Rua (Rua, book 1) Read Online Free PDF

“ouch” to “neutral.”
    “What a butt-poop head,” Tink said as soon as she stood up. “Why is he all concerned and carrying you around, then he goes and flirts with STD central?”
    “I don’t know.” Celeste risked another look. Jennifer was clearly a bitch, but she was beautiful. “Actually, I do know and so do you. She’s hot, and that’s okay. He can do whatever or whomever he wants.”
    Tink shut her locker for her. “No, she’s not hot. If you need extensions, tons of makeup, manicures, pedicures and really expensive clothes to be hot, you’re not hot, just well-maintained.”
    “Whatever, I don’t care. He can do whatever he wants.” She paused in front of the computer lab.
    “Right. You don’t care, he’s not your man, blah blah blah.” He lowered his voice. “I saw the look on your face. It’s okay. You like him. I get it.”
    “Whatever, see you in English.”
    “Girl, please.”
    She selected a computer in the very back of the class. She’d already noted in her first couple days Mrs. Cash never walked to the back of the room. Her large girth pretty much trapped her in the front of the classroom. She logged onto the computer as Mrs. Cash started her lecture.
    “Okay, everyone. Boot up, please. Anyone need help logging on to the computer?” Mrs. Cash paced the front of the room in her blue mu-mu style dress.
    Celeste fought back the urge to roll her eyes. Duh.
    She opened the spreadsheet program and tried to follow along with the lecture. She’d already learned all this crap eons ago. A quick look around the room and it was clear at least half the class pretended to pay attention, but really surfed the net.
    She double-clicked on the web browser, which defaulted to a search engine. She stared at the blank box while she tried to remember what the strange voice had said.
    She typed “Rua” first, then hit enter.
    Celtic for red, usually referring to hair was the first entry.
    She clapped her hand over her mouth and pushed back her chair a few inches.
    “Celeste? Is everything okay?” Mrs. Cash stared her down from the front of the room, as were the rest of the students.
    Celeste scooted her chair back up to her station and cleared her throat. “Sorry, I’m fine. Spider on my desk.”
    “Okay, dear.”
    Celeste stared at Mrs. Cash for a few minutes so it seemed like she was paying attention, but she didn’t hear a word.
    She was too busy freaking out. The voice had called her Celeste, Rua and whatever else. It was not in her head, because she had no idea what the word “Rua” was until today. It was something else. Some third party. And they called her “red.”
    She returned her attention to her screen. She typed “Oscale en doras.” The browser asked her, “Did you mean Oscail an doras?” She clicked yes before she lost her nerve.
    “Irish Gaelic for ‘open the door.’ ”
    What?
    She took out a notebook and wrote the information down with shaking fingers. Whatever that voice was, it was spoke Gaelic Irish, which she didn’t know, couldn’t know. Which meant something intelligent was attempting to communicate with her, which meant…
    The bell rang before she could finish the thought. She happily let it go. She wasn’t ready to travel down that path just yet. She flipped her notebook shut, deleted her web-surfing history then headed to her next class.
    ***
    The lunchroom was crowded, but Tink managed to cut in front of twenty people without ticking them off so he could stand next to her.
    “What do they have today?” His fingers jumped over his phone, his eyes glued to the tiny screen.
    “Aliens,” she responded.
    “Great.”
    She laughed then poked his arm.
    “What’s so funny?” He snapped the keyboard back in this phone.
    “You’re not paying attention, Mr. Cell Phone.”
    “Guilty. I was texting a cute boy, so I get a pass.”
    She grabbed a piece of pizza from the cafeteria worker for her plate, then another for Tink. “Pass for sure. Who is this