40 Things I Want to Tell You Read Online Free PDF Page B

worry.”
    “Yeah. I guess so. Can we talk about something else?”
    “You know, you don’t always have to be the one giving advice. I can listen too.”
    “I know, I know. Maybe you’re right and I should just get the whole sex thing over with. It’s just Griffin, right?” I said it again. “Right?”
    “Well, you know him better than anyone. He’s been kind of like your brother forever.”
    “Oh my God, that’s disgusting.”
    “I don’t mean it like that. It’s just, you were best friends for so long that the thought of having sex with him might be weird.”
    I wondered if I should tell her about my crush on Pete—perhaps she could help me figure it out. I was just about to try to bring it up when she spoke.
    “So I tried to ask the hot guy out. Pete.”
    Jealousy flared through me. Pete Loewen was
nothing
to me, so I shouldn’t care. Oh God. I was going to have to watch Pete and Cleo together the
whole
time.
    “Huh. So, um, when are you seeing him?” I asked, trying not to sound like I felt.
    “Mr. Sleeps-Around turned me down. Me?” Her eyes widened. “I told him I’d heard he wasn’t the type to turn women down and he laughed. He’s going to have to do the running around when he realizes what he’s missing.” She pulled her music-playing phone out of her bag. “Oooh, gotta take this. It’s Joe—I think things might work out with him.”
    “Joe Friesen?”
    She nodded.
    “See you later,” I said. I leaned against my locker and took a breath. Thank God Pete had turned Cleo down, although I couldn’t understand why he’d done it. She had boys after her all the time. He was probably playing hard to get. I slammed my hand against the cool metal door. I hated that I was thinking about him again.
    I pushed off from my locker and jogged down the corridor, suddenly keen to get out of school, glad classes were over for the day. I shoved open the main door and stepped out, rain dampening my hair and clothes. I should have gone back, but instead I hurried out the front entrance, my shoes splashing up water. Ruined. I was being an idiot. I stopped under a clump of trees in the small park opposite the school, feeling weirdly free. The rain eased off a little and I smoothed my hair behind my ears, wiping my face on my sleeve. The wet and the cold felt bracing, and my skin tingled. When a hand touched my upper arm I almost jumped out of my soaking clothes.
    I spun round and was practically in Pete Loewen’s arms. I could see dewy drops of rain on his cheeks and I could smell the cigarette he must have just smoked. I’d imagined being close to him more times than I cared to admit, but it was even better in real life. The rain slowed to a light drizzle.
    “So,” he said, his mouth easing into a smile.
    “I, uh, what, um.” Not cool.
    “I wondered if I’d be able to get anywhere near you,” he said.
    My heart was slamming, my skin on fire. I figured steam was probably rising from me, considering the heat generated between us. I should have stepped back but I couldn’t stop looking in his eyes. They were the colour of flint.
    As I stared at him, I figured something out. He
wanted
me. I could
tell.
No, I was being ridiculous. He could have his pick of any girl in the school—he’d just turned Cleo down. I was way too ordinary for a guy like him. A girl like Cleo was tall, slim, gorgeous, whereas I was just … just okay.
    “I, uh, should go,” I stammered. My body was humming. This close I could see a tiny scar cutting up from his top lip. Silvery. I wanted to touch it.
    “So, Amy,” he said. His voice was low and steady. “Finally we get to talk. It seems like you’ve been wanting to talk to me.”
    “I, um, I don’t know what you mean.”
He knew my name!
    “I’ve seen you staring. You’re sweet when you blush.”
    The blush I’d been trying to stop seared my cheeks. I stood my ground. “I haven’t been, um, staring at you,” I said, my voice coming out way less confident than