Burned Read Online Free PDF Page A

I looked
    envious, because Derek pulled
    closer. Have you ever tried?
    93
    Don't be stupid! said
    Tiffany. Don't you know?
    She's a Mormon.
    The word seethed from her mouth like spittle.
    Derek measured me with cool blue eyes.
    Could havefooled me.
    I didn't know Mormon
    girls were so pretty.
    Okay, it was a line, but it put me in a heady new space.
    No one had ever called
    me pretty before.
    Not even my mom and dad.
    94
    Derek Wasn't Exactly Justin
    Not pinup gorgeous or hot bod built, but he wasn't bad:
    Tall
    around
    6'2, slender, with black
    coffee
    hair
    and
    vivid
    blue
    eyes
    that
    could
    pierce
    you
    through.
    His hands were soft.
    I discovered that when he brushed my cheek.
    95
    So what's a nice Mormon
    girl like you doing in a place like this?
    96
    We Laughed at the Old Joke
    And talked and talked about nothing much, while the others kept their lips busy in much
    more interesting ways.
    Lightweight conversation with a guy of Derek's
    caliber, clique-wise, was way beyond my
    loveliest fantasy.
    What was I doing here?
    With them? With him?
    And why his sudden interest in me? I mean, we weren't
    exactly strangers, but we'd never exactly been friends, either.
    97
    Looking back, I guess it was kind of stränge.
    At least for me, who'd
    never been that close to a boy before.
    But I liked him.
    I liked his optimism, his easy way with words.
    Most of all, I liked
    how he made me feel
    that I--Pattvn
    Von Straften--
    mattered.
    98
    After a While
    Brent pulled Melina to her feet, dragged her off for a private minute or ten.
    Justin winked at Tiffany. Sounds like the right idea to me.
    I had a general idea of what they had in mind. Envy jolted.
    You like him, huh?
    I gulped down the truth and said
    simply, "He's not mine to like."
    That doesn't stop most people.
    "I'm not most people, Derek."
    Even if I did, in fact, like him.
    So I'ue noticed.
    With a drift of tobacco and sun-scented
    skin, he moved very close to me.
    What I can't figure out. . .
    My heart tap-danced as he slipped his arm around my Shoulder. is why I never really
    noticed you hefore.
    99
    With His Arm Around Me
    I asked what happened to Carmen, the girl he'd been linked with practically forever.
    He shrugged. Don't know.
    Guess we grew apart.
    Then he asked, What about you?
    I knew what he meant, but not
    how to respond. So I said,
    "What about me . . . what?"
    He smiled and his hand
    toyed with my hair. Any good
    Mormon guys on your line?
    On my line? I had to laugh.
    "No way," I admitted.
    "I don't think I've got the right bait."
    Derek turned my face so I
    couldn't avoid his eyes.
    Don't seil yourseif short, Pattyn.
    100
    Oh God! This was crazy.
    I thought he just might try to kiss me, when Tiffany yelled,
    Shit! It's almost four. My
    mom is going to kill me.
    Let's go, you guysl
    101
    Almost Four!
    I'd never stayed
    out in the desert
    this long, and I
    had a good half-
    hour walk home.
    What would my own
    mom say? Anything?
    I didn't want to think about Dad at all, although he and Johnnie were no doubt
    pretty
    cozy by then.
    Luckily
    (happily),
    Derek
    offered to save me some
    time: Can
    I give you a ride?
    102
    No Spare Heimet
    Derek promised to go slow and told me to hang on tight.
    Rifle in my right hand,
    I wrapped my left around his waist, leaned my face against his back.
    If I turned my head,
    I could hear his heartbeat, a steady drum, unlike my
    own hummingbird pulse.
    It was all too incredible, like a scene from a movie or a page from a book, one
    you read again and again.
    My head swam with the scent of him, the promise of him,
    103
    and I never once stopped to think that being with him
    could mean the end of Pattyn as I knew her up until that day.
    104
    He Dropped Me Off
    Right where the dirt trail
    segued into pavement.
    I'll see you Monday, okay?
    Was that a promise?
    A generic blow-off?
    I watched him motor
    off, then started for home.
    Slowly. Thinking. Trying to process the weight of my day.
    For once, I didn't feel like an outcast, a major