Free Awaken (The Awaken Series Book 1) by Maggie Sunseri Page A

and leaned forward, his mouth right next to my ear. “I think I’d like you anyway.” He slowly retracted, waving at something behind me.
    I turned around to see Jasper raising his eyebrows at us from what appeared to be the kitchen. He narrowed his eyes at Alex, who backed away with his hands raised in front of him, much like Megan did in her soccer games when she was trying to let the referee know she didn’t commit a foul.
    I turned to glare at Alex, who was obviously using me in whatever feud he was in with his cousin. Alex winked at me like he had in the museum. I rolled my eyes.
    “Hey,” I said when I reached Jasper. He led me past the bright-colored kitchen and into a room with blue walls, a couch and a TV.
    “How are you?” Jasper asked politely. He knelt down on the ground, rifling through a bin filled with CDs in labeled sleeves.
    “I’m fine. I’ve just never done this kind of thing before.” Oops, that came out wrong. “I mean, do something that my parents would hate me for.” Even worse. What was going on with my ability to speak coherently? English was beginning to feel like a second language.
    Jasper looked up at me, his eyes tinted with concern.
    “Your parents would never hate you. They might be pissed at you though…Listen, we don’t have to do this. I don’t want to get you in trouble.” He studied my face. “Or make you feel bad.”
    I shook my head. “They just have a thing against Outsiders, which is ignorant considering everyone originated from the Outside in some way or another.”  
    Jasper nodded, still appearing skeptical.  
    “And I wouldn’t have come if I didn’t want to.”  
    Jasper seemed to weigh my word choice as he finally found the desired CD. “Ah, here it is. I promised you some illegal stuff, didn’t I?”  
    I stared at the disk labeled Nirvana. I’d never heard that word before, and I wondered if it had a meaning or if it was just a made-up word.  
    “I have no idea what your music taste is, since you’ve never heard any before. I’ll just play things from different genres, and you can tell me what you like or dislike.”
    “I’ve heard music,” I protested. There were a few instrumental albums I used to study, composed by the appointed musicians of Oportet.  
    Jasper grinned and shook his head at me. “I meant real music, Luna.”  
    I loved it when he said my name—the way it rolled off of his tongue like it was his favorite word to say.
    Jasper stuck the CD into a laptop and waited for it to load. The sudden burst of noise that shot out when he clicked the little triangle button made me jump. Jasper laughed, crushing my hope that he hadn’t noticed.
    “Sorry about that. The volume was up all the way,” he said as he turned it down.
    We sat on his couch in silence for the duration of the first song, Jasper casting amused glances my way every few seconds. I was swept away by the singer’s smooth, captivating voice as it transformed into angst-filled aggression. I had never heard anything like it before, and I wasn’t sure I was enjoying it.
    “It’s one of the oldest albums we have,” Jasper murmured. “What do you think?” He looked at my face, appearing to be holding back laughter.
    “I don’t know. Could we try something, um, softer, maybe?” I hoped that all of the music from the Outside wasn’t as rough.  
    Jasper finally let out the pent-up laughter, whatever he thought was so funny apparently had to do with me. It made me so angry and nervous all at once. Was it something I said?
      “I was kind of just messing with you. I just wanted to see how you would react. Nirvana isn’t exactly what a native Oportet citizen should be starting out with.”  
    I let out a breath. I was glad all his music wasn’t like that. I shot him a mock look of irritation.
    “Definitely not what I’m used to.” I watched as he pulled out an album by Coldplay.
    “Now tell me what you think of this.” Jasper replaced the Nirvana CD with