Bodyguard by Suzanne Brockmann

Author:Suzanne Brockmann [Brockmann, Suzanne]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 978-0-345-47213-7
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2004-08-27T04:00:00+00:00

Twelve

SHAUN OPENED THE front door, expecting the postal carrier or a UPS delivery, expecting anyone in the world besides Mindy MacGregor.

But it was. Mindy the Mountain, larger than life, standing on his front porch for the entire eighth-grade class to see.

She smiled. “Hi. Do you want to go over to the park, shoot some baskets?”

Mindy was forever determined to put her height to good use. She played basketball every day, even when it rained. She didn’t seem to notice that no matter how often she practiced, she wasn’t getting any better. She was way too clumsy and slow.

“I have a couple dollars,” she added. “We could ride over to the 7-Eleven and get an ice cream after.”

She smiled again, a little less certainly this time, and Shaun realized he was staring. He was standing there with his mouth all but hanging open, in complete shock.

He’d been nice to Mindy over the past few days. He’d run into her in the library and, in the back corner, where no one could see them, he had helped her sign on to the Internet to look up information on Civil War re-enactments of the Battle of Gettysburg. She knew barely nothing about the Net, and he’d taken time to explain search engines and Web sites. They’d talked about music, about his dancing, too.

He’d told her about the red-haired girl he’d met in California, making it sound as if she were his girlfriend. He’d even given her a name. Lisa. He talked about Lisa as if they were practically engaged.

He thought that would be that, but today she’d sought him out after chorus, lending him a CD of some a cappella group she thought he’d like. He hadn’t even looked at the CD, let alone listened to it. He’d just stuffed it into his backpack and fled the scene.

But she’d followed him home.

She was standing on his front porch, her bike parked by the gate.

For all the world to see.

It was obvious she thought he was as lonely and pathetic and as desperate for a friend as she was. But he wasn’t. He wasn’t like Mindy. He didn’t need any friends. He didn’t want any friends. And he especially didn’t want any friends like Mindy MacGregor, God help him.

“Grab your bike,” she said. “Or we can walk, if you want …”

Now that she knew he wasn’t potential boyfriend material, she was far more relaxed, more confident. That was good, but he wished she’d go be more confident somewhere else.

“I, uh,” he said. “I’m sorry, I, uh … can’t.” Quick, think of a good reason. “I’ve got, um, homework and … and my father is coming to visit, so I have to clean my room.” Brilliant. Sheer genius. A parental visit was an undeniable bona fide excuse.

She smiled again but with far less confidence now. “Well, I don’t mind helping you clean your room. They say two heads are better than one. And when cleaning, four hands are better than two, right? Besides, I’m great at cleaning.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.