UnBound - Neal Shusterman Page 0,27
head and backs up, moving away from him.
“C’mon, all the other kids do it.”
“It’s too far. And I don’t swim good.”
“I’ll follow you in.” Roland looks deep into her eyes. “I promise.”
Roland’s sister tries to back away, but Roland is a couple years older than her and much stronger. She screams when he grabs her, but no one is close enough to stop it. “It won’t be so bad—you’ll see.” Then he picks her up and in one smooth motion throws her off the edge.
Then even before he hears her hit the water, Roland closes his eyes, musters every morsel of courage he has, and jumps, just as promised.
He surfaces just beside her, and she grabs him around the neck, holding him for dear life.
“See? It didn’t even hurt, did it?”
Roland helps his sister to shore. And even though his mother, who saw the scene, goes ballistic, and even though his stepfather gives him a double helping of the belt for throwing her off that same ledge, it’s all okay—because Roland needed to know who he was, but more importantly, who he wasn’t. He jumped. He kept his promise. And for the first time each lash stings a little less than the one before.
5 • Seventeen
It isn’t hard for Roland to find Valerie’s car later that evening, stamped fresh with those bleeding-heart-hippie bumper stickers—PROACTIVE CITIZENS AGAINST UNWINDING, THE WHOLENESS COALITION, and the like. Roland watches through rows of cars in the school parking lot as Valerie bids her friends farewell after cheer practice. Roland makes his way closer, keeping out of view behind SUVs and jacked-up pickups. Valerie slips into her car and pulls the door shut, but just before it closes, Roland stops it. He sees her glance at his arm that holds open the door. She sees his tiger shark tattoo even before seeing him. She knows exactly who it is.
Roland opens the car door gently and looks down at her. “Hey, Valerie. Heard you had a rough day.”
She’s caught off guard. Stumbles over her words a bit. Good. It gives him the advantage. “What are you doing here?”
Rather than immediately answering the question, Roland advances forward, getting down on one knee and leveling with her. “I saw you crying today, and I just wanted to make sure everything was all right.” He takes her hand and smiles, showing his teeth. Valerie pulls away, uncomfortable—Roland can feel himself already in control. So he makes his next calculated move. “I don’t know . . . I felt kind of . . . protective. I don’t know what that means.”
Roland dated Valerie long enough to know that it would take more than sweet talk to win this game, and as expected, she keeps her cool. “It means nothing. You broke up with me. Or did you forget that?”
Her comment might evoke some feelings if Roland let it, but he doesn’t. He lets it slide off. He moves close to her ear, making his voice breathy. He knows she can feel the warmth in her ear when he speaks. Feel the charge in his voice. “There’s so much I miss,” he tells her. “I miss kissing you. I miss the feel of it.”
She shifts her shoulders, uncomfortable, but doesn’t stop him. So he gently touches her cheek. “Is it crazy of me to want that again?”
He has Valerie right where he wants her—caught in his trance, mesmerized by his pretense at vulnerability. He moves his hand down her neck and grabs the back of her hair in a most primal way.
That’s when she snaps out of it and pushes his hand away. He lets her. For now. “Roland, I’m sorry. I’m with Zane now, and that’s not changing, no matter what you think.” She grips the door handle to pull it shut, but Roland rips it open.
“And how many boyfriends is it going to take to replace all the pieces of the one you let get unwound?”
It’s a dirty blow, but necessary. No one speaks of it, at least not to Valerie, but everyone knows. It was the luckless loser she chose between Roland and Zane. What was his name? Roland can’t remember. That’s the way it is with Unwinds.
As much as Valerie must hate him right now, Roland knows she won’t look him in the eyes. Because deep down he knows Valerie will never know the answer to that question, or whether she truly played a part in that boy’s parents’ decision to sign an unwind order. This is the