Ghost of a Chance Read Online Free PDF Page A

Brandon adds something, and the three of them all laugh together.
    My throat gets tight, and tears prickle at the back of my eyes. I stay frozen in place, unable to move. It’s like the three of them are a movie or something and I can’t stop watching.
    A second later Brandon catches me looking. I avert my gaze and start to walk by, catching glimpses of him out of the corner of my eye as I weave between kids that are all hurrying to their lockers before homeroom. He’snot laughing anymore, and I expect him to look away.
    But he doesn’t, and so finally I turn and look back at him.
    We stay like that, just looking at each other, and it’s like everyone else fades away. My heart has stopped in my chest. It literally feels like I can’t breathe. And for a split second I convince myself I can fix things.
    I’ll go over there, and I’ll tell him I need to talk to him and Ellie, and then I’ll explain everything to them, and maybe they’ll believe me. Maybe if I can just tell them something that makes more sense, if I can prove to Brandon that—
    But then he looks away.
    And the first bell rings.
    Ellie and Kyle hurry down the hall.
    Brandon heads the other way, down toward the science wing where his homeroom is.
    And there’s nothing left for me to do but go to class.
    *  *  *
    Math.
    Brandon Dunham is sitting right in front of me.
    I used to think that I was so lucky. That I could just be in math, sitting behind Brandon Dunham, being able to stare at his neck the whole time. (Brandon Dunham has a very cute neck, in case you were wondering.)
    But today it seems like some kind of cruel joke. What amistake, dating someone from my own school. Think about it—why would I want to date someone I have to see every single day? Of course we were going to break up eventually. And now look what I have to deal with—the back of Brandon Dunham’s neck. Every. Single. Day.
    Jessa Schneider has the right idea. She’s this girl in my social studies class who’s always dating boys from other schools. Of course, everyone pretty much knows she’s lying about it. She has all these cell phone pics she’s always waving around of all the guys she’s supposedly dating. There’s, like, a new one every week, and they’re all super-cute. How many super-cute guys from other schools can she really be meeting?
    Not to mention that they always have these super-amazing stories to go along with their great looks. They’re always, like, captain of the football team, or head of the student council.
    Jessa’s probably stealing those photos from random people’s Facebook pages. That might be illegal. I wonder if someone—
    â€œKendall Williams,” Mr. Jacobi says.
    â€œHere,” I say automatically.
    Everyone in the class laughs.
    â€œI wasn’t asking if you were here ,” Mr. Jacobi says. “I was reminding you about the math tutoring project at Stoneridge Elementary. It starts today.”
    â€œOh. Right. Totally.” I give him a smile, even though I completely forgot about that dumb project. It’s this after-school program where we’re supposed to spend time with elementary school kids who need help with their math.
    I signed up for it during the first week of school, and the only reason I did was because Brandon signed up. This was before I knew him and was just staring at his neck. I thought maybe we’d get to know each other if we were involved in the same activities.
    â€œSo the people whose names I just called will stay after school today,” Mr. Jacobi says, “and we will head over to Stoneridge. Once you’re there, you will be paired up with a student who needs your help. The work is elementary school level, so I’m sure you’ll have no trouble handling it.”
    I’m not sure if it’s my imagination or not, but I feel like maybe he looks at me a little doubtfully when he says