The Wrong Path - By Vivian Marie Aubin du Paris Page 0,19

of books. In fact, she had given away half of her books because she had run out of room on her bookshelves.

“You seem like one of those romance-novel types,” he told her, still smiling.

“There are some I like,” she admitted shyly, then rushed on. “But I like books that make you think, too… Ones you learn from.” She felt his eyes on her and slowly lifted her gaze to his.

His dark eyes held hers so long the air between them grew thick and heavy. She was desperate for him to say something, but he seemed content in the silence… in the strange atmosphere between them.

Finally, unable to take it any longer, she shifted and looked out over their legs, stretched out side-by-side on the branch. “I have your shirt at home,” she said, her voice sounding strangely loud compared to the quiet she had just interrupted. “I washed it for you. I can bring it over after school, if you want. Or you can come pick it up.”

“Why wait until then?” he challenged, a mischievous tone in his voice. She looked up quickly, horrified.

“You mean skip school?” she asked.

He shrugged. “Why not?”

She worked for an answer, but nothing came out. There were so many reasons not to skip she couldn’t put them all into words. “My… my dad is home today. If I go home, he’ll know I skipped. And… I came in with your brother. He’ll be worried if he can’t find me after school.”

Will’s demeanor switched instantly. “Ah. I heard a rumor that you two were dating.” Without warning, he turned and was down on the ground. She gaped at his back, startled. Did he hate his brother so much that just talking about him made him angry? “Since you don’t want to skip school, don’t you think you should get back to class?”

She uttered a protest, looking around wildly for a way down from her perch. She certainly couldn’t jump… She’d probably break her ankle. Or fall on her hands and knees, and her hand already hurt. “Will!” she cried after him desperately, when she saw that he had turned to go.

He turned back, his eyes still dark, but when he saw her dilemma, a small smile graced his features. “Just jump,” he instructed, walking back under the branch.

To her dismay, tears welled up in her eyes. “I can’t,” she argued brokenly. She had never been particularly afraid of heights, but now that she was faced with falling herself, she could understand the phobia.

“Do you want me to come up there and push you off?”

“No!” she exclaimed, terrified. She stared down at the ground, which seemed impossibly far away, and then up at Will. “I’ll break something.”

He sighed. “You’ll be fine. People jump off of buildings and don’t break anything. Now jump.”

“I can’t!”

He held out a hand to her. Slowly, carefully, she reached for it, keeping a fierce grip on the branch with her other hand. She stretched as far as she could, but his hand was still just a few inches too far away. She felt more tears of panic form in her eyes. She was going to get stuck up there, in the tree, and they were going to have to call the fire department to get her down and she’d be the laughing stock of the entire school—

She screamed when something grabbed a hold of her hand, clenching her eyes shut as she was yanked off the branch, her body going into freefall and heading straight down to the ground.

The crash was surprisingly not as painful as she expected. Her knee hurt a little, but other than that, the ground was soft and not at all dirty or unpleasant under her.

It only took a moment for her to realize it was because she wasn’t on the ground.

Her eyes flew open and she looked down at Will, who had her wrapped securely in his arms. He was flat on his back on the hard, unforgiving ground, holding her against his chest. He had caught her and protected her from injury, risking his own safety.

“Will?” she asked fearfully, looking down at him from the shelter of his embrace.

His eyes opened, one after the other as if testing to see if they still worked, and met her gaze. Then he burst out laughing. “You sure know how to fall,” he declared, still laughing. She scrambled up off of him and he sat up, rolling his shoulders. “That was the most ungraceful thing I’ve ever seen.”

She flushed, then