by Laura Tims
It’s extremely unlikely, but those two words describe Eliot more than any others, so I play it safe and lean forward, bringing my lips to his.
He’s a person, a whole other person.
“That wasn’t so bad,” he whispers.
We’re interrupted by the sound of a door opening and a crash. I whip around.
Gabriel is in the doorway, standing over several dropped boxes. His mouth is hanging open.
“He said he’d be done packing up the things in his room in fifteen minutes, fifteen minutes ago,” Eliot tells me. “He’s very punctual.”
“You wanted him to see that?” I hiss.
Gabriel is making croaking sounds.
“He made a very interesting comment, namely there were a lot of things he had to worry about but never that he’d walk in on me making out with a girl,” Eliot says, the smirk in full force. “I disagreed, and he bet me that if he ever found me making out with a girl, he’d pay for a summer getaway with her. You can give me the check later, Gabriel.”
He storms off toward his car, leaving the boxes on the porch. When he passes me, though, I think I catch a smile.
I sigh. “I hate you.”
“You can hit me if you like.”
“I am never going to hit you,” I tell him.
And then I kiss him again.
The next day, I sit with Kendra and the team at lunch.
It takes me a while to psych myself up for it. But Kendra just beams and slides her tray over to make room for me, like I’ve sat with them every day since the beginning of time.
It occurs to me that maybe sitting next to somebody at lunch isn’t as big of a deal as it feels.
After school, Kendra offers me a ride, but I turn her down. The Math Club is meeting today. Maybe I’ll be the girl who went from lacrosse kid to Math Club kid.
Or maybe I’ll take a cue from Lena and be an Environmental Club kid. Or follow in Mom’s shoes and be an Art Club kid.
Maybe I wasn’t born with a list of things that make me special, like lacrosse, slots I can’t refill if they’re emptied. Maybe I get to choose what makes me special.
I can’t remember if the Math Club meets in the library or the cafeteria. I loiter in the hallway for a while, and then I head toward the library, because picking a direction at random will take me somewhere faster than standing still.
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About the Author
Photo by Laura Tims
LAURA TIMS grew up in Freeport, Maine. She was the recipient of the Kratz Summer Writing Fellowship at Goucher College in Maryland, where she studied creative writing. Please Don’t Tell was her first novel; this is her second. She lives in San Diego. Follow her on Twitter @lauratims and online at www.literatureandlaura.wordpress.com.
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Books by Laura Tims
Please Don’t Tell
The Art of Feeling
Credits
Cover art © 2017 Christine Blackburne
Cover design by Alison Donalty & Sarah Nichole Kaufman
Copyright
HarperTeen is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
THE ART OF FEELING. Copyright © 2017 by Laura Tims. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
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* * *
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016961848
ISBN 978-0-06-231735-3 (trade bdg.)
EPub Edition © JULY 2017 ISBN 9780062317377
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17 18 19 20 21 PC/LSCH 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
FIRST EDITION
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