Inner Demons Read Online Free PDF Page B

His hand inched higher on my leg. I tried to push him away, but he was persistent. I wasn't sure what I wanted anymore.
    “Harper?”
    “Yeah?” I closed my eyes and leaned my forehead against his arm. I needed to get my balance.
    “Will you go to Homecoming with me?”
    My stomach tightened. I couldn't very well say no, could I?
    “On one condition,” I said.
    He smiled. “Okay, let's hear it.”
    “You have to promise that if you get a scholarship to a bunch of these schools, you won't choose UGA just because of me.”
    His smile faded. I didn't say what he expected to hear. He seemed to think it over for a second. “Okay,” he said. “If it's that important to you.”
    It was that important. I didn't want Drake making decisions about his distant future based on our month-old relationship. Most girls probably would have been excited to hear him talk about the future, but it made me feel uncomfortable. Pressured. Like he was claiming ownership of me. Hell, I wasn't even sure where I wanted to go to school or even if I planned to go to college at all. And if I wasn't ready to make those decisions about my own future, how could I be comfortable with someone else basing their decisions on me?
    “You okay?” he asked.
    “Yeah,” I said. “I'm just tired.”
    I laid my head against his shoulder. We didn't talk the rest of the ride home.

We're Talking About Things Way Past My Experience Level
     
    “Harper, you have to try this one on. This color will look amazing on you.” Brooke held up a silky blue dress.
    Brooke, Lark, Allison and I had been shopping at the mall in Macon for the past two hours and none of the others had yet to find a dress. And they didn't seem to be getting tired of shopping either. Me? I was so tired of boutique stores and department stores and never-could-afford-this-in-a-million-years dresses.
    “Great,” I said.
    “I'm going to try this red one, but I'm not sure I like this beaded flower part on the shoulder,” Lark said.
    Allison had three dresses thrown across her arm, too, and the four of us headed into the dressing area together. When they'd asked me to come along, I thought it would be more fun to try on pretty dresses. But when I realized just how much all these dresses cost, the fun quickly drained out of the whole experience. When I stepped into the solitude of the dressing room, I flipped over the price tag on the amazing blue dress. I almost groaned out loud. Three hundred and fifty dollars?! I sighed and slipped it on, praying it looked like crap and I wouldn't care that I couldn't afford it.
    Lark let out a high-pitch squeal when I came out to model the dress. “That's perfect,” she said. “You have to get it.”
    I panicked. How could she think I could afford this? Sometimes they acted like Shadowford was just some vacation home for me. “I don't know,” I said, scrunching up my nose as I studied it in the mirror. It was fabulous, of course. And Brooke was right. The color was perfect for me. But I couldn't tell them that. Instead, I said, “It's just not the dress. I can't explain it. I'll know it when I see it.”
    Brooke nodded in understanding. “You have a good point. It's so important to trust your instincts when it comes to finding the right dress for an occasion like this.”
    “Well, I think you're crazy. You'll never find a dress as perfect as that one.”
    She was probably right, but what could I do? Short of stealing the damn thing, I had no choice but to put it back.
    Later, as we were all eating lunch in the food court, I noticed a strange woman staring at us. She was dressed in all black. Every time I caught her staring, she pretended to be looking for someone she knew. Something about her made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
    Lark leaned over toward me.
    “Want to spend the night tonight?
    I set my burger and fries down on the table. “Sure,” I said. “That would be awesome.”
    “Great. My parents have some dinner thing tonight