Magnolia Blossoms Read Online Free PDF Page B

pant pocket, and I’m greeted by a muddy streak down the back of his drawers.
    Bile and stomach acid rise in my throat desperately seeking escape. I begin to panic. My jaw is wired shut! My nose is still healing! What will happen if I puke? Stumbling around the room, I grasp onto the closest easel to me, but it falls over and smashes to the ground. Then goes another, and another. Like dominos, boom, boom, boom, boom , stand after stand falls over. The ruckus startles Ms. Agnes, who takes a tumble from her stool onto the floor. Making a last ditch effort to catch herself, she desperately grasps for anything to grab hold of. Unfortunately, that would be Mr. Davis’ arm. He’s forced to the ground with her, and together, they cry out in pain.
    The commotion helps to alleviate my urge to purge, but the fact remains that two victims lie in agony on the cold tile floor. Skidmark pulls out his phone and dials 911, while Sunny and the rest of the group hover around the injured pair. Gasps, sobs, and curses fly through the room. Sunny does her best to bring calm to the room by offering cleansing chants. It’s not working.
    Hiding in the corner, I look with horror at the devastation I’ve caused. Skidmark notices and begins to make his way towards me. He smells like old bacon grease and moth balls. My stomach tries to revolt again, but I’m able to quash it.
    “You look upset. I can comfort you, if you’d let me,” he confidently says with a smirk.
    “No, shanks,” I say, rapidly shaking my head.
    He props his arm against one of Sunny’s bookshelves, and all I can focus on are the little balls of fabric hanging from his pit hair like tiny ornaments on a bushy, smelly tree. He must assume that I’m drawn to his physique because he straightens up to puff out his chest. “I try to hit the gym at least one, two times a year. You look toned. Do you work out, too?”
    Again, I shake my head.
    “My name’s Jefferson, but my friends call me Diablo because I like to ride, and I’m kinda wild, so you should probably beware,” he says to me as though he’s letting me in on a huge secret. His breath smells like raw onions. My nose twitches in response. He runs his hand down his doughy chest. “It’s okay if you feel drawn to me. I know how you women like bad boys. I’m single at the moment, but I can’t guarantee that will last long. The list of brokenhearted maidens I’ve left in my dust is long, but I have a feeling that we can have something special, girl. What do you say? Can you handle Diablo?” he breathes.
    Boyfriend? I’ve never in my entire life had a man I could call by that title, and even though his very being repulses the hell out of me, I fall in love with the idea of having a real relationship to call my own. Maybe I would finally have a first date! Better late than never, right?
    “Okay, I’ll be your girfwiend,” I say.
    “Right on, baby. Diablo’s gonna take care of his woman. What’s your name?”
    “Magnolia,” I manage to say through the wires.
    “Yeah, you need a new name. I’m gonna call you Mindy, okay?”
    “But, my name shish Magnolia,” I insist.
    “Yeah, baby, but you look like a Mindy to me.”
    I shrug. The glare from the windshield of the ambulance as it turns into the driveway pulls me back to the issue at hand, the injured pupils. My heart pitter pats when I spy Jace and his partner walking toward the classroom. He enters the room with all the confidence of a super hero.
    “Hi, I’m Jace. I hear someone’s had an accident, and I’m here to help. Whoa! What do we have here?” he asks, taking a slight step back when he realizes that he’s in a room full of elderly naked people.
    Sunny rises and extends her hand to him. “This is my art class.”
    “Wait, I remember you from somewhere…” he thinks about it for a few seconds. “Of course! Magnolia’s mom.” It didn’t seem to faze him that he was speaking to a nude woman. “Okay, let’s make some room people. Let