Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 89535 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89535 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
That’s a lot to take on, and not having a support system would only make it harder.
I think I’m starting to understand him more than I ever wanted to.
He’s … lonely.
Well, that, at least, I can help with.
Asher Dalton just gained a new best friend. Whether he wants it or not.
7
Asher
“Give it back!” one of the twins screams.
“It’s my turn!”
“Shut up, I’m trying to do homework!” Hazel yells.
Even in the basement, I can hear my siblings. And West is always surprised when I say I can’t get any studying done. This is why.
I’m slumped over my desk, my head in my hand as I read over the same paragraph ten times because it’s still not sinking in.
I don’t understand because digestion is simple. Mouth, esophagus, stomach, liver, intestines, bowel. There’s a gall bladder in there somewhere too, I’m sure. My point is, shouldn’t I be learning about what foods are good and which ones are bad? So then I can be all “Carbs good. Sugar baaad” to my future nonexistent clients because I’m going to be a hockey player no matter what.
Even if I have to play for the AHL for a while. Hell, even the ECHL. I don’t care if the pay is shitty as long as I get to play.
I stare at the words again, trying to memorize the function of the liver because apparently “It gets rid of all the toxic shit you put in your body” is not an appropriate essay answer. Don’t know why. Seems perfectly valid to me.
Gah. I need a break.
I close my laptop and amble my way upstairs for a drink. I’m hit with a wall of noise.
“It’s eight o’clock. Time for bed,” I sing.
“They haven’t eaten dinner yet,” West says from the kitchen where he’s trying to cook … I want to say taco meat? I can’t be sure.
“I can do it.” I try to take over, but West nudges me out of the way.
“How’s studying?”
“I can’t concentrate with all the noise. I’ll try again when they’re all asleep.”
“That’s going to be a while. Why don’t you go to the library at school and try to get it done? You’re dangerously close to losing your spot on the team.”
I scowl. “You’ve been checking up on me?”
“I’m your coach. Your professors have to report your grades.”
Fuck that shit.
“I’ll do it after the kids are fed.”
“No.” West raises his voice. “You’ll go do it now.”
I huff. “Fine. Whatever. Don’t accept my help.”
Emmett comes into the kitchen and opens the fridge for something to eat.
“Dinner’s almost ready, Ben,” West says.
I grab an apple from the fruit bowl and throw it to Emmett. “That’s Em,” I tell West and make my exit.
“Damn it. Sorry, Emmett.”
If West doesn’t learn to tell those two apart soon, teen life with them is going to be so hard.
I go back downstairs and grab everything I’ll need and shove it in my bag.
Maybe being in a library will help me feel smarter, therefore I will think smarter.
The drive is only a couple of minutes, and parking is usually a bitch, but this time of night it’s not too bad.
I make my way inside the three-story building and automatically head for the study rooms people usually use for group assignments. Anywhere else and I’m worried I’ll get lost. Not a big shocking revelation here, but I don’t know the library well. Or … really at all.
Kole’s head pops up from a table near the door as I enter, and … whoa. Kole’s wearing glasses. Black, square ones that frame his eyes, and all my blood flows south.
If you’d asked me two seconds ago if I had a nerd kink, the answer would have been hell no, because someone like Foster’s boyfriend, Zach, would have come to mind. But this … tall, chiseled features, and glasses? I’ve found my new weakness.
He’s with a group of other people I don’t recognize, but that doesn’t stop the smartass from coming out of me.
I smile and wave. “I know, right? I didn’t think I could step inside here without bursting into flames, but apparently a library is not like a church.”
His friends don’t seem amused, but at least Kole’s lips twitch.
“So, this is a library, huh?”
Still nothing. Oh well.
And now this is awkward.
“I’m just gonna …” I tip my head in the direction of a free desk and then follow through.
But like at home, I can’t concentrate. Only, I can’t blame the noise this time.
The words are there, I understand them fine, but it’s not sinking in. I don’t have a learning disability or anything like that, but it’s hard for me to retain information on things that I find mind-numbingly boring.
I read and read and read, but all my brain is doing is going “Ooh, look, shiny things” and “I want to nap.” Then there’s the screaming in my head like “Why are you doing this to me? Please don’t make me think with the thinks. Braining is too hard.”