The Alien Within by Robin Martin

Author:Robin Martin [Martin, Robin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780994646521
Publisher: Bennett Lane Press
Published: 2017-12-20T22:00:00+00:00

The next day I waited until I could catch Rion alone after class. I hadn’t wanted to ask him when we were having lunch together in case everyone got the wrong impression. After all, this was more my mum’s invitation than mine.

‘Hey, Rion, wait up,’ I said, walking to the door after him.

He turned and waited, holding the door open for me. ‘Hi, Zoe, you want to speak to me?’

‘I was wondering if you were free on Wednesday afternoon.’

He looked surprised. ‘I guess so. Why?’

He stopped under the shade of a tree and everyone streamed past us to buses and waiting cars. He was looking at me with a peculiar expression on his face. Oh God, it was like I could read his mind.

‘I’m not asking you out or anything,’ I blurted out without thinking. And then I stopped. I’d only made matters worse. I felt my cheeks burning and I could see the colour rising in his face, too.

‘I mean, what I should’ve said is that my mum wanted to know if you’d like to have dinner with us. You could come home with me after school, if you wanted to.’ Could I have been any more clumsy? Jeez.

He was quiet for a moment, and then he said, ‘That’s nice of her, but I’m not sure if my uncle can make it that night.’

‘Oh, he’s not invited.’ I’d done it again. I seemed to have a bad case of foot-in-mouth disease. I bit my lip and tried once more.

‘Not that he wouldn’t be welcome or anything, but Mum thought maybe you’d like to come by yourself so we could catch up. They didn’t really get a chance to talk to you much when you came with Archimedes. And we wouldn’t want to inconvenience him. His time must be valuable, being a photojournalist and all.’

Rion’s mouth quirked up in a crooked grin. All of a sudden my stomach gave a flip. How could I have forgotten what a great smile he had?

‘It’s sometimes hard for other people to talk when Archimedes is around. He does tend to demand attention.’

I had to smile back. ‘He sure is an interesting person.’

‘That’s a very diplomatic way of putting it. But to answer your question, yes, I’d love to come to dinner. Will Harry be there, too?’

I looked at him in puzzlement. ‘Harry? Why would he be there?’

He hesitated before saying, ‘I had the impression you two were … together.’

‘Um, we hang out sometimes, sure. We’re just friends.’ To tell the truth, I wasn’t sure what Harry and I were anymore. Not that I was going to say that to Rion.

‘Oh, I see.’ His tone was neutral, but did I detect relief in his expression?

‘Anyway, I’ll let Mum know.’ I shifted my bag to my other arm. ‘I better let you go before you miss your bus.’

‘Okay, well, tell your parents I’m looking forward to it. Should I bring anything, like a cake or something?’

‘No need. Not that there’ll be anything too fancy. You already know Mum’s cooking abilities.

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