Free Book of Love by Abra Ebner Page B

musty smell of
dirty carpet filling my nostrils. I opened my eyes, feeling as
everyone watched me. I pretended to breathe hard, grabbing my head
and faking a wince. I wasn’t sure just why I did it, but the look
on Wes’s face seemed to tell me. And his thoughts, they wanted me
to do it—to help him somehow.
    “ Emily, are you alright?”
The teacher was shaking me. I blinked, nodding. I looked at the
faces of the students that had surrounded me, their mouths hanging
open and their eyes agape.
    “ Sorry I—” I tried to come
up with some sort of an excuse, but then figured saying nothing was
just as good.
    The teacher grabbed the arm of the student
standing next to him. “Jake, take her to the nurse, will you?” He
was the teacher’s pet after all—other than me, of course.
    I tried to hide the
disdain as I discreetly rolled my eyes— anyone but him. Jake grabbed my arm
and I cringed. This was embarrassing enough as it was. I began to
wonder what people thought, but then again, everyone expected this
from me. I was a freak.
    I leaned against Jake despite all my body’s
cries not to. I had to play the part. He led me out the door, his
mind relishing every moment his sweaty hands touched me. It was
definitely going to be his last. In the hall I shrugged him away.
He looked at me, stunned.
    I straightened my clothes.
“Listen, Jake. I’m fine. Don’t tell anyone.” I reached in my pocket
and fished for the five dollar bill I knew was there. “Here. Just
go walk around for a bit and then go back.” I shoved the bill into
Jake’s palm. He pushed his glasses up his nose with his other hand.
“Say anything and I’ll ruin you,” I added, jabbing my finger in his face with
warning.
    Jake look terrified as I glared at him, my
face close to his. His braces dripped with nervous saliva. I felt
bad for him. It wasn’t his fault that he was such a nerd, but I
needed him to pull through for me. This was his chance to shine. He
nodded, his asthma kicking in as he reached in his pocket for his
inhaler. I patted him on the arm as he coughed. Despite the way I’d
treated him, his thoughts still obsessed over how hot he thought I
was.
    I rolled my eyes. “Thanks, Jake.”
    He tried to smile as he inhaled his
medicine.
    I shook my head, giving him one last nod
before I turned and ran in the opposite direction of the nurse’s
office. I glanced back to see Jake nervously bustling down the hall
and away from the classroom, following my directions. I slid on my
heel as I turned the corner, making my way out and into the parking
lot where I saw Wes’s car still parked in the spot he had left it
in this morning. I walked briskly across the pavement, nearly
running. As I drew close, I saw that Wes was inside. Grabbing the
handle of the car door, I opened it and ducked in as the old
leather of the seats squealed in protest.
    “ Wes,” I said his name,
urging him to look at me. He was breathing hard, gripping the wheel
with both hands. The look on his face frightened me. The whispers
in my head returned, chanting something I couldn’t understand. I
blinked hard and tried to press them to the back of my thoughts.
“Wes, what’s going on?” I gasped. I touched his arms but he shied
away, as though it had hurt.
    He looked in my direction,
his eyes reddened. “Em—I…”
    “ Shh… Wes, it’s alright.” I
wanted to comfort him, but I knew he didn’t want that. I looked at
the wheel of his car, then him. “Here...”
    I carefully lifted myself off the seat,
moving over the shifter, and into his lap, thereby forcing him to
switch seats with me. He didn’t seem to care, his pain too great to
resist. He grabbed my hips as he moved out from under me, and I
couldn’t help but take pleasure in the brief contact.
    I sat in his seat, left very warm from his
clearly feverish body. I turned and reached across him, fishing
into his coat pocket for the keys. I pulled them out with a shaking
hand, forced them into the ignition, and