Read Online Now You See Her by Jacquelyn Mitchard - Free Book Online Page B

walk me home because he was an SA. Brook said that was okay. An SA was a Senior Achiever, one of the older students who could go anywhere they wanted, even at night, and who were the escorts for younger students who couldn’t. So I guess Brook felt fine about leaving us alone, because of that. And the back door would be closer to the dorms.
    Brook said, “No funny stuff.” Logan laughed like they were both adults. “Turn out the lights. The main switch is right by the stage door.”
    Then he put on his coat and picked up his clipboard and left. I heard the door lock, and then I heard the
    outside glass door swish.
    I put on my coat. Logan didn’t put on his coat, though. I put on my leather gloves. Logan just watched me, with those huge green eyes, like lakes or moons. He was sitting on a metal stool in the middle of the stage. I flipped my hair out of the collar of my coat. Logan said, “Did you ever cut your hair?”
    I said, “Just the ends.”
    He said, “You have the most beautiful hair I have ever seen.”
    I sort of blushed. I said, “Thank you.”
    Logan asked me, “Do you really want to go back to the dorms?”
    I said, kind of desperately, “Of course I don’t! But everyone knows tryouts are over, and my dorm advisor will kill me.”
    He said, “Just let me take care of your dorm advisor.” Then he said, “You know how I feel about you, Hope.”
    I said, “I feel the same way. But what are we going to do about it? We’re here, and everyone knows who you are. And I’m just this kid from Bellamy, Illinois. . . .”
    “Not really,” he said. “You’re the real thing, Hope. Most of these girls will never make it after they leave here. But let’s forget about acting right now, and concen- trate on us.”
    My heart was so loud, I was sure if you pulled up my
    shirt you could see the outline of it under my skin, pounding. I started to walk toward the wings, like I really was going to leave. If he didn’t do something fast, I was going to completely lose it. The emotions between us were like the fake fog they use in the theater for scary stuff. It’s really just dry ice. But it was like it was rising and rising and it was going to cover us both up. I said, “Logan, don’t do anything you can’t take back. I’m really like Juliet. I’ve never loved anyone but you.”
    Then Logan said, “But halt. . . ,” and he took me by the hand and led me into the wings. Then he lowered me down on my back on a pile of the old curtains that had just been taken down and left on the stage. He unbuttoned my coat and sweater as gently as he could.
    And that was when we did it, for the first time.
    People say your first time is always awful, but mine was totally natural and it was totally exciting. I had never even kissed a boy. I never wanted to. They were all so gross, sweating and farting and sickening when they ate. And I was already so charged up from getting the part that every inch of my skin felt like it had a separate can- dle burning under it, so when he reached up and slipped off my bra, I didn’t even think to stop him. We were like one person, and it didn’t even hurt, the way other girls said it did. It was like we were two beautiful spirits who had our own world all to ourselves, and I knew this
    would be the only time I would feel this way or he would feel this way. I don’t know if it took minutes or, like, hours. You don’t think of time when you’re with someone you love. It’s just like you want to study every part of that person’s face and hands and his chest and everything. He looked like some magazine ad for Dolce
    & Gabbana, like if it weren’t dark, he would be sun- tanned, posing on the deck of a ship. And I would be there too, just as beautiful, his perfect match. I loved Logan. I totally, completely loved Logan, and when I let him make love to me, I knew it was something we didn’t even need words for. And I totally trusted that he would never tell anyone. He would protect me,