Read Online The Islanders by Katherine Applegate - Free Book Online

she had been dumb. She’d been attracted to Christopher right from the start, that was the truth. And she’d only resisted because shedidn’t want him to take her for granted. She’d wanted to make the point that they weren’t doomed by fate to be together just because they were both black and living on a lily-white island in one of the country’s whitest states. She had been standing up for the principle that fate didn’t decide things, she decided things.
    Big deal. Principle.
    She smiled at him, and he smiled back. He murmured something sweet and she said something back.
    Then they kissed again.
    I wonder if he knows how I feel about him now? I wonder if he’s smirking inside, thinking “I knew all along she couldn’t resist me”? He’s enough of an egomaniac to believe that.
    Who cares? So he was right. Good for him. I’m glad.
    Am I falling in love?
    No. That’s not what it is. It’s too soon for that. Love takes forever to develop, as two people get to know each other and respect each other, share the same interests.
    This is just . . .
    He kissed her again.
    . . . really nice.
    She opened her eyes as they kissed and, to her surprise, realized his eyes were open, too. He was looking away.
    She pulled back and turned to follow the direction of his gaze. There was Benjamin, sitting a distance away. And beyondhim, an attractive woman who commuted on to Allworthy Island. She was twentysomething and had hiked up her skirt to be able to rub a sore foot.
    Aisha cocked a dubious eyebrow at Christopher.
    He looked back at her innocently. “I was wondering what Benjamin was listening to.”
    â€œYou weren’t looking at that woman?”
    â€œWhat woman?”
    Claire stared down at the pages of her book without reading any of the words. Her whole attention was on Jake, sitting a short distance away. He was staring out at the water, staring without moving or shifting his gaze, staring just so that he could avoid looking at her.
    This was pathetic. She was making a fool of herself. In her entire life she had never thrown herself at any guy. She’d never had to; they had always thrown themselves at her.
    Which was the way things ought to be.
    Why was she doing this?
    She stole a glance at Jake. Yes, yes, he was good-looking. But her boyfriends had always been good-looking. And she never would have acted this way over Lucas, back when she was going out with him, or over Benjamin, either.
    Screw him. If he didn’t want her anymore, to hell with him.She could take a hint. She’d never had to take a hint before, but she wasn’t blind. Jake wasn’t even being subtle. He’d told her to take a hike. Get lost
    No one had ever told her to get lost before. It was infuriating. The way it worked was that she dropped guys, not the other way around.
    That’s why she was so intent on getting Jake back, she told herself. She wasn’t going to let him have the final word. No. She’d win him back and then she could dump him.
    That was it. It was just a matter of pride. Pride mixed with a little guilt.
    Either that or she really had fallen for him, really was in love the way she’d told him she was.
    In which case, she was just being pathetic.
    Nina was crammed onto the stairs that led down from the upper deck to the gangway, with Zoey and Lucas behind her and Benjamin behind them. Zoey and Lucas seemed to have reached a level of polite truce.
    For some reason, the line wasn’t moving. “Oh, man, don’t hold me up at the end of a long day of school,” Nina muttered.
    â€œThey’re getting the living dead off first,” Lucas said in a low voice. “There was a crowd of them below.”
    â€œLucas, we call them elderly, not living dead,” Zoey said.
    â€œWhatever they are, they’re pissing me off,” Nina said.
    â€œWhy are you in such a hurry?” Zoey asked.
    â€œDid someone die down