Read Online My Sweetest Escape by Chelsea M. Cameron - Free Book Online Page A

there was
    anything else like music for having the
    ability to transport you to another place,
    even when you were sitting in a class full of
    strangers.
    Finally, the class was over and
    homework was assigned.
    I’d managed to get a seat in the back
    and had avoided making eye contact or
    speaking with anyone, so I called the first
    class a total win.
    I wasn’t so lucky for my second,
    American State and Local Government. It
    sounded like a total yawner of a class, but
    when I got into the room everyone was
    talking and laughing like it was a social
    gathering instead of a class. I sat in the
    back, closest to the door and with at least
    two seats in between me and anyone else,
    and I thought I was set until a girl rushed in
    and sat with one seat between us.
    “Am I late?” she said, not even looking
    at me and frantically searching through her
    bag. All I saw was a huge quantity of very
    blond, very curly hair that she had tried to
    shove into an elastic band without much
    success.
    I looked around, but there was no one
    else to respond to her, so it was up to me.
    “Um, there’s still a few minutes.” She
    was up to her elbows in her bag, and she
    finally emerged, holding a bag of Skittles. I
    opened and closed my mouth a few times
    as she ripped the bag open with her teeth
    and then held the bag in my direction.
    “Want some?” I finally looked at her
    face and then wished I hadn’t. One half was
    perfect white skin, and the other was
    mangled with what looked like a severe
    burn. “Do I have something on my face?”
    she said, her eyes getting wide as her hand
    flew to her face. “Oh, yeah, I do. Duh.”
    She dropped her hand and grinned at
    me. Somehow her eyes had remained
    unharmed, but the side of her mouth and
    the rest of her face going all the way to her
    ear were shiny and had a weird pattern on
    them. It extended down her neck, and
    though her arm was covered, I could see it
    on the back of her hand, as well.
    “So I’m going to tell you my name and
    also tell you that you can stare if you want.
    I’m Hannah, and it’s okay to stare.”
    She flicked some of her hair back, and I
    tried my best to look into her eyes, which
    were a deep brown, in contrast with her
    pale hair and skin.
    “Jos. I’m Jos,” I said, because what else
    was I going to do?
    “Nice to meet you. And if you choose to
    sit on the other side of the room next class,
    I won’t, like, hate you or anything. I’m a
    people repeller. It’s kind of my thing. For
    obvious reasons.” She giggled a little, and I
    turned to the front of the class, where an
    extremely tall woman in a charcoal skirt and
    jacket was writing things down on the
    numerous whiteboards. She looked like she
    just stepped out of a Senate meeting. When
    she was done writing what looked like half
    of a novel, she turned around and clapped
    her hands.
    Everyone shut up.
    “Okay, I see you all made it here for
    another week of mind-broadening.
    Congratulations on being sober enough to
    drag yourselves here.” Everyone else
    laughed, and I sort of joined in. She picked
    up a clipboard and read our names off. Of
    course, since my last name began with the
    first letter of the alphabet, I was the second
    person called.
    “Joscelyn Archer?”
    “Here,” I said, listening to my voice echo
    in the large room.
    She looked up from the clipboard and
    searched me out.
    “You’re new to us, yes? Transfer?”
    “Uh, yeah.” I could feel the blood
    rushing to my face and ears.
    “Do you go by Joscelyn, or is there a
    nickname you’d prefer?”
    “Um, Jos is fine.”
    She smiled, showing the most perfect
    set of probably real teeth I’d ever seen.
    “Jos. Lovely. Nice to have you with us.”
    She moved on to the next name, and I
    slumped down in my seat.
    “I hope you’re not going to do that all
    the time. She’ll call on you more if she
    knows how much you hate it,” Hannah
    whispered as someone else said, “here!”
    “Great. Just fantastic.”
    Hannah