Somewhere in the Middle Read Free Page B

shot.
    Click!
    "What book is he looking for?" asked Roone.
    I explained.
    He nodded at Eli. "I'm really liking cars, too. Your sister's got a
cool ride."
    I'm really liking cars? His wording threw me off, so I
remembered my manners a little late. "Thanks. Eli, this is my friend from
school, Roone Thorsen. Roone, this is Eli, my brother."
    Roone stuck out his right hand. Eli grinned and shook it like a little
man, another aww moment.
    Click!
    Roone's face made it into the shot this time.
    "Did you come to hear the Hercules story, too?" I asked, highly aware
of Eli's curious gaze, which ping-ponged between Roone and me.
    Roone grinned. "Would've if I'd known there was going to be one. I'm
actually here with my dad." He pointed to a man hunched over the keyboard
of one of the public computers. I saw that Mr. Thorsen was as large as
Roone, with hair shorter but the same color.
    Shorter... My gaze riveted to Roone. "You got a haircut," I blurted
before I could stop myself. No wonder I hadn't recognized him from the
back.
    He self-consciously touched his hair, which was still a bit shaggy on
top but definitely shorter on the back and sides. "Yeah. I realized that
most of the guys at school go for a shorter...um...style." Roone cleared his
throat and glanced away.
    Was he telling me he wanted to look like every other male I knew? I
wanted to laugh. That definitely wasn't going to happen.
    "It's nice," I told him. I had to say something. I mean, I'd brought
it up.
    "Thanks."
    Eli tugged on the bottom of Roone's hoodie. "Will you be Everly's
boyfriend?"
    I gasped. "Eli!" Where the hell had that come from?
    "Daddy said you should get one."
    I'd never been so embarrassed. "Geez, bro. He was kidding."
    "No he wasn't."
    I managed a weak laugh as I caught Roone's eye. "Sorry about that. My
dad tries to micromanage my love life." Desperate to get away, I put my
hand on Eli's shoulder and propelled him to the left, only to stop when I
got a better look at Roone's father. "Is he hunting and pecking?"
    "Huh?"
    I saw his confusion. "Looks like your dad is using two fingers to
type. That's called 'hunting and pecking.'" Where was this guy from,
outer space?
    "Oh. Yeah. He's pretty slow."
    I could tell Roone was filing away the idiom for future use. "Why
don't you help him?"
    "I don't know how to, either."

Chapter Two
    My chin hit my chest. Alabama schools offered keyboarding in fourth
grade. "Then you should definitely take it next semester. Trust me when I
say it's a skill you'll use forever."
    Roone nodded as if I'd given him life and death advice.
    Noting that his dad was working from handwritten pages, I impulsively
walked over to him. "Hi."
    He glanced up. Eyes as hazel as Roone's narrowed slightly when he
spotted his son just behind me.
    "I'm Everly Sayers, a friend of Roone."
    "Bo Thorsen." Mr. Thorsen and Roone exchanged a glance I couldn't
figure out, as in the dad didn't look happy, which made his grown son
squirm a little.
    Baffled, I quickly moved things along. "Sorry to interrupt you, but I
noticed that you're struggling a little with the keyboard. Do you want me
to type that for you?"
    That got his attention. "You know how?"
    "Of course. Er, may I look?" I reached for his handwritten notes, not
actually picking up the papers until he nodded permission. Then I quickly
counted and glanced over them, noting that the ones toward the back
contained a lot of physics formulas he'd never be able to type on the
library's generic keyboard. "Physics. And way over my head." I laughed at
the irony. "Too bad Roone didn't get your science gene."
    Thorsen frowned slightly. His gaze nailed his son again. Said son
cleared his throat and rubbed out a skid mark on the linoleum floor with
the toe of his Nike.
    "Luckily, I can help you both." Baffled by their dynamic, I glanced
from Roone to his father. "So what do you think? I'm quick and accurate,
I work really cheap, and I have a special keyboard with all the symbols
you'll need on it."
    "How