Read Online The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand - Free Book Online Page A

even like to take painkillers). The objects or events so perceived. (See also: delusion.)
    A lapse of sanity.
    A break.
    This seems like a far more likely explanation.
    I open my notebook and stare at the edge of the Ashley letterpeeking out of the front pocket, the way the ink is slightly smeared on the letter y . Ty was a lefty; he always had this smudge on the side of his hand at the end of the school day from dragging his hand through everything he wrote.
    For Ashley. Not to Ashley, but for her.
    FOR ( preposition ):
    Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  Origin: before 900. From the Proto-Germanic fura. Old Saxon furi. Middle Dutch voor.
    Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  1. With the object or purpose of
    Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  2. Intended to belong to, or to be used in connection with
    Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  3. Suiting the purposes or needs of
    Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  4. In order to obtain, gain, or acquire
    Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  5. Used to express a wish, as of something to be experienced or obtained
    For has too many meanings.
    â€œAll right, class,” Mrs. Blackburn says abruptly. “That’s enough time, I think, to ponder the significance of a word. Let’s share.”
    I can’t share this. Ghost. Hallucination. For . Hello, class, I’m a crazy person.
    I sit quietly panicking while Mrs. Blackburn begins to wander between the rows of desks, occasionally stopping and gathering a word from a student: baseball from Rob Milton, beautiful from Jen Petterson, book from Alice Keisig—we’re a terribly original bunch, and apparently stuck on the B s. “What I hope that you’re coming to understand as you study etymology is that a word is not simplya word,” Mrs. Blackburn says with that teacherly touch of drama, like this is life-changing stuff she’s giving us here. She’s that kind of teacher—the type who inflates everything, calls us by our last names instead of our first so that our conversations sound more formal, stresses the importance of each book we read, each essay we write, like it’s the most important thing for us to know before we head out into the big bad world.
    We will become cultured intellectuals if it kills her.
    She continues: “Each word has a specific history, a context, a slow evolution of meaning. Most of the words we use today come from a clash of cultures: Norman against Saxon, Latin versus Germanic, smooth against guttural.” She stops next to Eleanor. “Give me a word, Miss Green.”
    â€œ Brave ,” El says. Which is of course a word that El would come up with. El once caught a guy trying to steal the license plate off the back of her car on the street outside her house and ended up chasing him through the neighborhood with a baseball bat yelling like an Amazonian warrior queen. El is fearless.
    â€œFrench, am I right?” queries Mrs. Blackburn.
    â€œYes.”
    â€œAnd what do you like about this word, brave ?”
    â€œI like that it’s derived from a verb,” El answers. “Brave isn’t something you are. It’s something you do. It comes from action. I appreciate that.”
    â€œExcellent,” Mrs. Blackburn says, moving on. She turns around and heads back up the row. “Mr. Blake,” she says. “A word.”
    Steven clears his throat. His face goes slightly pink, but hisvoice doesn’t waver when he answers. “I picked love .”
    Mrs. Blackburn widens her eyes and smiles. “Love? So that’s what’s on the young man’s mind.”
    â€œIt’s Valentine’s Day,” he explains with a hint of a smile. “So I’m thinking about it, yes.” His gaze touches mine and then moves quickly away.
    â€œ Love as a verb or a noun?”
    â€œA verb,” he says.
    I love you as the plant that never blooms but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers .
    Crap.
    Mrs. Blackburn nods. “And where