Crossing the Barrier Read Online Free PDF Page B

as he was. She had seemed immensely uncomfortable, her eyes wide, looking around frantically in the overcrowded hallway, holding her books tightly against her chest. He had wanted to go to her and tell her she was not alone, but before he worked up the courage, the crowd separated them. Malakai had been small back then—he still wasn’t very big, really—and the tall crowd had prevented him from finding the petite girl again.
    Then he had seen her in the lunch line where she bumped into him. Her touch, however quick, did something to him, sent a shiver up his spine, and when those big gray eyes looked up at him, he had thought she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.
    He had hoped to have classes with her and get to know her, but he hadn’t had any until junior year. By then, they were running in different circles, and he never got the chance to talk to her.
    Often, he had wondered what it would be like talking to her. When he had visited her the previous day, she had been everything he expected and then some, and the visit quickly became one of the least complicated moments of his life.
    He hadn’t needed to pretend with her and he could actually talk to her. With Andrea, the girl Wes and Zoe were trying to match him with, he barely spoke. Andrea was too light and ditzy to discuss anything serious, and the few times he had tried to talk to her about things that interested him, her eyes glazed over. Malakai thought Andrea didn’t have any interest in hearing about other people if it didn’t directly relate to her. As for Lily, she had listened to whatever he wanted to say, and stayed focus and interested. She hadn’t been fazed by the flashiness that went with being a football player. She gave Malakai the impression she was interested in him, the person, and not his image or what it represented.
    It was so refreshing. But he couldn’t say that to Wes.
    “I heard about the girl you brought into the locker room yesterday. Who was she?”
    Wes’s eyes were glued to his phone, and he was typing furiously. He hadn’t put the thing down since they sat at the table.
    “Lily Morgan,” Malakai answered, his eyes fixed on his dinner.
    The last thing Malakai needed was for Wes to know he had thought about Lily nonstop since visiting her in the hospital. He wasn’t ready to face the complications that would go with that.
    Wes looked up at him, dropped his phone on the table, and laughed as if Malakai had told the funniest joke in the world.
    “Lily Morgan? You mean band geek Lily Morgan? Didn’t know you were into geeks. Why help her?”
    Malakai looked up from his dinner, frowning. He didn’t like that Wes knew her; he didn’t like it one bit.
    “I bumped into her. I couldn’t very well leave her there. You know her?” he asked, grabbing his Coke.
    “Yeah, well Zoe knows her,” he answered with a shrug. Wes glanced at his phone again but didn’t pick it up this time.
    Malakai liked the idea of Zoe knowing Lily even less, but he kept on eating, pretending he wasn’t bothered by it in the least.
    “You like her!” Wes accused, leaning forward.
    Malakai looked up at Wes again, his cheeseburger in one hand, a fry in the other.
    “What makes you say that? I mean, she’s pretty and all, but why would you think I like her?”
    “The way you try so hard to pretend you don’t.”
    Malakai shrugged again and resumed eating. In reality, he didn’t know how he felt about Lily. She was pretty, she was interesting, and she was confusing. He could not explain the strange pull he felt toward her. He only knew she made him feel like he wasn’t alone anymore, like someone was there for him, as opposed to Andrea, who left him indifferent.
    “Man, the girl’s geek territory. She’s got nothing in common with us. She’d seriously cramp your style,” Wes said, leaning forward.
    “Whoa! My getting her help doesn’t mean I’m dating her. Until yesterday, I didn’t even know her name,” Malakai said, leaning