Awakening (Book One of The Geis) Read Online Free PDF Page A

ways away. Do you think your mom will drive you out there for lessons?”
    “No, I already asked.”
    “Well, maybe you could carpool with Taminy.” Christa made a face.
    I couldn’t appreciate Christa’s joke like I should have. I stared at the corner of the building where the school janitor was cleaning up broken glass. Everyone knew he was crazy. He never spoke, not even when the senior boys made fun of him. But it wasn’t the janitor that caught my eye. A lizard the size of a golden retriever stood on the sidewalk next to him. Wrinkled skin draped the lizard’s frame and bumpy knobs stuck out in random places along its backbone. A jeweled tag hung from a collar that circled its neck.
    Students made a wide path around where the janitor swept the glass, but they didn’t seem bothered by the enormous reptile.
    “Christa, look at that lizard!” I flattened my back against the wall so she could see.
    “A lizard?” Christa recoiled.
    I pointed to the janitor, and gasped. The lizard was gone.
    “Are you trying to freak me out?”
    I searched the grounds. Could I have imagined it? “I thought I saw this giant lizard.”
    “There are no lizards here—it’s too cold.”
    I put my uneaten sandwich back in its baggie. Was it possible I was seeing things?
    “What is that?” A girl sitting at the table near us was pointing away from the janitor. I whipped my head around, expecting to see the lizard.
    Across the grass and next to the curb was Aunt Avril, exiting her atomic-orange Corvette. She had purposely parked the sleek car with red-rimmed wheels at the curb, outshining all of the economy cars and pickup trucks in the school parking lot. Aunt Avril leaned against the hood of the car and motioned for me to come over.
    I sighed and stood, brushing grass off my pants. “I better go see what she wants,” I told Christa. “Do you still want to meet at your house before dance?”
    “Yep, see you then.” Christa gave me two thumbs up.
    Most of the school went back to eating, but as I walked to Aunt Avril, Lucas jogged toward me. I thought he’d pass by me on his way into the cafeteria, but he stopped in front of me. A familiar tickle crept up my neck, and I knew my cheeks flushed red with the splotchy rash that always spread to my face at exactly the wrong moments.
    Lucas stood at least a head taller than me, and I had to look up to see his face. This close to him, I could see a small scar on his cheek that disappeared when he smiled.
    “McKenna, right?” Lucas said.
    I looked at Christa. Her eyes were wide.
    How many times had I rehearsed what I would say if I got the opportunity to talk to him? Now that Lucas was standing right in front of me, my mouth was dry and my tongue refused to speak. “Yes, no—I mean, it’s McKayla.” I focused.
    “You danced in the school assembly at the beginning of the year, right?”
    My heart sank. Of all the things for Lucas to know me by, the disastrous assembly was the last thing I would have picked. At the opening assembly I had performed a ballet solo, and it hadn’t turned out as well as I’d hoped. Halfway through the number, I forgot the dance and attempted to choreograph my own steps on the fly. It wasn’t pretty.
    “Oh, yes, that was me.” I smiled widely, trying to cover my embarrassment.
    “So, who is that?” Lucas asked. He leaned toward me to get a better look at Aunt Avril’s car. The muscles in his arm flexed as he squeezed the football in his hand.
    “That’s my aunt.”
    “Sweet.” He stared at the Corvette. “What’s she here for?”
    “I have no idea. Aunt Avril’s not exactly predictable. She’ll probably want to go drag Main Street.”
    Lucas laughed, and my stomach flipped. He faced me dead on, searching my face like this was the first time he’d ever seen me. “Wish I could ditch English. I’d trade my truck for that sweet ride any day. Tell your aunt I will babysit her car anytime.”
    I couldn’t think of an answer, so I smiled.