What Kills Me Read Free Page A

he
would say my name. Zee.
    I sat up. I heard my name.
    “Did you hear something?” I asked
Miyuki. She shook her head. But then we both heard a voice from
outside. I walked over to the window, pushed open the green
shutters, and looked down.
    Paolo smiled at me from the middle of
the street.
     
     

Chapter
3
     
    My memory had not done him justice. He
wore the same coat but he had spiked his short, dark hair. His
half-smile was so sexy.
    “What are you doing here?” I said,
grinning.
    “I came to see you,” he said. He held
my note between his index and middle fingers. “I got your
letter.”
    “I’m sorry,” I said. “I just found out
about the curfew. It’s so ridiculous.”
    Miyuki came toward me with her head
cocked to the side. “It’s him,” I whispered. I felt giddy. Her
mouth made a small O and she poked her head out the window. Paolo
waved.
    “He is cute,” she whispered to
me.
    “So, are you free tomorrow?” I
asked.
    “No.”
    “Oh,” I said, the smile fading from my
face.
    “But I am free now.”
    “I can’t leave the house.”
    “Of course you can.”
    “No, you don’t understand. My hosts
aren’t letting me out.”
    “How will they know that you are
gone?”
    “Well, they’ll see me walk out the
front door.”
    “But you can come through the
window.”
    I laughed. “That’s true but my arms
are a little tired from flying out the window earlier
today.”
    He didn’t laugh. “Who said anything
about flying?”
    He pointed in front of him so I leaned
further out the window and looked down. Someone had parked a white
van below my second-story window.
    “I will help you down. We will go for
gelato, take a beautiful stroll, and I will have you safe at home
in an hour.”
    An hour. Sofia and Giuseppe would be
fast asleep by then and I could sneak back through the front
door.
    This is
crazy .
    I couldn’t climb out my window like a
ninja. I’d fall, or I’d get caught.
    “I can’t,” I said.
    “Please?”
    I glanced at Miyuki. Her eyebrows were
furrowed. I could stay here with Miyuki and study. Or I could climb
out the window and live a little. I could chase the adventure that
I had traveled across an ocean for. I looked back at Paolo, who was
grinning. He reached inside his coat and pulled out a what appeared
to be a clump of tissue. He opened his palm. It was a white rose.
He opened his arms to me. I took a deep breath. I couldn’t believe
I was about to surrender.
    “How can I say no?” I said. “Hang on a
sec.”
    I got ready in an elated flurry. I
tore off my pajamas, changed into a white eyelet sundress, and
wiggled my feet into red ballet flats. I slung a small,
burgundy-suede satchel across my chest and jammed my keys and
Sofia’s address into the front pocket. Miyuki watched me with wide
eyes but she didn’t say anything.
    I returned to the window and scanned
the dark street for Paolo. I heard my name and saw him standing
behind the van. He put one foot on the bumper, one hand on the
roof, and in one motion hopped onto the vehicle. He dropped the
rose and stretched his arms toward me.
    “How am I going to do this?” I
muttered. “Miyuki, if I fall on my head, please tell my family that
I loved them. And please go ahead and take that fanny pack in my
closet that you keep eyeing.”
    “Be careful,” she said.
    I put my feet through the
window so I was sitting on the sill. Miyuki grabbed my arm as I
turned and struggled onto my stomach. The sill dug into my
gut. This is a disaster. I had my butt in his face and my skirt was riding
up. Why did I wear a dress to climb out a
window? Groaning, I shifted myself so that
I was propped up by my elbows. What
now?
    I felt Paolo grip my hips and lift me
from the window. I grabbed his hands. He lowered me gently, my back
to his chest, my ear against his mouth. “There you go,” he
whispered. “Safe and sound.” He let me go and when I turned around,
he had already jumped off the van. I smoothed my skirt under