Forbidden Read Free Page B

guy—blind or stupid? Or both?
    As soon as the thoughts entered his mind, Alec scolded himself for being uncharitable. He didn’t know a thing about Neil, or about Claire for that matter, and he had no business making judgments about either of them. “I take it you like music, then?” he asked Claire.
    “I love music. But sadly, I inherited tone deafness from my mother. I tried piano lessons when I was nine but wasn’t very good at that, either.”
    The foursome left the gym a while later—sans Neil—their backpacks bursting with books. As they crossed the paved drop-off circle and headed for the south stairwell, they passed under a section of construction scaffolding that crawled up the face of a nearby building. A sign in black and red lettering warned, CAUTION: WORKERS ABOVE .
    “What’s going on up there?” Erica asked.
    “I heard they’re remodeling the theater lobby and putting in new windows or something,” Claire answered.
    “They’d better be done soon,” Erica muttered as they marched up the stairs, “’cause I plan to be the first junior to get the lead in the school musical.”
    “Which one are we doing this year?” asked Brian.
    “I don’t know. Does it matter?”
    “If they do Twelve Angry Men: The Musical , you’re screwed.” Brian grinned.
    Erica swatted him on the shoulder. “Claire, you should really grow some balls this year and try out.”
    “No way.” A blush bloomed in Claire’s cheeks. “How about you, Alec? Do you sing?”
    Alec paused. The fact that Claire had a crush on a guy who could sing was not lost on him. With a small smile, he said, “A bit. But not in public.”
    They all exited the stairwell onto an open-air upper terrace, where a short stretch of beige lockers was tucked beneath an overhang beside the back entrance to the library.
    “Here’s my locker,” Brian said, moving up to test his combination. Erica’s locker was in that grouping as well.
    Claire checked the sheet with her assignment. “Anybody know where locker 302 is?”
    “On the other side of the library. Mine’s 308. I’ll show you,” Alec responded. As soon as he said it, he wished he could take it back. Would it seem odd that he knew these things?
    As if on cue, Claire glanced at him in surprise. “You’re the locker tour guide now? I thought you were the new guy.”
    Alec hesitated, then said honestly, “I … stopped by to look the place over the other day. I always like to be prepared.” He turned and started walking.
    “And do you always like to think for about twenty minutes before you speak?” Claire asked as she followed him.
    “Sometimes longer. I guess I don’t think as fast as you do.”
    “Somehow I doubt that, Mr. All-My-Classes-Are-Honors,” Claire said with a smile.
    The teasing warmth in her eyes made his stomach do a somersault. They reached the front of the library, where two long rows of freestanding lockers faced each other in a covered, open-air pseudo-corridor. Several other students were shoving in their new books. Claire found her locker and opened it while Alec moved to his.
    “What’s that?” Alec asked, pointing to a contraption that Claire had pulled from her backpack.
    “A LockerMate.” Claire knelt on the concrete and began to unfold and assemble the unit, hooking the corners of what looked like two painted metal shelves onto the four legs. “It’s a little rusty and rickety, but the shelves make the locker a lot more organized.”
    “Would you like a hand?”
    “Thanks, I’m okay. I’ve had this since sixth grade.”
    He watched Claire carefully lift her assembled LockerMate into her locker. Loosening the wing nuts in the center of both shelves, she pushed against the unit’s legs, as if trying to widen it to fill the space—but it wouldn’t budge. She pushed again. No luck. With a frustrated sigh, she turned to him with lowered eyes and mumbled quietly, “Help?”
    Alec grinned and moved to her side. “What do I do?”
    “The