Read Online Skater Boy by Mari Mancusi - Free Book Online Page B

dent in Dad’s bank account. It’s so sad to me that someone who actually wants to go to college may not end up going and here I am, not really even wanting to go (at least not to uber-expensive Harvard!) and being forced to by rich parents. Life is so not fair.
    â€œSo that’s my dream,” he says with a small shrug. “Your turn.”
    â€œI want to be a poet,” I say, deciding to go for broke. “But everyone thinks it’s stupid. My dad says I’m wasting my time. My friends think it’s completely geeky. But I can’t help it. I love poetry. When I’m writing, I can completely block out the world and I feel … I don’t know … alive, or something.”
    My voice cracks a little at that last bit. Great. Now I’m going to start crying. Which is so not me. In fact, I usually take pride in the fact that I’m not one of those overly dramatic, cry-at-the-drop-of-a-hat girls. And here I am, right in front of Sean, ready to start bawling like a baby.
    Lovely.
    â€œI know you can’t make a living being a poet,” I sniff, trying to compose myself. “And everyone thinks they’re a good poet, so maybe I suck. Maybe I’m the worst poet known to mankind and I’m just deluding myself into thinking I have some talent and—”
    Sean leans over and shuts me up with a kiss.

Chapter Nine
    Â 
    There’s like no buildup. No smoldering glance. No leaning in slowly and wondering which way to turn my face so we don’t bump noses. Just BAM! I’m locking lips with Sean.
    Holy crap.
    His lips are soft and taste like orange smoothie, and the chills they spark rocket through my body until I’m almost convinced I’ll start shooting fireworks from my fingers and toes. Which sure would be interesting …
    Sean pulls away a moment later, way too soon for my liking. “Sorry,” he says, and I can see he’s blushing. How adorable. “You just look so cute when you get all passionate. I couldn’t help myself.”
    He is the most wonderful boy ever. Possibly the most wonderful boy in the entire universe. I want to marry him and have his babies and grow old and hang out in matching rocking chairs on our front porch watching the young’uns and saying things like, “Back in our day, we didn’t behave like these whippersnappers.”
    Â Not that I’m going to admit that right now. Don’t want the boy to jump up and run from the room screaming.
    â€œIt’s okay,” I say shyly, staring down at my smoothie. “I kind of liked it.”
    â€œYeah? Cool,” he says, sounding a bit shy himself. He is so cute I cannot even stand it. “Wanna go dance some more?”
    Um, dance? No effing way. I don’t want to dance. I want to stay right here and make out with Sean until the sun rises over the horizon. And then continue until it sets and rises again. In fact, I’m pretty convinced if Sean were to kiss me nonstop for the next fifty years, I still wouldn’t have my fill of his scrumptious lips.
    â€œSure,” I say out loud. “Let’s go dance.”‘Cause like I said, I so don’t want to scare the guy off. I’ve got to play my cards right. Not be too easy. Keep him wanting me. Desiring me. At least that’s what I read in last month’s Cosmo .
    So we head back on the dance floor. It’s late, but I’m even more exuberant than before, the kiss having flooded me with energy. We dance and we laugh and we dance some more. I have no sense of time or place. Just the here and now. The being with Sean. The amazing Sean. Sigh.
    â€œTime to go!”
    It seems only minutes later, but has probably been hours when Starr interrupts me with the mandate of returning home before her dad wakes up and finds us gone. Reluctantly, Sean and I follow her and Eddie out of the warehouse. I’m shocked to see that the sun is already peeking over the trees.