The Rules for Disappearing Read Online Free PDF Page A

clamp my
    hand over my mouth the second the words leave my lips. So much for ignoring him.
    He lets out a loud, sharp laugh. “I guess you could say that. Had to help my dad this morning.”
    “So your dad fell in the mud and you had to get him out?” Quit asking him questions!
    He smiles. There’s a dimple on the bruised side that is prob-
    S—
    ably adorable when not discolored. “Something like that. Tractor N—
    got stuck and I had to go pull him out.”
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    I lean over and wrap my arms around my knees. “So you live on
    a farm?” I ask.
    “No, but we have a farm right outside of town.”
    His hands are rough and calloused, like they belong to a man
    more than a boy. I wonder if they feel as rough as they look.
    My eyes move quickly back to his face, hoping my brief trip to the gutter doesn’t show.
    “Ya know, you’re a pretty good singer,” he says.
    What.
    A grin breaks out across his face. “I guess you didn’t know you were singing out loud?”
    Oh. My. God.
    “Uh, no . . . um, I. . . .” There are no words. I’m humiliated because I know, really know, what a bad singer I am.
    My face is on fire and probably looks like a tomato.
    Ethan chuckles then nudges my foot with his. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you, although it’s pretty cute the way your cheeks got all pink like that. So what classes do you have this afternoon?” he asks.
    He called me cute. Or at least my red-stained cheeks cute. The excitement this brings is replaced immediately with dread. I’m not doing this. Making friends. No matter how nice (or hot) they are.
    “Look, I gotta go.” I stand up and he grabs my ankle.
    “Don’t be mad. Bell won’t ring for another ten minutes.”
    God, he’s adorable even with the ugly bruise staining his cheek.
    And that accent. I want nothing more than to sit back down and spend the next ten minutes flirting with him.
    Instead, I shake my leg free.
    —S
    “You must be pretty desperate to hunt down the new girl, farm
    —N
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    boy. If I wanted to hang out with some hick, I’d have stayed in the cafeteria where it’s warm.” Brutally harsh, but I’ve seen that look before. Interest. Interest in me and who I am, and I can’t handle that. Not again.
    He drops his hand, surprised, and squints at me. I swallow
    down the guilt. I’m really doing him a favor. I put the earbuds back in and walk inside.
    I glance over my shoulder at the courtyard where Ethan is still sitting, and I already regret walking away from him.
    There’s no way I’ll make it a month.
    S—
    N—
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    RULES FOR DISAPPEARING
    BY WITNESS PROTECTION PRISONER #18A7R04M:
    Be forgettable. No name brand clothes or anything remotely cute—and that goes for shoes too. It’s not like anyone in these small towns will appreciate a good pair of Jimmy Choos anyway.
    Dad’swaiting where he said he would with Teeny in the car.
    Her head pops up just a bit when she sees me and I try not to run the last block.
    Every change between classes, I saw Ethan. Once I literally
    ran into him trying to get into the same classroom and we both dropped all our books. It didn’t help that the jock with the cut lip was in that class too. Ethan didn’t try to talk to me again but he kept eyeing me. It makes me nervous, the way he watches, and a bit tingly, too, which is bad, bad, bad. I’m also pretty sure I blushed like a fool every time he got near me.
    Teeny is quiet. I ask about her teacher, her school, and the kids in her class, everything down to what she ate for lunch. Every answer is one word.
    Dad takes a different route back home than the one we took this morning.
    “Where are we going?” I ask.
    —S
    He takes a moment to answer. “Thought we would do