Chapter 22 SneakPeek

An Excerpt from the 22nd Chapter of Bolt from the Blue:

I was at my locker, grabbing my books after last period when I saw Kevin. It seemed as if we had been missing each other a lot lately. “Hey!” I walked over to where he was sitting. “How are . . .” my words trailed off when I saw his red eyes. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, uh, it’s nothing.” He jumped to his feet, pulled his backpack over his shoulder, and attempted to walk away.

“It doesn’t look like nothing,” I said, blocking his path. “Is it A.J. and the guys again?”

“No,” he laughed harshly. “God no! Do you think those nincompoops have the power to upset me? It’s nothing, really.”

“I just want to help,” I said.

“There’s nothing you can do to help, so just back off!”

“Oh,” I said, turned off by his attitude, I turned to leave.

“No, don’t,” he said, grabbing my arm. “It’s just that a year ago today my mother lost her battle with cancer.”

“She . . .”

“Died, yeah.” He gave a wry smile, releasing my arm to run it through his hair. “She used to teach English in that classroom there.” He pointed towards the door he had been sitting beside.

“I’m sorry, Kevin.” I placed what I hoped was a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“I always found that to be a weird phrase . . . sorry . . . as if it were somehow your fault.” Kevin shook his head. “It’s been a year, but I still feel as if I watched her take her last breath yesterday. It was so hard watching her waste away in that hospital. I would visit her everyday—she always seemed smaller and frailer—she could barely turn the pages as she read to me—and then she was gone.”

My mind had forgotten how to form words. How did one reply to that. I had always been bad at being comforting. “Would you like to go do something?” I finally blurted, not even caring about band practice. It wasn’t like I was going to join anyways. “Maybe grab a bite to eat, get your mind off of things.”

“Nah,” he shook his head. “Thanks for the offer, but I don’t need a pity date.”

“It’s not a pity—”

“Really, Adaline. I have to get to football practice anyways.”

“I could wait—”

“Then I have my work internship. But thanks for listening.” He squeezed my shoulder before walking away.