13 to Life Read Free Page B

looked like he could actually
be
somebody. Probably another snotty out-of-towner who thought he was too good for a small town. Maybe Farthington with its bizarre news made him immune to what was important to folks in an old railroad town like Junction. Maybe it was simply beyond his capability to care.
    But that couldn’t be true. If I could still care about something—anything—anyone else could, too.
    He just stood there. Silent and absolutely inattentive.
    “You’re not really interested in any of this, are you?” I said, waving my hands to encompass the whole school.
    He looked down at me for the briefest moment. Our eyes connected, and I caught my breath. His eyes were so much more than
nearly navy blue
. Looking at them was like looking at the variations in the pietersite in my pocket. He tore his gaze away coolly and simply stated, “I’m not interested in much.”
    He shrugged, not bothering to look at me again.
    Had that been a complete dismissal of me? Was it
me
and notthe school or my hometown that he thought he was so much better than? I
was
being blown off.
    Fuming, I began walking again, lengthening my stride to close the distance between us and our first real destination quickly. He kept up easily. “Well, you’ll have to care about
school
if you ever want to get out of
here,
” I snapped, turning the door’s handle. “Welcome to lit.”

CHAPTER TWO
    I stalked into the room, my peers’ eyes trying to catch a peek at my expression. I released the door, letting it—and hoping it would—smack into Pietr’s face.
    He didn’t even glare in my direction. I made my disappointment obvious: Handing my pass to Ms. Ashton, I rolled my eyes. But she didn’t notice, letting the pass slip through her fingers as she crossed the floor, apologies to Pietr falling from her lips—for
my
behavior!
    “I’m so sorry Jessie let go of the door too soon—are you okay?” She scanned his face, her eyes bright and oddly eager. I took my seat and watched the other students’ reactions to our arrogant new class member. The girls were all sitting—literally—at the edge of their seats, fingers white around the knuckles as they gripped their desks and made mooneyes at him.
    I couldn’t believe how they all seemed so blatantly and suddenly obsessed with Pietr. I mean, okay—I looked him up and down without feeling a hint of self-consciousness, measuringand weighing what I saw there. Yep. Not bad looking, sort of had that catalog-model look, good enough for print but not typical runway material.
    But he simply didn’t care.
It made me want to scream. But I remembered: Most girls go soft over guys with that dangerously arrogant edge—that distance that marks them as unattainable. I sighed.
    Ms. Ashton was still rambling on about the importance of literature to civilization and, of course, to the class. Pietr occasionally said something softly in that too-cool way of his, and all the girls giggled. Even Ms. Ashton. She had taken Pietr by the hand to better lead him to his desk. I was astonished by her utter disregard of teacher-student protocol.
    I ruffled the pages of my lit book, feeling a heat growing on my back. I turned and nearly choked on my own surprise. Derek was watching me. He winked at me and motioned with a jerk of his head at Pietr. I rolled my eyes, my insides melting at this small communication with my old crush.
    Derek chuckled silently and pointed to get me to turn back around in my seat.
    “So, Jessie,” Ms. Ashton was addressing me. “How did you manage to get the assignment of showing Pietr around?”
    The girls all turned, glaring at me and yet seemingly hungry to know how they could get their very own new-boy-at-school, too.
    “Just luck,” I muttered.
Bad, dumb luck.
    I felt Derek’s eyes on me again. Pietr didn’t bother to acknowledge my statement.
    Ms. Ashton closed class with a homework assignment. There were groans in response. Someone stated the obvious: “It’s almost