Read Online Steering the Stars by Autumn Doughton, Erica Cope - Free Book Online Page B

foreign country and she was already making friends. I had lived in the same place all my life and I was eating lunch alone. How did that make any sense?
           “But, seriously, enough about me. Other than the horrible theater class, how is your day going?”
           I looked around the commons area. “Oh, you know… it’s going.” I took a deep breath. “Actually, I’m at lunch right now and I’m eating al—”
           “Crap!” Hannah cut me off roughly. I heard muffled laughter and voices I didn’t recognize.
           “Hannah?” I called. “Are you still there?”
           “Hey, sorry about that,” she said, coming back onto the line. “I’m babysitting and the girls were asking me to come downstairs with them. So what were you saying, Care?”
    I struggled to keep my voice even. “No. You go deal with your nieces, I have to get going anyway.”
           “You sure you’re okay?”
            “Of course.”
           “All right, then.” She hesitated. “We’ll talk soon?
           “Yes, definitely!”
           “Okay—bye!”
           I kept the phone up to my ear even after she’d hung up. It was weird. After talking to her, I felt a mixture of better and worse. Better because she always made me smile. Worse because talking to her on the phone made her absence even more pronounced.
           It certainly sounded like she was having a much easier time with our separation than I was. I mean…she was in a different country participating in extracurricular activities and making friends with new people. God, the only people I had talked to today were Henry and Miles.  
           Feeling depressed about my downward spiral into loserdom, I absently took a bite of my hamburger. Ketchup squirted out the side of the bun and a red glob of the stuff landed on my jeans. I dropped my phone and reached for a napkin and that’s when I noticed that the commons area was already buzzing with people returning from lunch. Crapolla. I quickly checked the time and realized that I had two minutes to get to my next class. I wiped the ketchup from my jeans and shoved my phone into my bag  before leaping up with my tray. I turned around and slammed into something solid. The rest of my lunch spilled all over the front of my shirt.
           “Arrgghh!” I shrieked.
           “In a hurry?”
            I knew that voice.
           “French fries look good on you,” Henry said, smiling at me.
            “Oh that—I, uh… I was chatting with Hannah and I guess I lost track of time,” I stammered, swinging my bag with one arm onto my back. I wanted to get away from here and try to forget this whole mortifying encounter had ever happened. Scratch that. I wanted to forget this entire day had happened.
           “Wait, Caroline!”
           I turned back to Henry. “Huh?”
           “You—uh—got something right there.” He pointed to a spot on his chin and I remembered the ketchup.
           “Oh my God.” I used my hand to wipe it off. Gross. A stop to the restroom was in order before class.
           “And...uh…right there…”  he said, waving his hand in front of my grease and ketchup splattered shirt.
          “Well, isn’t this just great? Agh! Worst day ever!” I used the handful of napkins to wipe off the excess mess but my shirt was still stained. My eyes burned and my face flamed cherry red.
           “Here,” he said, lifting his sweatshirt over his head and handing it to me. “Wear this.”
           “I’ll get gunk all over it,” I said, backing up.
           “It’ll wash.”
            “Are you sure?”
           “Care, just put it on.”
           “Thanks.” I pulled his sweatshirt on over my dirty shirt. It was soft and fleecy on the inside and it smelled like him. It took some major willpower but I managed to refrain from