Read Online Winter's Fury - Volume Two of The Saga of the Twelves by Richard M. Heredia - Free Book Online

why, in that instant, Vanessa Menendez meant
so much to her. “You’re a great person, Ness.”
    “ Ah come on,
girl.”
    “ I mean it!”
    “ Come off it! You’re
embarrassing me.”
    In her mind’s eye, Lynn
could envision her voluptuous friend. Her hair was always
highlighted, light-brown and super-curly. She could see her broad
face and hazel eyes bunched up with discomfiture. She could see her
blended features and long, narrow nose flaring. Her broad, ruby-red
lips would pinch as she rejected the complements Lynn was giving
her.
    Lynn decided to
lay-off.
    A short silence befell
them.
    “ But, seriously, girl,
have you heard anything else?”
    Lynn shook her head in the
negative, though she knew her friend could not see the gesture.
“No, and it is frustrating, let me tell you. Now that there are so
many different kinds of police looking into… what’re they calling
it?”
    “ The Event.”
    “ Yeah, the Event.” She
stopped to snicker. “Sounds like the title to a really bad movie.
Doesn’t it?”
    “ You know what? It sure
does.”
    “ Anyhow, I’ve run into
nothing but a brick wall. No one knows anything, other than what
the media has said they can report. I mean, after the first videos
went viral and it was obvious that this was something much more
than a series of child abductions. It’s like the government has
shut down everything.” Lynn flopped down amongst the pillows of her
bed. “Did you know there’s been nothing knew on YouTube for over
twenty hours?”
    “ No
shit? I hadn’t checked,” replied
Vanessa.
    Both girls knew twenty
hours on YouTube was like the passing of three
lifetimes.
    “ Well, you haven’t missed
anything. It’s like they’ve shut down all outgoing information.”
She paused around the growing lump in her throat, her voice uneven.
“And, it totally sucks.”
    Vanessa, for the first
time that afternoon, was silent for a time. Then, “You like him, don’t you?”
    In a flood of longing and
regret that surprised Lynn down to the soles of her feet, she said:
“I don’t know.”
    Her friend’s voice was
small. “There’s nothing to feel bad about.
We all know you’ve had a crush on him for some time now. Besides,
he’s cute in a frumpish sort of way.” She
giggled like she had pondered something naughty.
    The thought made Lynn sit
up in the middle of her bed. “Really?!? I haven’t even decided if I
like him or not.”
    “ Oh, girl, you have, you
just haven’t admitted to yourself yet.”
    Maybe it was true. Maybe
she did like him. Ever since she had heard of his seizure, all she
could think about was how far she was willing to go if a
conversation between them turned personal. She had spent
Thanksgiving dinner contemplating various scenarios between them.
Every instance had taken place in the tiny room where they did
their work for the school paper. They were always alone. They were
always left uninterrupted. A lot could happen in situations like
that, right?
    If he had leaned close,
she would have as well, letting him know it was ok to kiss her. If
he had asked her out, she had thought about the fashion in which
she would accept. Then, she would back-track, thinking over the
many ways he might ask. What would his approach be like? Would he
be bold or meek? Would he be bursting with confidence or would be
as shy as a twelve-year-old. Over and over, she kept tossing and
turning the various images. She wondered at his methods of
expression and the manner she would receive them. Would she play
hard-to-get or would she dive right in? Was he a good kisser? Did
he know his way around a good make-out session? Or would he fumble
through it? And if he was good at making out, would she let him do
more than give her simple kisses? Was petting at school a slutty
thing to do? Did she care?
    It had been a long time
since she had let a boy feel her up. The last guy had been too
rough, too eager. The moment she had allowed his hand on her butt,
he was trying to get