The Wright Brother Read Online Free PDF

especially not in high school where opinions mattered so much.
    She knew he could feel her looking at him, because his left finger kept tapping his tray in an agitated manner. But he didn’t look back at her as he paid.
    “Jules.” She tapped his hand before he could walk off.
    Glancing down at her fingers, his eyes narrowed.
    She wasn’t sure what that look meant, but she had been practicing some sign language in the past two weeks. Sadly, she wasn’t very good at it yet, but she was determined now that he was back in her life to learn from her past.
    Julian didn’t talk much in school. She’d catch him every once in a while signing to his special ed teacher in the halls, but almost the moment he’d catch her watching him he’d drop his hands to his sides and saunter off.
    Whether that meant he was embarrassed because he had to sign or he just didn’t feel like talking anymore, she didn’t know. But she was tired of pretending like they didn’t know each other.
    It was one thing to be five and seven and communicate with jerky weird movements that only the two of them could understand. The days of pointing to a playground and having that be enough were long gone. There was really only one way to learn him and that was to talk with him.
    Back when they’d been little they had a way of talking with each other that’d been slightly different from what others had done.
    Sometimes when they were too busy digging in the sand or watching cartoons to look up, Elisa and he would tap things out on each other’s bodies. Two taps would be “food.” Three would be “run,” etc. Sort of like Morse code, but on skin. As they’d matured their taps had taken on different meanings, meanings only they’d understood. Elisa couldn’t help but think that if he hadn’t moved away from her their language would have evolved into having actual conversations.
    It’d felt special to their relationship, like something only the two of them had shared, and feeling all of sudden like talking a walk down memory lane, she tipped his hand over and placed her fingers on top of his palm.
    But instead of tapping, she used her letters.
    Lunch . She signed it slowly. Her fingers weren’t as dexterous as they needed to be to really have a fluid conversation, but given time she knew it would get there.
    She lifted her brow, proud of herself for trying, and then pointed to herself. “Come with me?”
    His hard stare always left her feeling slightly breathless. Julian was so much more intense than she’d remembered him being before.
    She was pretty sure he would say no, so she was surprised when he shrugged and turned his tray toward her.
    Giving him a brilliant smile full of relief, she turned and headed toward Chas. Julian dropped into the seat next to her.
    Chastity was taking a bite of her very red apple and Elisa almost moaned. Chastity knew how much she adored red apples. The fact that she was forced to eat lunch and not get her daily red apple had obviously not escaped Chas’s notice as she proceeded to groan and chew dramatically.
    The wench.
    “You’re Julian, right?” Chastity said after she swallowed, rubbing her mouth with the back of her hand.
    Elisa pointed to her ear. “He’s deaf, Chas. He can’t hear you.”
    Julian frowned, glowered at her, and then reaching into his pocket, pulled out a small pad and pen and furiously scribbled something down on it. She cocked her head when he turned the pad around.
    In bold, sure strokes he’d written: “I read lips.”
    Mortified, and ears burning a bright shade of crimson, Elisa covered her mouth with her hands. “Oh, Jules, I’m so…I’m…”
    But he was looking down at his tray and she could tell by his rigid body language that he didn’t want to see anything she said.
    Chastity patted her shoulder gently, telling her without words to drop it, and began chatting about dresses. But Elisa’s heart just wasn’t in it. Every once in a while she’d peek at Julian, hoping to