Intentions by Deborah Heiligman

Author:Deborah Heiligman [Heiligman, Deborah]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Juvenile Fiction, Religious, Jewish, Mysteries & Detective Stories
ISBN: 9780375899331
Google: kf3fLu8fJM8C
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2012-08-13T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 18

KISSING ELEPHANTS II

“And then, on the runway, with everyone looking—like, billions of people—she tripped on that stupid dress!” says Kendra.

“Fell on her face!” Marissa laughs.

“I bet she was high on something!”

“Her ego,” snarks Alexis.

Vintage Alexis. We all laugh, even me, which is weird because I don’t watch this show, never will. So not into it. I am a stranger in a strange land.

At that moment Jake appears beside me, as if God is reassuring me, You are not alone.

“I’m on a bathroom pass from French,” he says.

He bends down, moves my hair away, and whispers into my ear, his lips lightly touching my skin. “So will you walk home with me today? I mean partway—I have to go to swim practice.”

I have to swallow before I can speak. “Sure,” I tell him as nonchalantly as possible. I was going to stay after school and work on Yearbook, that’s what I told Mom, but Jake trumps Yearbook any day.

“Great,” he says, and turns to leave. But then he moves closer, puts his hand on my shoulder, and whispers into my ear again, making me crazy. “See you later.”

I turn my head. I want to pull him to me, give him a long, deep kiss. Right there.

But of course I don’t.

I just nod, and savor the feeling of his hand on my shoulder and his lips on my ear and his fingers in my hair. I put my own hand on my shoulder, where his was, as I watch him walk away.

“What was that?” Alexis asks me. The look on her face is—what? Disapproval? Disdain? Envy? I can’t read her anymore.

I smile slightly but say nothing. I don’t want her to ruin this.

Before she can ask more, I stand up, dump my tray, and leave.

I have no idea what happens in any of my classes for the rest of the day. All I can think is: Jake.

At final bell I go to the nurse. I ask her for a toothbrush and toothpaste, and she gives me them, no questions asked. I put her near the top of my list of Decent Human Beings.

Jake is waiting for me in front of the building, near where we sat the day he told me about his brother. As soon as we get a block away, he pulls me behind a tree and kisses me.

Our first kiss is bumpy—literally. We bang noses and don’t quite get our mouths together. I am about to say something funny, but he takes my face in his hands and puts his mouth on mine, and it’s amazing how good this feels. It’s even better than Saturday night.

I love his lips, the scratchiness of his cheeks and chin, his hands in my hair.… I run my hands up and down his back, which makes me think of our dinner, which makes me think, for some reason, of our first time kissing on that other walk home, and I think of how we talked about elephants and we are elephants kissing, and I pull back and look at him.

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