The Wright Brother Read Online Free PDF Page A

inviting them over for dinner every freaking night, which was kind of annoying, but she was getting used to it.
    One thing Elisa had learned from hanging with them was that she basically had to relearn all of them. They in no way resembled the seven-year-old boys she remembered. They were way beyond cartoons and playing wrestling matches.
    Roman and Christian were hardcore athletes. But Julian… She still didn’t really know a thing about him. Other than he barely ate, he picked at the food on his plate, and that he did indeed have tattoos.
    Even her parents had been shocked when he’d shown up three days ago wearing a short-sleeved CBGB shirt that clearly showed the thick, swirling bands of tribal tattoos down both arms.
    No one had asked about them, but she was sure her family had thought the same thing she had. How was it possible that at fifteen Julian was already so tatted up?
    Chastity sighed. “Damn, we’re going to have to sit in loser row.”
    Glancing up, Elisa realized that because of the rain almost everyone was inside today, which meant only the tables all the way to the back were still open.
    “Then let us press onward to our most certain demise.” Elisa shook her fist and struck a dramatic pose.
    Giggling and rolling her eyes at the same time, Chastity shook her head. “I do not know you.”
    Turning on her heel, Chas walked over to a table to save their seats, pulling a packed lunch out of her book bag. The Debisette’s weren’t poor; Chas could have afforded to buy hot lunches if she’d wanted to, but Fareed Debisette was a penny-pincher if ever there was one. Chas’s father believed in the merits of saving and hard work and had raised his only child to live by his same code.
    Jumping into line, Elisa frowned at the day’s selections. She was a swimmer and needed carbs, but that didn’t mean she liked noshing on things like fried chicken and fettuccine alfredo.
    With a growl, she snatched up a wrapped tuna fish sandwich, a carton of whole milk, and was digging through the bowl of fruit, trying to find one stinkin’ red apple in the pile of greens and oranges.
    “Excuse me.” Elisa looked up at the heavyset lunch lady.
    Elisa had never learned her name, but everyone in school called her Scary Mary, mainly because of the flesh-toned wart on the tip of her nose and the wild shock of purplish red hair tucked behind her black hairnet.
    “Yes?” she said in the deep voice of a pack-a-day smoker.
    “Do you have any red apples back there?”
    “Nope.” She popped the P and began snapping her fingers for Elisa to hand over her money.
    “Nothing at all?” she tried to use her sweetest wheedling voice, but there would be no taming Scary Mary.
    “Look, young lady, the world doesn’t revolve around you. Either pay up or get out of line, there’s a lot of people waiting.”
    When she said that Elisa glanced down the row, ready to murmur an apology when she noticed that three kids down stood Julian. His intense sea-green eyes roved over her face, making the back of her neck feel suddenly hot.
    “Oh, I’m…ah…” She snapped her gaze from his. “Sorry about that.” Dropping a five into the lunch lady’s hand, she waited for her change and then stepped to the side, waiting for Julian to come up.
    Today he was dressed in dark tapered jeans and another one of his rock band t-shirts. She was hopelessly clueless when it came to the band names. She wasn’t really into rock, Dad had raised her to be a lover of jazz and blues.
    Elisa was also slightly surprised that Julian wore rock shirts considering he couldn’t hear the music.
    His dark hair slipped over one eye and she couldn’t help but want to pat it back into place. Julian was just so different from his popular brothers. He didn’t seem to care about fitting in and being cool; for him it was all about being who he was and doing his own thing, and she had to respect that about him. It wasn’t easy marching to the beat of your own drum,