Fluorescence: The Complete Tetralogy Read Online Free PDF Page A

nibbled at another fry and then sighed, looking away from me.
    “Military. I’ve grown up in different schools almost every year. My dad was a real hard-ass, always getting on me for acting out and not studying enough. I couldn’t stand being tutored by strangers and I hated being left alone with babysitters.”
    “Sorry to hear that. Has he lightened up at all?”
    “He was killed overseas three years ago. A terrorist group snuck through and bombed them in the middle of the night. Damn cowards.”
    My appetite waned and I dropped a piece of fish back into the basket. I didn’t like it when people swore but I could only begin to imagine how much pent up anger he had bottled up over the attack. “Oh. I’m… really sorry.”
    “It doesn’t bother me anymore.”
    “How could not having a father not bother you? Wait. I’m sorry. It’s none of my business. Never mind.”
    He picked at his food and crumpled over in his seat.
    “He was disappointed in me because I wasn’t like him. While I was growing up, all he’d ever do was complain about how I’d never be cut out for the military. To him, the military was everything.”
    I sipped my tea, trying to quickly come up with a thoughtful reply—anything to save the conversation. If I’d known him better, now would have been the perfect time to reach across the table and take his hand—and believe me, I thought about it—but that would have been weird. Right? We didn’t know each other that well. Maybe he was one of those people who hated being touched. Maybe I had no business trying.
    “I think you’re an amazing artist, Brian. You’ll do great things. Years from now I’ll see your comics in stores and remember how I knew that boy in high school. How I sat down and had fish and chips with him.”
    “You think so?”
    “Definitely.”
    He smiled. It was forced, but it made my heart feel a little less heavy.
     

Chapter 5
     
     
    “ H ow did it go?” Sam asked in a sing-song voice, bumping her shoulder into mine.
    “Horrible.” I looked down at my shoes and kicked a pile of yellow leaves off the sidewalk.
    “Why?” She exaggerated a frown. “What did you do?”
    “What did I do? What kind of friend are you?” I folded my arms, tucking my gloved hands into my elbows. The chilly air made me shiver.
    “Well, what happened?”
    “I brought up his parents.”
    “Okay. And?”
    “His dad’s dead.”
    “Oh nooo!” Sam groaned then imitated stabbing herself in the heart. She straightened back up as soon as she saw the bus turning the corner. “You’ll be lucky if he ever talks to you again,” she whispered out of the side of her mouth.
    “Thanks for the encouragement.”
    Sam shrugged. “I want a shot at him, too.” She giggled. “If things don’t work out with Brent.”
    All I could do was roll my eyes while the bus pulled up. We hopped on and took our usual seats in the front. Brian wouldn’t be getting on for a few more stops and my poor heart was already atwitter. I glanced across the aisle and accidentally made eye contact with Eric—one of the boys who had been picking on me. I looked away.
    By now, he and Stanley—who both used to sit in the far back—had become accustomed to sitting in the front, across from us. Brian had made it very clear his first week that he wouldn’t tolerate it any other way. He was a little older and a little taller—more than enough to scare them into submission. They had never been very high up in the pecking order in school, just high enough to pick on quiet girls like me.
    But when Brian got on the bus that day, things went a little differently.
    “You said not to sit in the back anymore,” Stanley whined, looking at an equally bewildered Eric for help.
    “Well, I’ve changed my mind. Get going.” Brian motioned toward the empty row in the far back.
    “This isn’t the time or place, boys,” the bus driver snarled, veering her head toward them. “I don’t care where you sit but you had