Once in a Full Moon Page 0,34

be so free - of books, of cramped buses and crowded hallways, free from worrying about what my friends or Nash thought. The snow-covered trees were majestic. The birds flying in the overcast sky and the smell of smoke from the neighbors' fireplaces were invigorating.

It might have been just minutes of gliding, but to me it felt like hours. It was exhilarating to be skating solo and having Brandon watching me. I skated circles around the pond until I grew fatigued. Then I headed straight for him.

I used to know how to stop by spinning around. I decided to attempt it, but when I placed my blades at right angles, I spun off balance. I began to tumble and he caught me in his arms.

We laughed a deep laugh, so hard my stomach hurt. Brandon was so magnetic. I wasn't sure if he was going to kiss me, but I knew I wanted him to.

We locked eyes. He softly touched my frozen and flushed cheek. His hands were like a fiery stove, heating up my skin. He leaned into me and then my cell phone beeped with a text message.

"You are popular," he said, pulling away.

The mood was broken. I knew it would take courage for Brandon to kiss me. He saw me every day with the star of the football and basketball teams. He was new to school and already ostracized. The romantic moment was ruined.

I looked at the text message. "It's Ivy. She's almost at my house."

Reluctantly, we headed to the picnic tables and replaced our skates with our shoes.

"Hey, thanks for the brownies," he said, walking me to my car.

"Thanks for the skate." This was a moment when Brandon could kiss me. But his dog was barking, we were in plain view of his house, and I noticed a woman with brown hair peeking out from the front curtain. Then my cell phone rang again. I silenced it.

He opened the door for me. "Thanks for coming out to the sticks," he teased.

"This place is great," I assured him. "You have your own ice-skating rink. No one I know can say that."

As I drove off, Brandon stood by the driveway with two pairs of skates in his hand. I watched him, reflected in my rearview mirror, until I turned the corner away from his house and he was out of view.

Chapter Thirteen Full Moon Kiss

Brandon and I stole a few passing glances the next day at school but nothing more than that. I was dying to grab his hand when I saw him by his locker, like I had when we were skating, but I didn't possess the courage. Instead, I just daydreamed about him throughout each class and wrote his name in every one of my notebooks - in an out-of-the-way spot so my friends couldn't see. After school I was at Ivy's, working on our English essays, when my cell phone rang. It wasn't a ring tone I was familiar with - not Abby's, Nash's, or my parents'.

It was Frank Sinatra's voice singing "Fly Me to the Moon."

"Who is that?" Ivy asked.

Brandon's name appeared. How could that be? Then it hit me; he must have added his name to my contact list when he found my phone in the woods.

I swept up the phone and covered it with my sleeve before Ivy had a chance to see it.

Frank kept singing.

"You better answer it and tell them they have the wrong number. Otherwise, they'll keep calling." My phone number was one digit off from a local radio station's. I'd been receiving calls from listeners requesting songs or dialing in for a contest, but I'd been too lazy to change my number.

I wanted to talk to Brandon so badly. I was dancing on the inside. I quickly answered before he hung up. "Hello?" I said.

"They're all gone," he said in a deep voice.

"What?" I asked.

"The brownies? They're all gone. Even the crumbs."

"Who is it?" Ivy asked.

"I think it's a wrong number," I whispered. The lie jumped out of my mouth before I had the chance to stop it.

"Only you'd answer them!" Ivy shouted. "Tell them they might have won if they dialed the right number for a change!"

"I'd like to give you back the pan. And your scarf," Brandon said.

I paused. What did that mean? A date?

"What are they asking?" Ivy asked.

"Or... I can sell them on eBay," he teased. "I'm sure they would get a lot since they belong to