Love Storm Read Free Page A

said lightly in a neutral tone of voice, opening up my PB&J sandwich, courtesy of Tristan.
    Zack tended to hang out with all sorts of people – everyone in the entire school knew who he was. On the flip side, everyone also knew the one person who seemed to be his best friend. Brock Davis. The kid who got detention on a daily basis, smoked while everyone looked away, and got stoned just as often. But if the rumors were true, Brock Davis was also a brilliant kid. He was in all honors classes and had always maintained a B average and above. Brock and Zack made a great pair, either way. Zack was a genius too, in his own way. His report card may not have shown it, but all it took was one conversation with him to know he wasn't stupid.
    I was pulled back to the present when Zack reached for my water bottle.
    "Why yes, of course you can have some," I snapped.
    "Thank you, Winter. How generous of you." He winked at me.
    I stared at him, exasperated, as he took two sips of my precious water. Precious because Tristan had not yet figured out that peanut butter and jelly sandwiches required an even amount of peanut butter and jelly. He tended to apply the peanut butter with a more generous hand than I would have liked.
    "Are you going to tell me why you've been sitting with me at lunch this whole week?" I asked politely, taking back my water and downing a quarter of it in one gulp, trying my best to wash out the nutty stickiness. I made a small face to myself. Water and peanut butter – nasty.
    "Tsk, tsk, Winter," Zack said, starting in on his own lunch – cafeteria pizza. I wrinkled my nose. How unhealthy could you get? "First rule of the game – you never should acknowledge that it's there."
    I gritted my teeth. Okay, so he was getting a little on my nerves. That was fine. Lots of people got on my nerves. Just breathe, Winter. Breathe, god damn it.To Zack's credit, I understood the game he was talking about. It was a secret, silent battle of wills. Well, actually, more like a battle against my will. He was trying to see how long I could go without blowing up at him, and I just knew he was enjoying every second of it. He had been sitting with me at lunch all week.
    Fine. I wouldn't let him have the satisfaction of seeing me get mad. I could play the game too. For the moment, I chose to ignore the person sitting across from me.
    No Eva to sit by and sympathize with me, I thought sadly. She was so busy with trying to pull her schoolwork back together, it was nearly impossible getting a word in edgewise. We hadn't talked properly, really, since the beginning of school. We were close, the comradeship was still there. But we hadn't been talking as much. Afternoons were spent at her house trying to get all the chores done, dinner time was worse, after dinner was spent trying to force the kids into their pajamas and getting them to stay upstairs, while Eva, Tristan and I took turns in taking showers, and after that… the dreaded mountain of homework. I suddenly felt a surge of anger against Mr. Westley. It wasn't fair, how he was dumping everything on us and wedging himself into his work. And here I was, pulled into the thick of it. It wasn't fair. I had to continually deal with her family's problems. It got so tiring. I loved her like a sister, but I felt, at the same time, I was giving her some of my freedom. Nowadays, the only time I got to spend with my own family was during the weekends. I practically lived at Eva's house now.
    - Zack-
    I watched her eyes – they were a dead giveaway to her emotions. Her chocolate brown eyes, sometimes so heartbreakingly innocent, other times filled with emotions I secretly hoped would never be truly directed at me. How ironic, I thought mildly. Scorn, frustration, exasperation – it was all directed at me, at the moment. Really, I was doing her a bit of a favor. Now she had a person to push all her pent up frustrations on. Why did she dislike me so much, anyway? Perhaps I simply annoyed her.
    I