Free EMIT (THE EMIT SAGA) by Barbara Cross Page A

well.”
    “You’re kidding, right?”
    Daniel shook his head no.
    “You like poetry?” I asked.
    “I do. I know that’s strange,” he added.
    “Not strange, different,” I remarked. “ Who’s your favorite poet and poem?”
    “ Lord Byron and his poem ‘Darkness.’”
    “ Sounds ominous,” I said jokingly. There was no response to my comment, so I wasn’t sure if he had heard me. What happened to him? He seemed a hundred miles away.
    Amber started tugging on the leash trying to reach a passing dog. I jumped up so that she could say hello. Daniel stood up and after the other dog left, asked, “Want to take a walk?”
    “Sure! That’ d be great.” Since Reed had made a speedy getaway after our conversation, there was still time before dinner.
    For some reason, Daniel escorted me out of the park and we headed towards Columbus Ave.
    Hoping he was my age, I asked, “Are you in high school?”
    “No, I graduated last June, a year go,” he answered very slowly.
    “ So you’ll be a sophomore this fall? What college do you go to?” I wondered.
    “I’m not at school. I’ve been working and traveling around.”
    “Did you apply somewhere and get deferred?” I never heard of people taking two years off before. One year for a gap year was the norm.
    He stopped talking and looked at me with a curious look. “ No, I’ll decide when I’m ready. What about you?” he asked.
    “I’m a senior in high school ,” I answered, watching his reaction.
    “ Really! I thought you were older.”
    “I hear that a lot. I’m seventeen. I’ll be eighteen in December. How old are you?”
    “Nineteen.”
    “Did you go to high school in Manhattan?”
    “ No, I went to Harrow, a boarding school in London. It was my Dad’s alma mater,” he answered. That explained his good manners. “My parents were from London.”
    “So i s my dad. Wouldn’t it be funny if he knew one of them?” 
    Daniel looked at me awkwardly and said, “You never kno w, but my parents passed away.”
    “Oh…I’m so sorry. What happened?” I asked, incredulous to hear that they were dead.
    “They were in a car accident my freshman year,” he answered quietly. Daniel quickly regained his composure and managed a cute smile. “I’m sorry for getting gloomy.”
    “ Please, don’t apologize.” I felt bad and sad for him simultaneously. “Do you live alone?” I asked, trying to steer the conversation in a different direction.
    “ No, I live with my Uncle James, my Dad’s brother. I’m working for him part-time.”
    Daniel didn’t like to talk about himself, but I persisted in asking questions. He eventually told me his uncle was married, had two kids and normally lived in DC. He was here this summer for business. When I brought up college again, he explained that he had a trust fund and had decided to take some time off before heading back to school.
    “Enough about me. Where do you work?” he asked.
    “ At my dad’s law firm. I just go in when they need me.”
    “Does he specialize in any law?”
    “Yeah, international law.”
    It got totally quiet and I started feeling uncomfortable. The silence was killing me, so when Lily popped into my head, I told him all about her. After exhausting that topic and he still wasn’t talking, I remembered that he was in Australia, so I asked him about it.
    As we walked, he told me all about the Great Barrier Reef.
    “So for six months, all you did was play in the sun and tan?” I asked and put my pale arm next to his. I was white as a ghost!
    “Mostly , I did read some books though.”
    “A nything good?” He was definitely too good to be true.
    “I don’t think you’d like my taste in books. I read a lot of non-fiction stuff. ”
    “Non-fiction and poetry? You’re right; you are a strange nineteen year-old.”
    Daniel shrugged his shoulders and said, “I told you so.”
    “I’m kidding. Are you reading anything now?” I wondered.
    “Not yet. I just finished reading a book