Kira Harp Rainbow Briefs YA

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Danielle giggled. I'll tell her that.
When she was done chatting with her mom she put the phone away. We reached the car and got in.
As I started it, she said, Those guys were pretty scary.
I guess. I could handle them. I glanced at her. And I will handle Bill, anytime you say so.
She shook her head. Let it go. It's over.
Well, if he comes around you and you change your mind, I'll be there. A thought occurred to me.
A Fire Starter should be able to take care of things too, in a pinch.
She turned away. I wish. I can't... I'm crappy at it. I had a couple of mistakes as a kid, and I guess I
scared myself, and now, well, it takes me ten minutes to get focused enough to do anything. Plus I can't
use it to hurt someone. I just can't.
I patted her knee. Well, that's not a bad thing, right? Means you'll never start a fire by accident,
just 'cause you're mad or something.
I guess.
It's not a super useful Trait anymore. But hey, I love camping. You and me could go up to the hills
this summer, maybe. And if you wanted to start a campfire or two for me, that would be cool.
Danielle laughed, soft and warm. I never thought I'd date a guy I could say this to, but yeah, it
might be fun to set things on fire for you.
I reached over to squeeze her knee. And then, daring a lot that I wouldn't have if I'd never dated a
guy, I took her hand and put it on my crotch. You already set things on fire for me.
For a second I worried I'd gone too far. Landon would have loved that, but maybe it was too
raunchy for a girl. Then Danielle laughed again, and patted me with her small, hot hand. Save that
thought for our next date. I'm late for curfew.
I drove through the darkness, squirming a bit and trying hard to concentrate on the road, because
she kept her hand right there. My breath was a little fast, but my heart felt happy. I could see that dating
a girl, this girl, might be just a whole different version of a very good thing.
####
Making Connections
~Picture prompt: Two teen boys stand locked in a tight hug. The shorter boy has his face pressed
tightly to the other guy's neck and his arms hang limply. His whole body slumps. The taller guy has
wrapped his arms tightly around the boy's shoulders, and just holds him close. Behind them, a hundred
candle flames flicker in the dim evening air.
Tommy was lost. He was lost in his feet and lost in his heart and lost in his own stupid head.
Stupid was a bad word. Mom said it was a bad word and if anyone said it around Tommy she would
get her angry face with the little crinkle between her eyebrows. But Tommy knew sometimes he was
stupid and today was one time for sure.
It wasn't fair. Because he'd thought this was going to be a pretty-good-almost-perfect day. It was
music day. On music day he stayed behind at school after class. He went to the library and stayed until
four-thirty. He watched the clock carefully and he knew four-thirty. He'd been able to tell time since he
was ten. It was super easy.
Then at four-thirty he went to Mr. Conner's music room. And he could take out his flute then. No
playing in the library, because that was a quiet time place, but in the music room, oh yes, he could play.
Mr. Connor said so. Tommy loved Mr. Connor and he loved his flute. It was the one thing he did that
was never, never stupid. Even Suzie with the blond hair once said he was good on the flute, and she
didn't say he was good at much. So it must be true.
An hour with Mr. Connor and the flute, with music just coming out of Tommy like it wasn't part of
him, but it was. He did that. He was practicing this new piece that sang so nicely. Mr. Connor said
Tommy could play it at the spring assembly concert and people would be amazed. It would be nice to
make people amazed.
Then it was have-to-go-now put-the-flute-away-carefully time. And Tommy started to walk home.
That was easy too; he never got lost anymore, even when it got kind of dark because it was late. But
now he was lost.
It was the fault of the candles. He'd been walking home just like usual. And two girls went by
carrying candles. They weren't lit but they were tall and white and Tommy liked candles. And then he
could see there were lights in the distance like lots more candles. And maybe it was a birthday. A big
birthday. So he followed the girls.
They got to where the lights were and it was a park and there were lots of people with their candles
all lit. And the girls lit theirs. And it was so pretty, all the flames bright and yellow. But the people
weren't happy like a birthday. They were all sad. One of the girls started crying. It made Tommy feel
bad in his stomach. He walked away from them to find happy people.
But none of the people were happy. They weren't all crying but Tommy was good at faces and they
all had sad faces and low, not-happy voices. He kept walking, and his heart got lost. And then he
looked around and his stupid, stupid self was lost too. And he wanted to cry too, but big boys don't cry.
Except he looked around and there were some boys crying and some of them were even bigger than
Tommy.
And then he saw one of the crying boys and it was his brother, Darryl! Tommy ran. He ran and he
got to Darryl and he dropped his precious flute and just wailed, Darryl!
Darryl hugged him. Darryl's arms were big and strong and he hugged Tommy hard and Tommy put
his face on Darryl's chest. Darryl was saying something like, Tommy, what are you doing here? But
Tommy couldn't tell him. His throat had the sad closing thing and he just had to cry. And Darryl held
him tight and rocked him back and forth and let him cry.
After a bit it was better and Tommy looked up at his brother. I'm lost.
It's okay, bro. You can come home with me.
So that was okay. Darryl never got lost. But the people weren't okay. Tommy looked around. It's so
sad, Darryl. Everyone is so sad. Candles are for happy but they all feel so bad. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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