01 Untouchable - Untouchable Read Free Page B

squeal of
delight.
    I honestly don’t think she cared so
much about the fact that he only seemed interested in whether I was
going or not. She was the type of person who liked to surround
herself with the cool or gorgeous people from school. Yeah, he was
right—she was shallow. I started my car and told them
goodbye.
    I stopped by the grocery store to grab
milk, bread and cat food for Beverly, my aunt-for-show. And then I
headed over to the elementary school to pickup my six-year-old
sister, Kimmy. The pickup line for car riders was long, as usual. I
sat there inching my way forward every few moments, but the whole
time I was thinking about Evan. I kept thinking about driving his
car and seeing the surprise on his face. I chuckled to myself, but
realized I needed a new game plan for tomorrow. I needed to act
like I had no interest in him. I would have to be the
stick-in-the-mud that Jewels had called me earlier this morning.
I’d have to be more than a stick-in-the-mud—I’d have to be just
plain old mud. I sighed as I made my decision for tomorrow; no
makeup. Yeah, that should do it.
    The car door opened and Kimmy jumped in
with her Hello Kitty backpack in hand.
    “ Have a good day,” Ms.
Brenderson said as she prepared to shut the door. “And don’t
forget,” she added, pulling it open again. “Wear your seat belt.”
She did that every day, and every time Kimmy would
laugh.
    She buckled her seat belt as I check my
side mirror for an opening to pull out. “So did you have a good
day, kiddo?”
    “ Oh, yes,” and she began
rattling off everything she did in her first-grade classroom. I was
listening, kind of. I couldn’t help it though when my mind would
drift back to the smell of his cologne, the way he reached into my
car, and the smile on his face when he knew I was going out Friday
night.
    “ Snap out of it, Leese,” I
said aloud.
    “ Snap out of what?” Kimmy
questioned.
    “ Sorry, Kimmy. I was just
thinking about someone from my school.”
    “ A boy?” she asked with a
funny little lilt to her voice.
    “ No, of course not.” And
here I thought she was too young to figure that out.
    “ I bet it’s a boy. It’s
okay, Leese. You can like a boy if you want to. I like Michael
Peters. He’s in my class. I think about him all the time,
too.”
    I looked at her and she looked at me,
and then we both began to giggle.
    “ Is he cute?” I questioned
with exaggerated interest.
    “ Oh, yes. He’s seven and
he’s missing his front teeth, but I still want to kiss
him!”
    “ Kimmy!” I didn’t have to
fake the shock. “You don’t go around kissing boys.”
    “ Sure you do, Leese. Don’t
you watch TV?”
    “ Apparently not the same
shows that you do, young lady,” I said as I pulled into the
driveway.
    “ Oh, come on, Leese: Snow
White, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid—they all kiss the
boys they love.”
    I frowned for a moment, considering
that even though they were cartoons, she was right; it was all
about one great kiss. “I guess, but you should wait until you’re
older. You might not even like Mike what’s-his-name next year.” For
that matter, I was thinking we might not even be here next year,
but I didn’t want to get her hopes up about going home or dash them
about leaving her friends.
    “ Peters,” she said as she
trudged up the front steps. “It’s okay, Leese. I’m just livin’ my
life.” She sounded like some mini-scholar who dispensed wisdom to
every dumb teenager that walked by. My eyes began to sting as the
tears filled my bottom lashes; that was mom’s line. She raised us
with the motto to always live your life, don’t just go through
it.
    “ Life,” I remembered her
saying, “is a daily experience. God gives us a fresh chance every
morning to discover what’s out there. I hope when you grow old, God
willing, you’ll look back and say, thanks for the memories, instead
of saying wait, let me go back. I was just getting by. Let me go
back and re-do