Rain Read Online Free PDF Page B

and clear my head. Damn hormones.”
    “Fine, but next time you want to make out, leave your swarming sakura petals at home.”
    He grinned and cupped my chin with his hand. “I can’t think straight when I’m with you,” he said.
    He rocked back on his heels, hands shoved in his pockets, waiting until he was sure I was safely inside the lobby before turning to leave.
    Like he wasn’t one of the more dangerous things lurking in the darkness.
    The elevator hummed as it pulled me upward. After the closeness of him, I felt acutely aware of how alone I was. I walked toward the pale green door of our mansion and pushed it open.
    “ Tadaima ,” I called out, kicking my flip-flops off in the genkan.
    “ Okaeri ,” Diane answered from somewhere in the living room. I checked that Yuki’s yukata wasn’t dripping before I stepped onto the raised hardwood floors. The cherry blossoms on it were spotless, but the rest of the fabric still had sprays of ink soaked into it.
    Diane appeared in the foyer, still holding the TV remote, and stared. “What happened to you?”
    “It’s on the news,” I said quickly. “Some sort of prank or something.” She flipped the channel from the hallway, the voice of the newscaster blaring.
    “Awful!” she said as she squinted at the screen. “Why would someone want to do that?”
    “No idea,” I said, studying the damage in the mirror. The spray of flowers in my hair was still mostly pink, and so was my face, wiped clean by Tomo’s elephant towel. “Do you think the ink will come out?”
    “I hope so. Poor Yuki. Her beautiful yukata. ”
    I was a mess of blurred yellow and pink. Diane helped me unloop the obi bow and untie the koshi-himo straps wrapped underneath.
    “Just terrible,” Diane muttered. “I hope they catch the punks responsible.”
    When had my life become such a tangle of lies?
    * * *
    “Greene-san, could I see you for a minute?”
    I stopped in my tracks. Suzuki-sensei waited with his arms folded across his chest, and I wondered if I’d done something wrong. It was only the first day back at school. I couldn’t have messed up already, could I?
    “I’ll wait in the hallway,” Yuki said.
    “It’s okay,” I said. “I have to hurry to kendo after anyway.” Yuki nodded and slipped out the door. Lucky, I thought. I walked toward my impending doom at the front of the class.
    “Suzuki-sensei?”
    He smiled, but it was a bureaucratic kind of smile, the kind that had the same warmth to it as a February morning. “Sit down, please.” I sat in the nearest desk, while he sat on top of his. “We’re glad to have you back,” he said. “I’d heard from Headmaster Yoshinoma that you were heading to live with your grandparents in Canada for September.”
    “I changed my mind,” I said.
    “I see that. And I’m glad you can stay here with your friends.”
    I was sure there was a but... in there somewhere.
    “ Shikashi ...”
    There it is.
    “If you’re going to stay in Japan permanently, you’re going to have to give a lot of thought to your future. I know you have two more years before college, but you’ll have to work harder than the others. This isn’t an international school, Katie. You’ll have to catch up your kanji and vocabulary quickly. I can’t go easy on you.”
    Somehow I hadn’t seen this coming. I’d thought things would stay the same. “I can keep up. I’m going to cram school, too.”
    “So are most of your classmates,” he said. “Will you be able to take the entrance exams in two years? Can you even read a newspaper yet?”
    I felt itchy. “Um, not yet.”
    “How many kanji are you comfortable with?”
    “Er. Not enough?”
    “I want you to think seriously about this, all right? I don’t want to discourage you. You’re bright, but you’re taking on a lot. I won’t be doing you a favor if I go easy on you, you understand?”
    “I get it,” I said. “I’ll work hard.”
    He nodded. “I know. But think about it, because