Catching Fireflies Read Online Free PDF Page A

already wasted a good fifteen minutes.”
    “Talking to you is never a waste of time,” she replied. “It counts as foreplay.”
    Cal laughed. “And that is why I love you.”
    Marrying this woman, despite all the controversy it had stirred up all over town, was the smartest thing he’d ever done.
    * * *
    Misty had just finished her homework—all of it, even English and math—when Katie called.
    “I just got the third degree from Cal,” Katie announced. “I think he was only minutes away from using torture to get the truth out of me.”
    Misty’s breath caught in her throat. “The truth about what?”
    “You skipping class,” Katie said impatiently. “What else? I told you it wasn’t going to stay a secret for long.”
    “Who’d he hear it from?”
    “Ms. Reed, of course. Like you said, Mr. Jamison is clueless. At least Cal never mentioned him.”
    Panic immediately set in. “What am I going to do now?”
    “Go to class, for starters,” Katie said as if it would be a breeze to walk in and face down Annabelle after all the nasty innuendoes she’d posted online and the sly little threats she’d muttered whenever she and Misty crossed paths. “I’ll be there, too. If Annabelle so much as looks at you cross-eyed, we can punch her lights out.”
    Despite her dismay, Misty managed a faint chuckle. “Yeah, like that’s gonna happen.”
    “I’m telling you, we could do it,” Katie said. “Ty’s taught me a couple of self-defense moves. He said I might need ’em if some guy gets out of line when I’m on a date. Taking Annabelle down would be a piece of cake. I’ve seen her in gym class. She’s a wuss.”
    “I’m not sure getting kicked out of school for fighting would be much better than getting kicked out for skipping class,” Misty told her. “And you can’t afford to get suspended again at all.”
    “If we told the truth about why we did it, I’ll bet it would be okay,” Katie said.
    “But then even more people would find out what Annabelle is saying about me,” Misty protested.
    “The kids at school already know,” Katie reminded her. “It’s online, Misty, remember? Everyone who knows you knows not a word of it is true.”
    Misty heaved a sigh. “I know, but there are plenty of kids who believe her filthy lies. I hear them whispering behind my back when they see me. Why do you think I stay out of the cafeteria? Walking in there just gives them a chance to spout all that stuff right to my face. At least in my classes there’s a teacher around. That usually shuts them up, except for Annabelle, anyway. She doesn’t care who’s around. I wish just once Ms. Reed or Mr. Jamison had heard what she said to me.”
    “I’ve heard her,” Katie said. “So have some other kids. We’d all back you up if you told someone.”
    Misty thought about it. Heck, she’d thought about little else since the school year had started and Greg had asked her out that first time. That’s when the online posts had started, as well. It hadn’t been a coincidence. Katie was right about that.
    But even though she knew she needed help, she couldn’t bring herself to ask for it. It would be humiliating if her teachers, especially the ones she really admired, like Ms. Reed, found out what Annabelle was saying about her. They’d think she was some degenerate sex maniac or something. If she’d done even a tenth of the things Annabelle had posted online about her, she’d have probably been knocked up by now. It was disgusting.
    And then there was no question her mom and dad would find out. Things were bad enough between them as it was. She didn’t want them fighting over her and maybe even believing those awful lies. She could hear her dad blaming her mother for allowing her to become some trashy kid with no morals. God, it was a nightmare. Her whole life was a nightmare.
    “I gotta go,” she told Katie. “I think my mom’s calling me.”
    “No, she’s not,” Katie said knowingly. “You just