Breathe Read Free

accent.” He smirked. “Where are my manners? My momma would skin me. I didn’t even introduce myself,” he said, playing up his accent for all it was worth. “I’m Trenton Ward and you are… ?”
    “My name is Jasmine, but everyone calls me Jas. I’m from LA, you know, Los Angeles. We just moved here two weeks ago,” I answered, avoiding my last name, hoping to head off another round of a hundred questions. I knew Daisy’s murder had gotten national media attention. I was hoping to put off letting that bit of information out for as long as possible. People immediately treated me differently as soon as they knew who I was—or rather, who Daisy was.
    “Wow! LA, huh? Did you live near any movie stars?” he said, hopeful. “You know, like, Megan Fox or Miley?”
    I laughed again. “No, sorry.”
    “Oh bummer.” He looked crushed. “So how do you like it here so far?” He perked right back up.
    “Good. I haven’t really seen much yet. We’ve been unpacking and getting ready for school,” I said noncommittally.
    “Well, we’re gonna have to fix that. You should come to the pep rally after school on Friday. And the game, of course. I know people say it about Texas, but football is like a religion here too. It’s really all there is to do on Friday night. The whole town shows up.” He looked at me with a hopeful expression.
    “Thanks. I’ll try, if my mom isn’t working. Do you play?” I asked, trying to seem interested. He was, after all, my only friend so far.
    “Of course. I start on JV, but I’m second string varsity. I am only a soph, so… you know…” He looked at me like I would understand the subtleties of high school football politics. I just nodded. “Easton is the starting quarterback, though, so you’ll get to see him play.”
    “Who’s that?” I asked.
    “Oh, my brother, Easton. You know, he caught you last night?”
    I felt myself blushing. Not just blushing. I must have turned red and then three shades of white. “That was your brother? He goes here?” I put my face in my hands. “Are you kidding me?”
    He started laughing. “What’s the big deal—so you fainted? Happens all the time.” He was grinning from ear to ear.
    I looked up at him. “This is so not funny. You are talking about the single most embarrassing moment of my life. I was planning on never seeing either of you ever, ever again!”
    “Hey, you weren’t embarrassed about seein’ me again!” he protested.
    “Well, you kind of caused the whole thing,” I grumbled. All I could think of is, if I had to face Dream Guy again, I would die of an overdose of embarrassment. First day officially ruined.
    “Hey, don’t worry. He probably forgot by now.”
    Was he trying to make me feel better or worse? I was trying to figure out a way to change the subject, when the bell rang.
    “Hey, want me to walk with you to your next class? What do you have?”
    I dug through my bag for my schedule. “French with Piaget. Room 203.”
    “Not too far from my algebra class. Come on, I’ll show you.” He stood up and led the way. He even bounced when he walked. He reminded me of Tigger. I had to just smile and follow.
    I met some girls in French who didn’t ask a lot of questions but were friendly and tried to fill me in on where I should and shouldn’t hang out. We were supposed to be speaking in French about what we did this summer, but that only lasted about two minutes. Madame knew nobody was ready to go 100 percent into schoolwork yet.
    “Don’t hang out on the shop side of the school. All the druggies hang out there,” informed one girl whose French name was Danielle, but I wasn’t sure of her real name. “Was that Trenton Ward who walked you to class?”
    “Yeah, he talked to me at lunch. He seems nice?” It came out like a question.
    “Oh yeah, he’s sweet—a little hyper sometimes, but really nice. And his brother is a hottie.”
    “Their whole family is gorgeous,” added one girl whose French