket, like instinct.
Bullhorn tells her it’s time to go,
and since Donya’s not the hugging kind
she gives me a quick wink and one last hooyah.
Then she’s gone.
UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE
HarperCollins Publishers
..................................................................
Jag Says He Doesn’t Have Much Choice
Military school.
The Florida Sheriff Youth Ranch.
A group home for troubled teens.
Or suck it up and do the family meeting.
We’re sitting in the TV room and I say how
it sucks to be fifteen because all our so-called
choices are like the consolation prizes on a
really lame game show.
Sorry you didn’t win the BRAND-NEW CAR!
But here’s a bag of corn chips
and a cheesy bumper sticker.
Jag’s lips curl into that sexy half smile
and I feel this global warming rise up
in my body all the way from that tickly
spot in my stomach to top of my head.
I get so nervous that I fumble my
notebook, and little wisps of paper
flutter to the ground.
Jag drops to one knee and I swear when
he picks them up it look like he’s holding
the five pointed petals of white fairy orchid.
And that’s when the universe
starts moving in slow motion.
Jag reaches across the invisible hula hoop
of space and he touches my arm. The one
that’s still laced with screaming red lines.
And suddenly I’m aware how ugly it is.
But before I can pull my arm back,
Jag leans down and plants his lips,
soft and tender,
right on my scars.
“You’re beautiful,” he says. “All of you.”
And then this planetary blackout happens.
Or maybe I just close my eyes.
All I know is that when I open
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