Read Online The Beast of Beauty by Valerie Johnston - Free Book Online Page B

getting
pretty tired.”
    “Sure,” she said, sitting down
the rabbit, “I’ll come back out here and finish it. I need some alone time to
think.”
    Once we were back inside, she
helped me prop my ankles up again so that I’d be able to go to sleep
comfortably.
    “Here are some more painkillers,”
she said. “We only have like ten left, so I’m only going to give you two at a
time until we run out.”
    “Alright, thank you,” I said.
    “No problem. Goodnight, Daniel.”
    “Goodnight, Violet.”
    She frowned and walked back out
to the fire.
    ***
    I walked down the hallway at
school toward the Math room and heard the conversations of my peers as I passed
them.
    “Did you hear what happened?”
    “Yeah, I feel so bad for her. I
don’t know what I would do if I lost my mom.”
    “Hey buddy,” Jasper said as he
approached me. “Can we talk for a second?”
    “Sure,” I said, unsure of what he
was going to say to me.
    “You can’t date Adeline anymore.
You’re committing a social suicide,” he said. “I know her mom just died, but
it’s not like it’s out of the blue; they’ve known that she’s been sick for
months. It’s like ever since she found out, she’s slowly been losing her mind.
She’s stopped hanging out with us and starting being a brooding introvert. Not
even the losers want to hang out with her! You can’t hang out with us and date
Adeline; it just won’t work out.”
    I felt saddened, “But, I told her
that I would be there for her.”
    “Daniel, listen to Jasper,” a new
voice said. I spun around to see that it was my father.
    “Dad, I gave her my word. She
needs me,” I explained.
    “No, son, I need you. I need you
to work hard to be in the starting line-up on the basketball team next year so
that you can go to college and play college ball. You don’t have time for all
of this drama in your life. It’s very sad that Adeline has to go through this
at such a young age, but guess what, you don’t! So don’t make yourself,” he
said as he put his hand on my shoulder.
    “What if it gets better?” I asked
them, “What if she gets better now that she knows her mom has died? What if it
gives her closure, so she can hang out with us again and I’ll have plenty of
time to practice?”
    “Stop trying to justify something
that you know you shouldn’t be doing,” my father said. “This isn’t your
battle.”
    “Exactly,” Jasper agreed. “Are
you just going to throw away everything that you worked so hard for, for
Adeline Jones?”
    “Adeline is my best friend,” I
said meekly.
    “It doesn’t matter,” Jasper said.
“And besides, I’m supposed to be your best friend. Don’t be so quick to forget
that.”
     
    I sat upright, waking myself up.
I was drenched in sweat, and my head was pounding. I looked around to see that
Violet still hadn’t come in yet, and I was glad. I didn’t want to explain what
had just happened.
    I was dreaming about Adeline
again.
    It didn’t make any sense. I made
my choice with her, but I couldn’t put it behind me. The guilt snuck up on me
like a thief in the night, capturing any joy that I had and ripping it away.
    I was having fun tonight,
laughing with Violet around the campfire.
    But I didn’t deserve to have fun,
because Adeline was probably in her room, crying in her pillow, with no one to
talk to and no one to comfort her.
    I had deserted her, so happiness deserted
me.

Chapter
Eighteen: Adeline
     
    I spent most of the night tossing
and turning. Even though my stomach was finally full, my heart was completely
empty. I was falling in love with Daniel, and I was doing it while I looked
like a completely ridiculous creature. There was no point to even dream that he
could ever feel the same about me now. I didn’t stand a chance as a human, so
it was hopeless to think I could have a chance now. The universe was cruel.
    I wished that I was someone else,
anyone else. I wished that I would have been given a different life in