Pretty Dark Nothing Read Free Page A

the dark circles and bags. Clearly she hadn’t slept for days.
    “I agree.” She’d turned from him, glanced over her shoulder, and went back to the absent-minded hair twisting while the discussion moved on.
    He’d wanted to touch her, to get a glimpse of what troubled her, but there was no guarantee his ability would have worked. It was unreliable at best, and his connection probably wasn’t strong enough to evoke anything other than his own desire. Then he would have had to explain an unwarranted touch. Instead, he had pulled his hands inside his shirtsleeves, like he didn’t trust them.
    Then she’d sat next to him in calculus, tormenting him with the sweet apple scent of her perfume. Her scarf pulled tight around her throat, a shield from the world. She tapped the end of her pencil on the back of her hand and shifted in her seat as Mr. Gordon droned on about the rules of differentiation. A can of Red Bull peeked from her backpack. She slipped her hand over the top of the can every few minutes like an addict.
    Aaron had been distracted, too, with his Quinn addiction. He’d spent the hour watching her, his muse, and the words flowed from his pen:
    Under the pale moon my life began.
    Hand in hand
    The soulless garden of my heart
    bloomed in the light of your eyes
    To know you
    To love you
    Alpha and Omega
    Beginning and end
    Of life as I know it.
    He had rewritten it five times to make the handwriting perfect, memorizing it as he memorized her face. He waited for Mr. Gordon to turn back to the whiteboard and folded the paper into a small square. He’d planned to drop it into her half open backpack, perhaps accidentally brush her hand as she reached for the comfort of the can.
    The minutes ticked by. The folded piece of paper never detached from his hand, and soon, the bell rang. Quinn had grabbed the backpack and bolted. Aaron balled the paper in his fist and sunk it in the bottom of the wastebasket.
    Now, lucky chance number three presented itself, and he was determined to take it. Say something to her before Reese and the others show up.
    Aaron rehearsed what he could say to her in his head. I’ve been in love with you since I first saw you. Jeff is an idiot. Go out with me. We’re made for each other. He shook his head. That line screamed restraining order. He could do better. She was just another girl, and he talked to girls all the time—had talked to her hundreds of times. But now that she was single, his words stuck in his throat.
    “Yo, Aaron! What’s up?” Marcus leaned against the neighboring locker, an overly muscled shoulder blocking Aaron’s view of Quinn.
    Aaron shuffled to the right until her golden hair flashed back into sight . Kerstin’s a slut, and Jeff’s an asshole. They deserve each other, and you deserve more. True, but maybe a little too blunt.
    “Dude, you’re not a Jedi. You can’t use the force to pull the clothes off her body just by staring at her. Believe me, I’ve tried.” Marcus turned to focus all his attention on Quinn. “Nope. Still doesn’t work.” He sighed and crossed his arms. “I wonder why Luke Skywalker never used his powers to see what was under Leia’s gold bikini.”
    “Because she was his sister?” Aaron rifled through his locker for his Economics book. Hey, Quinn, are you okay? Let me know if you need anything. I’m a great listener. No, too girlie .
    “That’s wrong on so many levels.” Marcus shivered. “Since she’s not my sister, I can still fantasize about her, right?”
    Hey Quinn, you rock my world. That sounded like Marcus. Aaron needed to be himself.
    “Look, I know you’ve been drooling over that one since you moved here, and she’s finally single, but she’s damaged, man. First Jeff breaks up with her, then there’s the cheerleading controversy, now people are saying she was late this morning because she was talking to herself in the parking lot. Dude, are you listening to me?” Marcus thumped him on the ear.
    Aaron flinched,