Heal Me (A Touched Trilogy Book 2) Read Free Page A

me a big smile. She thought I should be happy to have Dylan. Maybe I should have been.
    Ms. Garcia asked Tyler to call out the name he pulled and she recorded it on her computer. The next person followed. When my turn came, I hesitated. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t be with him anymore. I crumpled the paper in my hand.
    “Ms. Matlin?”
    Chloe nudged me with her elbow. Ms. Garcia was staring at me. I looked at Chloe, silently begging her to understand then turn back to Ms. Garcia.
    “Micah.” I felt Dylan and Chloe’s surprise and something else, too. The stinging heat of anger. Someone in the room was not impressed with my partnering with Micah. But there wasn’t anything I could do except wait to see what name Chloe called out.
    She gave the same long pause I did before finally calling out, “Dylan.”
    I’d never been so glad she was my sister.
    The rest of the pairs were assigned and Ms. Garcia handed out the rubric she would be using to grade the projects.
    “Mr. Paulson has generously allowed us access to his film students, and is encouraging them to help you for extra credit. Presentations will begin the third week of May, and the sign-up sheet will be posted next week. Every class until presentations start is for you to devote to your project. If you choose to use the classroom, wonderful. If your project requires you work elsewhere, please inform me, so I do not count you as absent. Good luck.”
    Chaos erupted as everyone began moving at once. Desks shuffled and bodies bumped against me. Beside me, Chloe stood and, before she moved away, leaned close to my ear. “You so owe me.”
    I nodded, still frozen in my seat, watching Dylan. When Chloe reached him, he seemed to argue with her. Probably asking to switch partners. She shook her head and made some gesture to Ms. Garcia.
    “Are you even awake?” a gruff voice behind me asked. I twisted around. Micah looked anything but happy to be talking to me. Well, at least I knew who was angry about our pairing.
    “Yes, sorry. I was just thinking,” I said lamely.
    “That’s surprising.” He rolled his eyes and pulled out Chloe’s vacant chair. He threw his books on the desk and sat down. There was no way I could miss his implication.
    “What does that mean?” I asked, startled by his attitude. He obviously didn’t like me, although I’d never done anything to him.
    “Nothing. Let’s get started.” He opened his binder and flipped through his notes. My own were in front of me, but I had barely a third of what he did and I’d actually been enrolled all year. I felt some relief knowing that he was an English buff. Maybe the project wouldn’t be the disaster my last one with Dylan had been.
    “I ranked the projects I’d like to do, and thought the character interview would be a good one. What did you pick as your top choice?” He looked at me expectantly.
    “What?” I glanced at his assignment sheet with penciled in numbers beside each option then at my own unmarred page.
    “Ms. Garcia said to number our top choices so we could get started quicker.”
    “Oh, uh…” I had totally spaced. I’d been so focused on figuring out who to partner with I hadn’t even thought I might have been missing instructions. “The interview sounds fine.”
    “What about the movie trailer? Or the puppet theater? Maybe the game show?” There was an odd look in his eye, but I couldn’t figure out what it was.
    “Sure, any of those sound good.” I had no idea what the possible projects were and felt guilty. This was the type of thing I’d wanted to avoid with Dylan. Micah could choose the project and I would just go with it. Pacifying people was much easier than arguing over petty things.
    “Great. It’s much easier knowing you don’t have your own opinion.” He glanced back at his notes and I just sat in shock. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why he was being so rude. “We’ll do the interview then, with a character from A Streetcar Named