Read Online The Trouble with Emily Dickinson by Ken McKowen - Free Book Online

something just to satisfy Miss
McCarthy’s curiosity because it’ll come back to bite you in the
end. A straight girl can’t be anything but straight. That’s
something that isn’t going to change.”
    “You have nothing to worry about,” JJ said as
she wiped her face with her shirt before she slipped on her
sweatshirt. “She’s not interested in me like that.”
    “How do you know?”
    “I just know. And I don’t want to let myself
get hopeful about something that, quite frankly, isn’t going to
happen.”
    “No, you don’t,” Queenie echoed.
    “She’s a cheerleader after all.”
    “That she is.”
    “I hardly even know her. The whole thing is
just ridiculous.”
    “Preposterous, really.”
    “I’ll just stick to the tutoring.”
    “Stick to what you know best.”
    “Are you ready to get out of here?” JJ asked
while tying up the laces of her sneakers. “Or are you just going to
sit there antagonizing me.”
    “You know, they are the most closeted of them
all—cheerleaders. I bet any one of these so-called cheerleading
camps is a breeding ground for closet lesbians. Hey! Maybe we could
do like an undercover operation. You know, like research or
something? We can pretend we’re writing a paper about it.”
    JJ frowned.
    “What? We can at least explore the idea,”
Queenie insisted. “It’s not without merit.”
     
     

CHAPTER 11
     
    Kyan grunted as he finished the last set of
squats on his well-muscled legs that now shook more like quivering
rubber. He was pushing himself to the limit. But it wasn’t because
he was tired. It was because he was frustrated.
    “Hey, don’t push it,” Jason warned as he
watched Kyan from the bench beside him. “You’re going to hurt
yourself.”
    “Relax,” Kyan said, straightening up. “I’m
fine.” He breathed in hard and wiped the sweat away from his
forehead with the bottom of his muscle tank top.
    “You don’t look so good,” Jason remarked.
    Kyan glared at him. Then he studied himself
in the mirror and frowned. It was true. He looked absolutely
horrible. His skin was extremely pale, without the usual hint of
golden brown that he’d achieved over the summer lifeguarding at the
beach where his parents owned a summer home.
    His eyes had grown gloomy and gray, and he
bore a fresh scratch just above his left cheek from having been
elbowed in the face while trying to head the ball.
    They had traveled across the state to play
Cartwright, the lowest-seeded team in their division. Lately it
seemed as if the entire soccer team was comprised of a group of
underweight sissies who didn’t comprehend the meaning of teamwork
or dedication. They had been outplayed and outmatched by a less
talented team. As a result, they had lost the game, getting
pummeled five to nothing. And to make matters worse, Kendal
McCarthy had snubbed him completely on Friday night.
    After she’d left him sitting alone on that
couch, wondering what in the world he could have possibly done
wrong, Kyan realized that he was going to have to step up his game
just a little bit. Kendal was playing hard to get and while it was
a tad annoying, it was also incredibly appealing.
    “So what happened Friday night?” Jason asked.
“Did you hook up with her?”
    Kyan picked up two dumbbells and knelt down
on a bench. He started working his triceps, his eyes glued to the
mirror so that he could observe his form.
    “I thought so,” Jason concluded after a
moment.
    Kyan immediately dropped the weight from his
hand and stood up. “Thought what?” he asked firmly.
    “Thought that she was out of your league,”
Jason laughed. “Even for you.”
    Kyan took a step closer so that his nose was
about an inch away from Jason’s. “Who said she’s out of my
league?”
    “Dude. Relax. It’s obvious that you didn’t
get anywhere with her.”
    Kyan lunged forward and pushed Jason in the
chest.
    Jason gritted his teeth, “What’s your
problem?”
    Kyan glared hard as he tried to think of