Shining On Read Online Free PDF Page A

totally kidding. I don't care who u go out with. Especially since—I might as well tell u now—last night after u left Kimmy's, I fully made out with Cal. I hope that's OK. But u kept telling us all you were over him.
    There's just one thing though … he kept asking me to touch it. What was he talking about?
    Anyway, congrats to u and Nerd Boy. U know, I heard trombone players really know how to kiss.
    PS: What does obtuse mean??????

Melvin Burges

    I 'd come home early from school. It was a hot day. I let my-self in and went to the kitchen to get some juice out of the fridge. As I stood there swigging orange out of the carton, I looked out the kitchen window. There, tucked down be-hind the shed, was my mum having a snog with some bloke. They were dappled with shadow from the trees. Her blouse was unbuttoned, hanging open. They were kissing each other very hard, and he kept crushing her up into his chest and sliding his hands under her blouse at the back.
    I ducked out of sight. I felt a bit like James Bond, hiding there with my back to the wall, the carton of juice in my hand like a gun. Then I peeped round again to have an-other look. I wanted to see if he was going to take her clothes off.
    They were smiling now. She put her hands round his face and kissed him in a way I never saw her kiss my dad. It was like a film. It was so unreal, it made me think of fairies at the bottom of the garden. I felt that if I took a picture of it, it wouldn't come out. He pushed her up against the shed wall and slid his hands down to her bum. I could see her hands stroking the back of his neck.
    I walked back to the front door, opened it, slammed it hard, and then wandered about shouting, “I'm home, Mum, I'm home! Mum, I'm home!” at the top of my voice. I went back into the kitchen and pretended to get the juice out of the fridge again and didn't look out that window.
    “Mum, I'm home!” I bellowed. I went into the sitting room and turned on the TV. There was nothing on. It was only half past two. We'd been let out of school early. Mum should have been at work. There was a school program about geology and I watched that.
    They came into the house a couple of minutes later. I could hear their voices.
    “… yes, nice to see you.”
    “And you. We'll get that trip organized, then.”
    “OK.”
    “Right…”
    “Cup of tea?”
    “No, better go …”
    They walked down the hall and stopped outside the door. Mum's head popped in.
    “You're home early, Laurence,” she said.
    “So are you.”
    “They let us off early.”
    “Same here.”
    Outside the door a voice called, “Hi, Laurence.”
    “Oh, hi, Nigel.”
    Nigel Turner. Mr. Turner. Someone from her school. There was a pause and then he said, “I better be off, San-dra.” She walked him to the door. I ran to the window to see him. I caught him standing right next to his car, and he looked over his shoulder full into my face, but I didn't run away or even flinch. We stared at each other for a second; then he opened the car door and got in, and I went back to the TV.
    Mum came back and said, “Hello, darling, good day?”
    “Sure.”
    She said, “How did you know I was home, Laurence?”
    “Dunno,” I said.
    I could feel her staring at me. “Must've seen your bag or something.”
    “You're home early,” she said again.
    For the first time I looked up at her. She tried to smile. I smiled back, but my face must have looked like a cartoon. I looked back at the telly and waited while she left the room.
    I thought, she knows I know, and I know she knows I know. I expected her to have a little talk with me, which is what usually happens in our house if there're any problems,but she never said a thing about it. She was scared…. You see? Chicken.
    My sister, Gill, came home later and we sat and watched TV and ate crisps together, but I never said any-thing to her about it. She's sixteen, two years older than me, and she's always giving me advice about girls.
    Once I said