Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 100605 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100605 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
“Huh?”
“Draw the clouds. It’s fun. Come on.” Izzy grabbed my hand, which I liked a lot, and pulled me out the back door into the yard. A sun-faded blanket was already spread over the lawn. “You can get comfortable. I’ll get two pads from the garage.”
I wasn’t exactly sure what I was supposed to be doing, but I took a seat on the blanket anyway. Izzy came back a minute later, carrying two sketch pads and a couple of pencils tucked behind her ear. She dropped down beside me, flat on her back with her hair fanning wildly around her head. She bent her knees and propped one of the pads up against them like a makeshift easel.
“Lie down,” she said. “Your neck will hurt if you try to draw sitting up. Trust me, I’ve done it.”
I followed her lead, enjoying the chance to stretch out next to her, even if I had no desire to draw clouds.
“Okay.” She handed me a pencil and pad. “Don’t think too hard. Look up, pick a cloud, and draw it. Then turn it into whatever you see.”
I watched her as she stared up at the sky. Her little nose scrunched and her eyes crinkled while she studied the clouds, and after a minute, her tongue peeked out from the corner of her mouth. I caught myself smiling as she put her pencil to the paper and started drawing.
“You’re watching me again,” she said without looking up.
“Again? When was I watching you before?”
“During history class. At your house when you sit at the kitchen table and leave the living room door cracked open just enough so you can see in. From your bedroom window whenever Luciana and I are outside.”
Busted. I ran a hand through my hair, trying not to look as embarrassed as I felt. “Maybe I like looking at you.”
She glanced at me, eyes narrowed, and her pencil paused mid-stroke. “Why?”
I swallowed but made myself stop being a coward. “Because you’re pretty.” I paused. “And you’re…interesting to watch. You do things other girls don’t—like clean up garbage you find on da walk home and leave random poems on sticky notes on desks in school. And you stick your tongue out the side of your mouth when you’re concentrating.”
She stared at me for a heartbeat, then smiled faintly and turned back to her sketch pad. “That’s kind of creepy.”
“Yeah.” I laughed nervously. “I guess it is.”
Izzy shaded her cloud quietly for a few minutes while I stared up, pretending to find one to sketch. I was actually busy thinking about whether I should apologize for watching her so much. Before I could come to a decision, her pencil stopped.
“Do you watch other people, too?” she asked.
“No. Just you.”
“I guess that makes you creepy and kind of sweet.”
My heart sped up, and my lips curved to a smile. “Yeah? You think it’s sweet?”
“I do.” Her eyes flicked to mine. “I think you’re sweet, Matteo.”
Suddenly I wasn’t shy anymore. “Do you want to be my girlfriend?”
She shook her head. “I can’t.”
It felt like I’d swallowed my heart and it got stuck in my throat. “Oh. Okay.” I shrugged, trying to act like it wasn’t a big deal. “That’s cool.”
She looked over and smiled. “My dad says I can’t date until I’m sixteen.”
“Oh.” I was fifteen, turning sixteen next month. “When’s your birthday?”
“Four months from tomorrow.”
I looked at the clouds, then at her. “I can wait.”
She blinked. “You’ll wait for me to turn sixteen?”
“Yeah,” I said as our eyes met. “I’ve waited a year to get da courage to ask at all. What’s another four months?”
Chapter 20
Allegra
TONIGHT WAS THE best date I’d ever been on, and it hadn’t even been a date.
I slipped into bed at midnight, smiling like an idiot as thoughts of Matteo filled my head. He was so thoughtful. He could calm me in the middle of the storm that had become my life. And God, the way he looked. That last thought lingered. In the past, the hotter the guy, the faster his rating had seemed to drop once I got to know him and spotted all the red flags. But Matteo? The more time I spent with him, the higher his rating grew. After taking this trip, he was at least a fourteen, possibly higher if he kept on smiling at me the way he had all evening.
Maybe it was the wine. Maybe it was him. Either way, I suddenly wanted him to know exactly what he did to me.
I grabbed my phone from the nightstand, thumb hovering for a few seconds before typing.
Allegra: I think you’re pretty amazing. I’m going to bed smiling on the eve of what might turn out to be one of the worst days of my life. Thank you for coming here with me.
The reply came almost instantly.