Carswell's Guide to Being Lucky Read Online Free PDF

grinning, with Ryan Doughty and Rob Mancuso
    surrounding him.
    And then there was Kate Fallow, her face flushed and her hands on her hips in a semblance of anger
    and determination, even though Carswel could tel from here that she was shaking and trying not to cry.
    “What do you keep on this thing, anyway?” said Jules, peering up at the screen and scrol ing through
    her pages with his thumbs. “Got any naughty pictures on here?”
    “She sure does stare at it a lot,” said Rob with a snort.
    Carswell’s shoulders sank, first with embarrassment for Kate, then with that inevitable feeling that
    something bad was about to happen. Bracing himself, he started down the hal . No one seemed to have
    noticed him yet.
    Kate squeezed her shoulders against her neck and held out a hand. “It’s just a bunch of books. Now
    give it back. Please .”
    “Yeah, sleazy books, probably,” said Jules. “Not like you could ever get a real date.”
    Kate’s bottom lip began to quiver.
    “Seriously, there aren’t any games on here or anything,” said Jules with apparent disgust. “It’s the
    most boring portscreen in L.A.”
    “We should just keep it,” said Ryan. “She’s obviously not using it right.”
    “No – it’s mine!”
    “Hello, gentlemen,” said Carswell, at the same moment that he reached up and snatched the
    portscreen out of Jules’s hand. He had to get on his tiptoes to do it, which he hated, but seeing the flash of surprise and bewilderment that crossed Jules’s face made it worthwhile.
    Of course, the look didn’t last long.
    Carswell took a few steps back as Jules’s hand flexed into a fist. “What a coincidence,” he said. “I
    was just coming to look for Kate. So glad you found her for me.” He raised his eyebrows at Kate, then
    quired his head back down the hal way. “Come on.”
    She swiped at the first tear that started down her cheek. Wrapping her arms around her waist, she
    dodged around the boys to come stand beside him, but Carswell hadn’t taken two steps away before
    Jules grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him back around.
    “What is she, your girlfriend now or something?” he said, nostrils flaring with, if Carswell hadn’t
    known better, a hint of envy.
    Which just blasted figured. Mocking and bullying a girl would be the way that Jules attempted to
    show interest. It just seemed to fit with that completely messed-up head of his.
    Carswell stifled a sigh. Maybe he could start an afterschool Flirting 101 class. There were a lot of
    students who could real y use the help.
    What could he charge for that? he wondered.
    “Right now,” he said, drawing his attention back to the numbskul in front of him and placing a hand
    on Kate’s arm, “she’s the girl I’m escorting back to class. Feel free to spread whatever rumors you want
    from that.”
    “Yeah? How about the rumor that I gave you a black eye because you wouldn’t mind your own
    business?”
    “I’m honestly not sure people are going to by that one, given that-“
    The fist collided with Carswell’s eye faster than he’d have thought possible, sending him reeling back
    against the row of lockers with a resounding clang .
    The world tilted and blurred and he thought Kate may have screamed and something clattered on
    the ground – her portscreen, falling from his own hand – but al he could think was, Spades and aces and stars, that hurt.
    He’d never been punched before. He’d always assumed it would be easier to bounce back from, but
    now he had the instinctive desire to curl up into a ball and cover his head with both arms and play dead
    until they all went away.
    “Carswell!” yelled Kate, seconds before Rob grabbed him by the elbow and yanked him away from
    the lockers, and then Jules’s fist was in his stomach and he’d probably broken a rib and Carswell was on
    his knees and Ryan was kicking him and all his senses were made up of pain and grunts and Kate’s
    shrieks and he real y would have thought