Being True Read Online Free PDF

breaths.
    I had to give the guy his due. He was nothing if not persistent. And from the sound of his voice, the gap separating us had decreased.
    It had to be one of the Jock Brigade. That knowledge caused me to piston faster and harder as I reached the bottom of the hill. The train’s horn thundered again as it bulleted toward the intersection. It was so close I could make out the tiny head of the engineer in the first car.
    I maneuvered the bike around the crossing gates, skidding to regain my purchase on the road, and then aimed my bike toward the tracks that would either offer me safety from further beating or bring everything to a bone-crushing end.
    As I rode over the tracks, the heat of the approaching train buffeted my flesh, and the roar of the horn drowned out all other sounds. A few seconds after, the train flew by.
    I glanced over my shoulder to verify I hadn’t been followed, and the coast was clear. I had made it.
    I’d never been more relieved in my life. At least until I turned around.
    My trajectory over the tracks had set me on a collision course with a huge decorative stone in the yard of the first house on the downhill side of the tracks. I tried to correct, but it was too little, too late.
    I struck the rock hard, flying over the handles of the bike and the boulder before skidding to a stop on my face.
     
     
    I HAD no idea how long I lay there on my stomach. It could have been a few seconds or ten minutes, but my face exploded with fresh pain when I regained consciousness and opened my eyes. As if getting smacked around by Rance Parker wasn’t bad enough, I now had to contend with losing a fight against a rock and the ground. My luck fricking sucked.
    Maybe that was why I couldn’t stop the tears. Or why I dug my fingers into the grass. I couldn’t take much more. Something had to give. My life had to change. If I didn’t find light at the end of the tunnel soon, I feared the darkness might whisk me away.
    The rhythmic hum of the train flying across the tracks grew more and more distant, and the warning clangs at the railroad crossing ceased. The intersection was now clear. A few seconds later, a bike skidded to a stop a few feet away before frantic footfalls crunched across the dry grass. “Fuck, man!” Someone suddenly said at my side. “Are you okay?”
    Great! Thanks to my carelessness and complete inability to dust myself off and get back on my bike, my pursuer could now kick me while I was down. But why did I hear genuine concern in the strangely familiar voice?
    “Just leave me alone,” I said, not wanting to turn around. It was bad enough to be lying facedown in the dirt. To be crying like a baby only made matters worse. I prided myself on never letting my tormentors see my tears. I couldn’t control the fear, but I was damned if I’d ever let them see me reduced to a blubbering mess.
    “Yeah, well, I’m not gonna,” he said. For some reason, whoever this was sat on the hard-packed ground next to me. What the hell was he waiting for? For me to stop crying so he could then kick the crap out of me? But if that was his motive, why join me on the grass? “You took a nasty fall, Tru, and I’m not leaving till I’m sure you’re okay.”
    Who the hell was this guy?
    Reluctantly, I opened my eyes and glanced over my shoulder. Staring back at me were the gorgeous ebony eyes that had captivated me this morning in precalc. “Javi?”
    He nodded. “Well, at least we know the fall didn’t cause amnesia.” The right corner of his lips tugged into a half grin. The tears that had previously streamed down my cheeks and blurred my vision dried up. How could I cry while basking in the warmth of such a smile?
    “What are you doing here?” I asked as I struggled to sit up. If that was going to happen, though, the world needed to stop spinning.
    “Take it easy,” Javi said. He placed his hand on my chest and gently nudged me back onto the grass. The weight of his hand sent shivers across