Somewhere in the Middle Read Free Page A

gone
already!"
    "Is it my fault the guys at McAlister High don't appreciate me?"
    Dayna's jaw dropped.
    I held up a hand to stop the tirade she was about to unleash. "Let me
rephrase that--"
    "You'd damn well better."
    "Can I help it if none of the guys at school are my type?"
    Her eyebrows shot up. "You have a type and I'm just now finding
out?"
    "Yes. My kind of guy is smart, polite, kind--"
    "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Those characteristics are way too intangible. Give
me something I can work with."
    Work with? A sudden vision of Dana surfing the internet for dates made
me cringe. "What do you mean?"
    "What kind of hair?"
    Ah, she was referring to physical characteristics. For a second, I
indulged her. "Don't want a guy with hair longer than mine, but I'm not
into buzzes, either."
    Dayna laughed and pretended to jot something on an imaginary notepad.
"Blond, brunette, or redhead?"
    "Sun streaked works for me. I'm all about the great outdoors."
    "Ah. What color eyes?"
    "The kind that change hue with every shirt."
    "Tall, medium, or short?"
    "Doesn't matter."
    "Slender, well-proportioned, or stocky?"
    "That doesn't matter, either."
    "So a guy of any size with highlighted hair and chameleon eyes would
work?"
    "If he was environmentally green and socially conscious...maybe." A safe
answer. While lots of guys we knew met the physical criteria, none
measured up otherwise.
    "You just described Roone Thorsen."
    "I know you didn't say that! Besides, you were doing all the
talking."
    No doubt sensing my frustration, Dayna wisely changed the topic to her
job in the cosmetics department of JC Penney, doing customer makeovers.
Since she frequently practiced on me, I'd come to love make-up and even
wore it, which was admittedly at odds with my tomboy ways and the low
value I placed on physical attributes. But I definitely wasn't obsessed
and often left home without wearing any, something a lot of girls I knew
never did.
    Dayna had once said that's why guys found me so "irresistible"--her
word, not mine. I was "an enigma," also her wording. I, on the other
hand, believed any male attention I unwittingly attracted resulted from
my blatant disinterest in dating high school boys. After a painful
hit-and-miss romance my junior year, I'd decided to hold off on love until I
got to college. I figured the guys there would be mature enough to know
that one date didn't mean lifetime commitment. As a result, my male
classmates had apparently labeled me as hard-to-get, and what high school
boy could resist that?
    The sound of clapping made us glance toward the reader's circle. They
were finished already? With mutual grimaces, Dayna and I stood and
waited. Now came the hard part--selecting books to take home.
    Eli always took forever. Today was no exception. While he checked out
every book on every shelf in the kiddie-lit area I pretty much stood in
one spot and zoned, my mind on Roone, thanks to Dayna. Lost in my
thoughts, I didn't immediately register the sound of crying. When I did,
I came to life and shot around the closest stack only to find Eli there
and in tears. Some guy wearing baggy jeans and a faded hoodie was
squatting next to him.
    I instantly slipped into protector mode. "Eli?"
    They both turned. The guy stood.
    "Roone!" Flustered on a couple of levels, I rushed forward. "What's
wrong, buddy?"
    "T-t-they d-don't h-have it." Huge tears rolled down Eli's cheeks.
    I was clueless. "Have what?"
    "The car book."
    "Oh." Duh. Some big sister I made. "I'm so sorry. Are you sure? I'll
help you look."
    By then Roone looked a little flustered, himself. "He belongs to
you?"
    "Yeah." I kissed the top of Eli's precious head before I turned to the
shelf where the librarian had once told us it would be. No book. "You
know what? I think we should go to Barnes and Noble and buy it. That way
you can keep it forever."
    Eli's smile lit up the room. I melted into a puddle of goo and took my
usual mental snapshot. Roone's arm just might've gotten in the