Read Online Tears of the Broken by A.M Hudson - Free Book Online

you.”
    My
hand flew to my forehead to hide the humiliation. “Oh no, it’s the
touch-my-daughter-and-you-die speech.” I want to melt—hide under my
desk and slink away.
    Emily sighed and rolled her head to the side. “They’re both
so gorgeous.”
    Ew,
creepy. Speaking of creepy… “I hope Dad doesn’t give David the
creeps. I only just met the poor guy.” And I’ve already scared him
off with my ogling eyes and long, slow sighing.
    “ Nah, he’s just telling him to keep his hands off his
daughter. Can you blame him?”
    David grinned at me, further proving my suspicions that Dad’s
currently humiliating me.
    “ Okay?” Dad patted David on the shoulder.
    David nodded politely. “I had no intentions of that, Mr.
Thompson.”
    Just
hide me now. I really hope I don’t receive the tail end of that
lecture. Dad sat back at his desk and I chose the opportune moment,
as he reached for something on the floor, to slink quietly
past—sinking my neck into my shoulders. Emily shamelessly stopped
in front of the desk just to tell Dad how great his lecture was
today. Never mind that she wasn’t even listening. I really like
Emily.
    “ Hi,
David,” I said. He just smiled and took my bag for me as we walked
into the corridor. “David, I’m so sorry. What was my dad saying to
you?”
    He
laughed to himself. “You know, it’s okay, Ara. If I was your
father, and I saw some punk kid look at you the way I’m sure I was,
I would’ve said a lot worse.”
    We
stopped walking, and I groaned, slamming my back against a row of
lockers as I tried to rub the ache of mortification from my
temples.
    “ Of
course,” David continued after a short breath, “if I’d known he was
your dad, I might’ve thought twice about—”
    “ About hanging out with me.” I dropped my hands to my sides
and huffed. “I’m sorry. I should’ve told you.” And so, I lose my
first friend. I’m in no way offended, though. I knew that going to
the same school as my dad was going to have its pitfalls. I’ve
accepted that. I expected people to decline from being my friend
when they found out.
    “ No—” He stepped closer to me, shaking his
head. “No, Ara, I would have thought twice about staring at you
that way—in front of him.” His words softened on the end.
    “ Oh.
Okay. Well, uh, I’m sorry I didn’t mention it to you
earlier.”
    “ Well, a heads-up would’ve been nice,” he said.
    “ Touché.” I smiled, surprised he remembered me saying that in
music class.
    “ So?” We both said at the same time and then
laughed.
    “ You
go.”
    “ No,
ladies first.” He bowed his head.
    “ Um, about before—” This is going to be
difficult. I’ve given away too much about my feelings for David,
and I have to make him feel comfortable with me again—I have to let
him off the hook. “You—um, I think, well, uh. Hm—” Wow, this guy
has single-handedly disarmed my natural articulation. I think what
I should say is me no speak good no
more .
    David sighed and waved his hand up. “Okay, stop
there.”
    I
snapped my mouth shut.
    “ What I said before about dating?” He
paused. His eyes lowered and his lips pressed together as he let a
breath out through his nose. “It was a mistake. I’m so used to
having to give that speech, but I didn’t mean it for you . I was just
illustrating how I don’t—I mean—I’m just not that kinda guy.”
David’s fists clenched beside him. “I have to really like a girl
before I’ll walk her around the school for the day. So, what I was
trying to say is that—” He looked directly into my eyes, and all
the students in the hall seemed to disappear, “You’re not just any
girl, Ara, I—” he swallowed, “I… like you.”
    Uh?
What? He likes me? My lungs went tight, like a softball just got
lodged in my chest. Surely this is some kind of cruel prank they
play on the new kids—well, another cruel prank, aside from the
throwing-you-to-the-wolves one in music class.
    David