Free First Light by Samantha Summers Page B

pitch of my voice let me down. I coughed to clear my throat.
     
    He shrugged. ‘Why do you ask?’
     
    ‘Conversation. I was just wondering why these books are on your shelf out of the thousands of books there are in the world. Lord knows, something is lucky to get a place in your room by the looks of it!’
     
    He smiled the sort of smile that normally turns into a laugh, but he kept that part back. ‘You’re in my room, you must be pretty lucky.’
     
    I rolled my eyes.
     
    ‘Sorry. Okay, well the first book: The Count of Monte Cristo . I like that one a lot. It’s about a man who’s sent to prison for a crime he didn’t commit, only to escape and take vengeance on all of those who put him there.’
     
    ‘Wow, that’s the first time you’ve said you like something.’ Picking up the source of his enthusiasm, I scanned the pages. ‘It’s in French!’
     
    All trace of amusement left his eyes. ‘It’s by a French writer,’ he stated flatly.
     
    ‘You can read French?’
     
    ‘Um, yeah. Want to go eat?’
     
    ‘No, thanks, where did you learn?’
     
    ‘At school like everyone else.’
     
    I put it back on the pile. When I straightened, he was next to me.
     
    ‘The second book: Veronika Decide Morrer, I like the Author. He has an interesting way of looking at the world.’
     
    ‘What’s Veronika Decide Morrer? ’ I tried to pronounce the words in the same way he did.
     
    ‘Veronika decides to die.’
     
    I swallowed. ‘That’s my name.’
     
    ‘Yes, I’d noticed that actually.’
     
    I couldn’t think of an appropriate response so I mumbled that I thought it sounded morbid and walked to the window. ‘And what language is that one? And the others?’ I asked, doing my utmost to seem blasé, though I was slightly uneasy at the coincidence.
     
    ‘It’s Portuguese. The others you won’t have heard of or be interested in.’
     
    I stared at him, wondering at the boy who could obviously speak at least three languages.
     
    ‘You’re really smart,’ I said, stating what was becoming blatantly obvious. ‘Where did you go to school?’
     
    His eyes flashed towards the door. ‘Ace, what’s up?’
     
    The youngest of his friends peered in and looked at Kal before entering.
     
    ‘Hey!’ I smiled
     
    Ace straddled a chair he’d brought in with him, so his arms were rested on the back. ‘So Ronnie, do you live near here?’
     
    ‘Yeah not far, a bit further out from town. What about you, where are you from?’
     
    ‘I grew up in New York, I’ve lived in a few different places since then,’ he said.
     
    ‘So how do you guys know each other?’
     
    ‘K’s like a big brother to me.’
     
    ‘Oh? How did you meet?'
     
    ‘Ace,’ Kalen interrupted before Ace could respond, ‘I think you should leave us alone now Little Brother .’
     
    ‘Laith’s being a jerk, I’d like to stay here with you guys.’
     
    An awkward silence followed. Kal didn’t look at either of us, but his stance was clear, even to me.
     
    ‘Fine, see you later, Ronnie, it was good to meet you.’ With that, the youngest boy got up and slouched out.
     
    ‘That wasn’t very nice,’ I said when the door had closed.
     
    ‘He needs to toughen up.’ Kal bit his lip as he looked at me, as if thinking something over. ‘How’re things at home?'
     
    ‘Okay.’ I lifted my shoulders, but a weight seemed to bear on them at the thought. ‘It’s Christmas next week, it'll be hard for my sister and Cloud.’
     
    ‘What about for you?'
     
    I hesitated. What did it matter how hard it was for me? 'I want to keep things as normal as possible. I haven’t decorated yet. Dad used to do that.’
     
    ‘Will your sister will help you?’
     
    ‘Rachel doesn’t do house stuff, she’s not good with manual.’
     
    ‘She’s older than you,’ he said, as though it were the answer to everything.
     
    ‘Yeah, but she had a hard time when we were kids.’
     
    ‘How so?’
     
    I perched on the