Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 102781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
After at least twenty minutes, I finally spoke to someone who said they’d reprint my passes, and as long as I had the credit card I’d paid with and picture identification, I could pick them up at the will call booth at the arena entrance.
I hung up and immediately began thinking how Annalise was probably going to be pissed at how long I’d left Lucas playing Ms. Pac-Man and think I’d done it just to distract her or something.
To my surprise, she wasn’t pissed off at all. In fact, she had a smile on her face and was laughing when I walked into the bullpen. She and Lucas were seated across from each other on beanbag chairs, and they were yelling random things to each other. It wasn’t until I walked farther into the room that I noticed Annalise had a phone held up against her forehead. He’d gotten her to play the digital charades game I never let him beat me at.
“It’s big.” Lucas said.
“The sun!” Annalise yelled.
Lucas laughed and shook his head. “Marmalade.”
“Fruit. A big fruit. Cantaloupe. Watermelon.”
Lucas made a face like she was nuts. “Scooby-Doo.”
Annalise looked totally confused, so Lucas offered another hint.
He pointed to me. “Bennett wanted to be one when he grew up.”
It took even me a few seconds to realize the word he was trying to get her to guess. She was never going to get it—not with those clues.
The phone buzzed, indicating the time for her turn was up, and she lowered her phone and turned it to read the word Lucas had been giving her hints about.
Her entire face wrinkled up. “A great Dane? What does marmalade have to do with a dog?”
I chuckled and answered for him. “Nothing. He meant Marmaduke.”
“The old cartoon strip?”
“Yeah.”
“But he said you wanted to be one when you grew up?”
I shrugged. “I did.”
Annalise laughed. “You wanted to be a great Dane?”
“Don’t knock it. He’s king of the canine family.”
God, when she smiled it made my chest hurt. But when she smiled and laughed with Lucas—even at my expense—it really did something to me. I watched as her laughter died down and her face returned to sadness, almost as if she’d forgotten what a dick I was for a minute.
“I also beat her at Ms. Pac-Man and foosball.”
“She hasn’t had as much practice as I have. Annalise just started at this office.”
Lucas stood. “Did you get new tickets?”
“Yeah. We can pick them up at the door.”
“You wanna come, Anna?” he said. “I’ll give you my earplugs.”
She offered a sincere smile. “Thanks for the offer, Lucas. But I have a lot of work to do today.”
He jammed his hands into his pockets. “Okay.”
Annalise avoided my gaze, looking down at her phone.
“You ready, buddy?” I asked.
“Yep!” He ran to the door, rather than walking.
The kid had a shitload of energy.
I waited for Annalise to look up, but she didn’t. Eventually, I spoke to the top of her head.
“Thanks for hanging out with him.”
I wanted to say I was sorry for last night, too. But the timing wasn’t right. Plus, I’d apologized for a half dozen other times I’d acted like an asshole already. I wasn’t sure she’d accept it this time…or that I even deserved her to.
Chapter 21
* * *
November 1st
Dear Me,
So far eighth grade sort of sucks. I’m taller than almost all the boys. No one asked me to the Halloween dance, so I went with Bennett. He didn’t want to dress up, but I made him be Clark Kent. He wore some nerdy glasses and a dress shirt with a Superman shirt underneath. I went as Wonder Woman. My friends all think Bennett is hot and were jealous. So that was fun.
For my birthday, Bennett and his mom took me to the monster truck show. Mom’s new boyfriend, Kenny, sells stuff at the concession stand, so we got free hot dogs and sodas.
The landlord is trying to kick us out of our house again. Mom lost her job at the diner and says we’re probably going to have to move. I hope it’s not too far.
I love my English teacher, Mrs. Hoyt. She said my poems have a lot of potential and wanted to enter some in a contest. But the entry fee was twenty-five bucks and Mom said we have better uses for our money. Mrs. Hoyt surprised me and entered me anyway. She said the school had a fund to help out for things like that. But I have a feeling it was really Mrs. Hoyt’s money that paid. So I dedicate this poem to you, Mrs. Hoyt.
Flowers will wither
love blossoms in the warm sun
cold comes way too soon
This letter will self-destruct in ten minutes.
Anonymously,
Sophie
Chapter 22
* * *
Bennett
I couldn’t stop thinking about Annalise all day.
Luckily, Lucas didn’t seem to notice since he was busy eating a giant tub of popcorn, two hot dogs, and a soda large enough to fill a sink basin. We had third-row seats, so the roar of the trucks and our earplugs also kept us from talking much. With nothing to do but sit in my seat, I couldn’t stop obsessing over Annalise’s face when I’d walked out of the bullpen earlier. She’d moved past angry and now settled in on hurt.