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

mind while I’m falling asleep tonight. I dropped my head into my
hands and scowled at the Bunsen burner—mocking me from its homely
little perch on the desk. Maybe I can stay in here for lunch—just
let David think I’ve gone home.
    “ Only three hours to go,” said the clock on the wall in an
arrogant, sarcastic tone.
    “ Thanks for the reassurance,” I replied, then looked around
the room. I hope no one heard that. Great. They say the first sign
of being crazy is talking to inanimate objects. And the second sign
is hearing them talk back. One more and I might start getting
chased by squirrels...because they like nuts.
    “ What’s wrong, Ara?” A velvety voice travelled into my
ears.
    There’s no need to look up, I know who it is. So you found
me? Figures. I knew I should’ve hidden under the desk. I fought the
urge to spin my face away from him. He’s so kind, even though he
thinks I just rejected him, he still comes to be my knight in
shining armour.
    David sat beside me and placed his bag on the ground. I kept
my eyes forward. “Is something on your mind, new girl?”
    “ I—I
didn’t get to finish what I was saying before.” I couldn’t look
directly at him.
    “ I’m
listening now.” He clasped his hands together on the table in front
of him.
    “ It’s just that…no one’s ever said anything
like that to me before. I don’t really know what to say.” I looked at him then.
It’s true. I just don’t know what to say. All of this is just too
much for me, for one day.
    He
breathed out through his nose quietly, and nodded. “Then,
don’t.”
    “ Don’t?”
    “ Yeah, don’t say anything—yet, okay? Just give it time, and
when you’re ready, I’ll be listening.”
    “ Okay.” I breathed out. Those girls were
right— way out of
my league. My stomach broke my train of thought with a loud, angry
rumble. David looked down at my belly, and I clasped my hands over
the noise. How embarrassing.
    “ Hungry?” He chuckled warmly.
    “ Uh,
yeah—just a little.”

Chapter Four
     
    Though the warm weather attracted most of the students
outside for lunch, David led me to a plastic table in the middle of
the large hall and sat beside me.
    “ This room is huge—nothing like the tiny window-in-the-wall
where we ordered food at my old school,” I said, watching students
slide trays along the metal railing of a buffet-style
cabinet.
    “ It’d be better if they hired enough staff to accommodate all
the students—” David added, “you’re usually lucky if you finish in
line before the bell sounds.”
    “ Today was okay, wasn’t it?”
    “ Yeah.” He covered his smile with a fist. “Today was quick,
but that’s only because half the football team is serving detention
in the kitchen.”
    “ Really? Why?”
    “ Something about ditching paper-cannons at a kid in History
class.” David picked up a corn chip and held it near his mouth.
“You planning to eat?”
    “ Oh,
um, yeah.” I straightened my tray and leaned my elbows on the
table. “So, what’s the deal here, anyway, like, social hierarchy?
I’m guessing they’re at the top.” I pointed to the group of
well-built jocks at the corner of the room—the ones that waved to
David as we walked in.
    “ The
guys having the fruit war?” He smiled as a piece of banana hit the
glass window then slid down into the pile of pulp on the floor.
“That’s the other half of the football team, and yeah,” he nodded,
looking away from them, “they’re pretty much the top of the food
chain. Fourth on the list would be these guys—” he waved at one of
the girls on the table in front of us. “They’re the kids from music
class. They pretty much hang out together. The lowest ranking would
be the boys behind you.” I turned to look at a group of weedy
looking kids—not particularly nerdy, but just lacking the same kind
of cool most the other kids here have. “They’re the chess geeks,”
David added.
    Well, the chessboard on the