Wings Free with Bonus Material Read Online Free PDF Page A

wasn’t a perfectly normal family trait. But she could tell that her mom was starting to get worried.
    Laurel dressed in her usual tank top and jeans and started to pull her hair into a ponytail. Then she thought of the irritated blemishes she occasionally saw dotting other girls’ backs in the locker room and left her hair down. Just in case the bump developed into something ugly later on.
    Especially at David’s house. That would suck.
    Laurel grabbed an apple as she walked out the door and called good-bye to her mom. She was almost to David’s house when she looked up and saw Chelsea jogging the other way. Laurel waved and called to her.
    “Hey!” Chelsea said, smiling as her curls blew lightly around her face.
    “Hi,” Laurel said with a smile. “I didn’t know you were a runner.”
    “Cross-country. Usually I practice with the team, but on Saturdays we’re on our own. What are you doing?”
    “I’m headed to David’s,” Laurel said. “We’re going to study.”
    Chelsea laughed. “Well, welcome to the David Lawson fan club. I’m already president, but you can be treasurer.”
    “It’s not like that,” Laurel said, not completely sure she was telling the truth. “We’re just going to study. I have a bio test on Monday that I’m totally going to blow without some serious intervention.”
    “He’s just around the corner. I’ll walk you there.”
    They rounded the corner and heard the mower. David didn’t see them as they walked up and they both stood there, watching.
    He was pushing a lawn mower through the thick grass, wearing only a pair of jeans and old tennis shoes. His chest and arms were long and wiry but corded with lean muscle—his skin was tanned from the sun and glistened with a light sheen of sweat as he moved almost gracefully in the gentle morning sunlight.
    Laurel couldn’t help but stare.
    She’d seen guys running around without shirts countless times, but somehow this was different. She watched his arms flex as he reached a particularly thick patch of grass and had to force the mower to keep going. Her chest felt a little tight.
    “I think I’ve died and gone to heaven,” Chelsea said, not bothering to hide the appreciation in her eyes.
    As if feeling them watching, David suddenly looked up and met Laurel’s eyes. She dropped her chin and studied her feet.
    Chelsea didn’t even blink.
    By the time Laurel looked up again, David was pulling on a shirt. “Hey, guys. You’re up early.”
    “Is it early still?” Laurel asked. It was almost nine o’clock, after all. “Oh,” she said, embarrassed, “I forgot to call.”
    David shrugged with a grin. “That’s okay.” He gestured at the lawn mower. “I’m up.”
    “Well, I gotta run,” Chelsea said, her breathlessness back rather suddenly. “Literally.” She turned so only Laurel could see her face and mouthed, “Wow!” before waving at them both and sprinting down the street.
    David chuckled and shook his head as he watched her go. Then he turned to Laurel and pointed toward his house. “Shall we? Biology waits for no man.”
     
    After the tests were handed in on Monday, David turned to Laurel. “So, how bad was it, really?”
    Laurel grinned. “Fine, it wasn’t that bad. But only because of your help.” They’d studied for about three hours on Saturday and had talked for another hour on Sunday night. Granted, the phone conversation had nothing to do with biology, but perhaps she had learned something by osmosis. Osmosis over the phone. Right.
    He hesitated for just a second before saying, “We could make it a regular thing. Studying together, I mean.”
    “Yeah,” Laurel said, liking the idea of more quiet “study” sessions with him. “And next time you could come to my house,” she added.
    “Great.”
    It was raining by the time class let out that day, so the group gathered under a small pavilion instead. Almost no one ate there because there were no picnic tables or cement underneath, but