Free Shooting Stars 03 Rose by V. C. Andrews Page B

school."
"The truth is. Evan. I don't have all that many friends at the school I'm at now," I revealed,
He looked up at me. "Sure."
I stopped pushing his chair and walked around to the front so he would have to face me.
"For your information. Evan. I can count on the fingers of one hand the girls I care to talk to at school. Mommy. Daddy. and I have moved so many times. I never had a chance to make meaningful relationships. I can't even remember most of the other kids I knew, Their faces are like one big blur to me.. It just so happens, our present address is the longest I can remember occupying, and it's not even a full two years!"
His self-pity dissolved as that look of interest and some trust seeped into his eyes again, warming them.
"I saw just how many places you've lived in. Why did you move so much?"
I looked off at the trees and folded my arms under my breasts.
"I used to think it was just because Daddy got bored easily or didn't care about important things as much as he should have, but after we learned about..."
"Me? The tragic accident of my birth?" he asked, the corners of his mouth turning down.
"I don't think of you as a tragic accident. Evan. Look. I expect to get to know you better, and maybe I won't like you. Maybe you're too bitter, so bitter that I won't be able to help," I said. "But from what I can see and what I've heard so far, you seem to be very intelligent. When I said I wasn't sure I could help you as your tutor. I was thinking to myself that you've already taught yourself so much, you probably know more than I do even though I'm two years older than you.
"Anyway," I continued. "yes, when we heard about you and your mother, both Mommy and I began to think that Daddy moved so much to avoid being pinned down by his added responsibilities. He was like that, I suppose," I said.
Evan's face softened further, making him look more like a little boy to me.
"I pretended I wasn't interested in him whenever Aunt Charlotte talked about him. but I would like to know more about him," he said. "I know I should hate him more than I could hate anyone. but I can't help wondering about him."
"I couldn't help loving him. I still love him. He was probably the most charming manI'll ever meet. but I can't deny being hurt and disappointed by what he's done, for Mommy as much as for myself. Maybe more than for myself," I added.
Evan stared at me and then, after a deep breath. said, "The reason I thought you wouldn't care to spend so much time with me is I thought you were so pretty, you surely had a string of boyfriends calling on you and would if you came here to live as well."
"Well, thank you. but I don't have a string of boyfriends."
"You won a beauty contest, didn't you?" he asked.
"No. I didn't win. I was first runner-up. Wait a minute." I said with my hands on my hips. "'How did you know about that?"
"Aunt Charlotte told me. She had a detective."
"A detective? I thought she just had some attorneys doing some inquiries. A real detective?"
"Philip Marlowe himself," Evan joked. "I don't know, some retired policeman. I think. That must have been some beautiful girl to beat you.'
"I'm not that beautiful. Evan."
"Can we promise each other that we won't lie to each other about the obvious at least. Rose? I'm crippled and you're pretty enough to be in the movies and that's that."
It was my turn to smile.
"She was related to the owner of the company," I revealed. He laughed.
"I knew it. Don't you have at least one boyfriend, someone you like?"
"I'm seeing someone nice at the moment, yes," I admitted. "I'd like you to meet him."
He studied me for a moment and then looked down.
"No, you wouldn't," he said. "You're just being nice. You probably don't want anyone to know about me," he added, reverting to that bitterness. "'There's no reason why you'd want anyone to know we're related."
"That's not true."
"My aunt promised your mother she'd keep it all secret. She told me."
"Well, it's embarrassing for her."
"And for you," he