[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
. What s wrong? Ma-m-mom, I got to go. The fury returned to make her eyes snap blue fire at him. Sit your butt down, boy.You re onrestriction. I know.But No buts, she snapped. Sit down and do your homework.Now! He shook his head. You re going to have to ground me again.I ve got to go check on Brynna.I gota really bad feeling, and she s not answering her phone.I have to make sure she s okay. She took a step back and eyed him suspiciously. Is that really what you re doing? Cross my heart, Mom. He made a small cross in the center of his chest.Something he only didwhen he meant it. All right.Go on and check on her, then.I won t hold that against you.You want to take the burgerwith you? Nick grabbed it from her tray, then kissed her cheek. Can I leave my books here? I ll be back assoon as I make sure she s not doing something stupid. Sure. Taking a bite of his burger, he headed for the door. Hey, Nick? He paused to look back at his mother and swallowed his food. Yes, ma am? You re a great kid.Much better than I deserve.I just wanted you to know that while I m hard onyou, I do see how wonderful you are.You do me real proud and I mean that. Her words warmed him. Thanks, Ma.I love you, too. Smiling at her, he rushed out to get to thestreetcar so that he could bust tail to make it to Brynna s house as fast as possible.This would be somuch easier if I had a car.&Or if Ambrose or Death would teach him how to teleport.Now there was a power he d love tohave.Of course with his luck, he d teleport someplace bad like the Arctic Circle while in hisunderwear.Or buck naked into his school s gym during a pep rally.Yeah, that d be a lot worse than freezinghis nether regions on an iceberg.He d much rather have penguins point and laugh at him than the girlsin his class.He came around the corner of the French Market at a dead run.For once luck was with him.Thestreetcar came in right as he reached the platform.And he made the best time ever getting to Brynna s house.A huge, dark gray antebellum mansion, itdwarfed his entire apartment building.Even though it made him uncomfortable to be around a placethis nice and elegant, he d always liked coming here.Whenever Brynna s mom was in town, sheusually had fresh cookies or cupcakes sitting in a glass case on their kitchen island.And her dad hadnever once looked at him as if he was trash or made a comment over the fact that Nick didn t belongaround his daughter.All of the Addamses were as nice as they could be.Something he deeplyappreciated.Nick opened the wrought-iron gate and sprinted across the small front yard and up the steps to thefront door.He rang the bell.A few seconds later, Brynna s little brother, Jack, opened the door and stared up at him. Yeah? Is Brynna home? Jack shrugged. Don t know.Don t care. I am so glad I m an only child.& Nick sighed and tried again. Is your dad around? He s running errands.Be back later. Can I come in and see if Brynna s in her room? Jack narrowed his gaze on Nick. Ain t no boy not related to us supposed to be up in her room.Ever. I won t go in it.You can come with me and make sure I stay in the hallway.Please? I won t behere long.I just want to make sure she s all right. Yeah, okay.I heard her crying earlier.Figured it was something stupid.She cries all the time,anyway.When she s happy.When she s mad.When she s sad.Whenever she breaks a nail or has totake medicine.Girls are so weird.I try not to pay attention to them. Jack stepped back so that Nickcould enter the house. Nick headed for the stairs. Where s her room? First one on the left. But Jack didn t follow him up.Instead, he drifted past the stairs, towardtheir kitchen.Taking the stairs two at a time, Nick didn t pause until he got to her door.Please be okay.Please & Terrified of what he might find, he knocked. Hey, Bryn? It s me, Nick.You in there? Go away. There was no missing the tears in her voice. I can t.Not until I know you re all right. Nick leaned his head against the white wood andwished he could make it better for her.He hated for anyone to be this torn up, and for what?Meanness? Jealousy? Really? Why would anyone with a soul do this to someone else? Could theytruly feel satisfaction or derive happiness from stabbing someone else so ferociously? I know you re hurting, Bryn.Believe me, I know how it feels to get your emotional teeth kickeddown your throat so far that it makes you choke on the last shred of your dignity.I do.Just when youthink you can hold your head up and everything will be okay, in walks your mom with this tacky,awful bright orange fish shirt that she makes you wear to school so that everyone can poke fun at itand call you names.That sick feeling in your gut that tells you, you can t take it anymore.That lifesucks hard and it won t ever get better.That you re walking on the tightrope, trying to hang on withyour toes cause you got no safety net, and you re barely one sneeze away from being a stain on thefloor.But you re not alone, Brynna.You re not.You ve got a lot of people who care about you.People who love you and who would be devastated if something ever happened to you. She opened the door.Her dark hair was rumpled and her eyes bloodshot and swollen.With hermascara smeared around her eyes and down her cheeks, she looked so miserable that it wrung hisheart. I m not as strong as you are, Nick. No.You re stronger than me. Shaking her head, she hiccupped.Nick wiped at the tears on her face. You know, I was having this really crappy day a couple ofyears ago.It was so bad that I honestly thought about throwing myself off the Pontchartrain bridge.Iwas so sick of being kicked and mocked for things I couldn t help or change.Told how worthless anddisgusting I was.How stupid and trashy.And as I sat in the cafeteria at a table by myself because Iwas a social outcast and didn t have enough money for lunch, this beautiful girl came over and satdown beside me.She split her turkey sandwich and homemade cookies with me and bought me a bagof chips and a milk.Do you remember what she said to me? Tears flowed down her face. No. No one can make you feel inferior without your permission. Eleanor Roosevelt. Nick nodded. You said to me, Don t let them hurt you, Nick.One of you is worth ten of them.Andone day, we re going to be grown and everything will be different.They ll matter even less to youthen than they do now.So don t even waste a single thought on them and their cruelty.Besides, theywouldn t be attacking you if they didn t think of you as a threat to them.People only go after the onesthey re jealous of or scared of. And I asked you that day why anyone would ever be jealous ofsomething like me. Brynna sniffed. Because there s a light inside you that shines so bright it s hard to look at.You arekind and funny, and you re the smartest boy I ve ever met.Most of all, you see potential andopportunity where others see obstacles. Yeah, Nick said, his throat tight as he remembered all the times when all he d needed was a kindsmile from someone.Anyone.And Brynna had been that one person that day when he d felt batteredbeyond his endurance. Those words etched themselves into my soul, and I think about them a lotwhen Stone and them get started on me.While other people have kicked me, coming and going, younever did.You are an angel, Brynna.Don t let the haters win.They wouldn t have attacked you hadthey not felt inferior to you.So you hold your head up and you dare them to come after you.And knowthat when you do, you re not facing them alone.You ve got me, LaShonda, Kody, and dozens of otherpeople who will take on the devil himself for you. She threw herself into his arms and sobbed against his neck. I love you, Nick [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]