Cuts Run Deep Read Free

her lashes long and black, like spider’s legs. Normally I hated when girls wore a lot of makeup, but hers seemed to make her eyes pop, her lips more pronounced. I found my mind wondering what it would feel like to kiss those lips, to touch her face.
    As we continued to talk, her tone took on a bored quality, and I worried that I already blew my chance with her. My gaze lowered down her body, taking in her black shirt, ripped jean, and Chuck Taylors. She wore chunky rings on almost every finger, and bracelets rode up one arm. There were other guys at our school more suited for her. Shane with his Mohawk who wore skinny jeans and tennis shoes just like Piper’s. Or Max who wore gauges in his ears and dyed his hair different colors every weak. They both had that edgy look and personality I was betting Piper would find appealing. And neither one of them were a preppy jock like me.
    Even so, I was praying she’d give me a shot.
    As I was trying to figure out how to go about asking her out, a thought hit me. She was new to town, so she didn’t have any friends yet. Most likely she hadn’t met Shane or Max. So even if they were better suited for her, I saw her first. Isn’t there a phrase that goes finder’s keepers, loser’s weepers ? I’m not sure it applies when we’re discussing people, but still I took advantage of the situation.
    So I asked her if she had “A” lunch. When she nodded, my heart lifted right out of my chest.
    I offered to have lunch with her and show her around. She agreed, and we made plans to meet in front of Mr. Jones’ classroom before lunch.
    But things didn’t go exactly like I’d hoped. Before lunch I met Piper outside of Mr. Jones’ class as promised. She was leaning against the brick wall, one leg bent. In her hand she held an old book, the pages gold edged. It didn’t look like a textbook. I was curious about the book, so I asked her what it was. Something that none of my friends knew about me was that I loved to read. I did it in private so they didn’t harass me about it.
    She told me it was a book of poetry. That fascinated me, because while I loved novels, I’d never really gotten into poetry. Frankly, I rarely understood it.
    I made the mistake of saying this to her. Annoyance flickered in her eyes at my statement, and I wished I could shove the words back in my mouth. Before I could fix it, she shut me down. Said something about how I could report back to the welcome committee I had done my job by offering to have lunch with her, but that she was fine eating alone. We didn’t even have a welcome committee, but I never got the chance to tell her that. She shoved off the wall and whirled away from me, walking with large clipped strides down the hallway amidst the sea of other students. Only she couldn’t blend in. With that bright hair she’d stand out anywhere. I planned to go after her, but then Tyler and Zach intercepted me. They wanted to warn me about the new girl.
    Apparently the rumors were already running rampant about Piper. An unfortunate byproduct of living in a small town. Of course they all had heard something different. Isn’t that how rumors are?
    Tyler heard that her dad is a doctor, a specialist of some kind, and he had started his own practice here. I actually believed him because I remembered my parents talking about some new doctor. He worked on ears or something. Apparently he set up a fancy office right in the center of town. That was Piper’s dad? I would never have guessed that her dad was a doctor.
    But he also said that he heard she’d moved here because she got in trouble at her last school and was expelled.
    It didn’t seem right. Why would her whole family move just because she got in trouble at school? My parents wouldn’t do that. They’d send me to private school or something. And if her dad’s a doctor, I was pretty sure that Piper’s family had enough money to send her anywhere.
    Zach heard that she was expelled for murdering her