Marianne by Elizabeth Hammer (best books to read in life TXT) 📕

looked from Patrick to Marianne and back again. And again. “What?” he said, mildly perplexed.

Patrick gave Marianne a crooked smile and missed his next shot.

When Hector got into position to try for the ten, Marianne saw Christian-the-beard cringe. She gave him a questioning look, and he shook his head sadly. “He’s going to miss that one,” he said. “I warned him before we started playing, but he never listens.”

Hector took the shot, missed, gave Christian the finger, and went to sit down at a table. Christian laughed and went to take his turn.

“You knew he would miss the ten?” asked Marianne.

“Yeah.” Christian sank a solid ball. “I’m a little psychic.”

Ivan, Sammy, and Hector groaned. Marianne stepped a little closer to the table. “You’re a little what now?”

Patrick shook his head. “Christian’s a bit more sensitive than the rest of us.”

“It’s true,” said Sammy. “He’s the weenie of the group.”

Christian stepped back after missing and spoke pointedly to Marianne and no one else. “I know how it sounds,” he said. “I don’t really talk about it because people will think I’m weird, or whatever.”

“Yeah?” said Ivan, getting into position. “Then why are you telling her?”

Marianne’s thoughts exactly. “I think it’s neat,” she said anyway. “Anything interesting you can share about Patrick?”

“Make it embarrassing,” said Ivan.

Christian leaned on his cue and stared at Patrick. “His aura today is the same as always, maybe a bit brighter.”

Patrick rolled his eyes. Sammy and Hector broke into giggles. Ivan clapped Christian on the back. Marianne looked to Patrick for an explanation. “Pink,” said Patrick. “Bubble gum pink.”

“Ha!” said Marianne, giving Ivan a high five. “Do me, Christian. What color am I?”

“Come on, you guys,” whined Christian. “There’s nothing wrong with pink; it’s a very strong color. It shows that he’s artistic, tender—”

“Oh gross, stop,” said Ivan. “We’ve heard it, and we don’t want to hurl again.”

“—means he’s affectionate and—”

“Whoa, whoa,” said Hector. “We said that’s enough.”

“—loving—”

Sammy’s head collided with the tabletop. “Please! No more!”

“—it could indicate a budding romance—”

“Okay,” said Patrick. “The rest is bad enough; just leave her out of it.”

“—sensuality—”

“I changed my mind,” said Marianne. “I don’t want you to read my aura.”

Christian finally stopped listing off gooey attributes and crossed his arms. “You guys are so immature.”

Sammy missed the pocket by about nine inches, and then it was Marianne’s turn again. There were no good shots for her team, so she just picked an impossible one at random and leaned over the table. Patrick sucked in a breath through his teeth, insulting her choice. Marianne lifted her head. “What’s wrong?” she asked hurriedly. “Do you have a special affection for this ball? If you’re feeling tender about it, I can hit another one.”

Patrick gave a light, fake laugh. “Actually, I was just thinking how cute it is that you think you can make that shot.”

“Ooh!” yelled a two or three of the guys. “School him, Marianne!” said Ivan.

Marianne walked around the table a few times, rechecking the setup. Aha. She glanced back over her shoulder at the peanut gallery, winked, and leaned down. She aimed carefully, took a deep breath, and barely tapped the ball so it came to rest inside a whole mess of solid balls, making them non-shots for Patrick.

“Booya!” shouted Ivan, walking over and slinging his arm around Marianne’s shoulder. He leaned his face in close to hers. “I think I’m falling in love with you.”

Marianne laughed and then laughed harder at the look on Patrick’s face. He rolled his eyes when he saw that he’d been caught breaking character and then set up for his impossible shot. Just as he was swinging the cue forward to hit the ball to who-knows-where, a little blond chick bounced up behind him and started tickling him in the ribs.

Marianne stiffened.

Ivan groaned.

Patrick twitched and spun around, sending the eight ball flying clear off the table.

11

Pwned in perpetuum

“What the heck?” said the girl, resting one of her claws on Patrick’s forearm. “I told you guys to call us if you came down here today.”

Vanessa Vargas. Yearbook editor. ASB officer. Algebra II answer-stealer. Oh yeah, Marianne knew her all right. She didn’t know any of the other girls that filed in around the table a second later, but she knew their type. If it wouldn’t have been ridiculously melodramatic, she’d have fled the restaurant right then. She decided just to slink back to her chair instead.

Christian shrugged. “Sorry, Vanessa. We got here late.”

Patrick stepped away from Vanessa to pick up the wayward eight ball and then started cleaning everything up.

“That’s okay.” Vanessa leaned her hip on the table. “We were just at Hot Topic, and I saw this totally sweet Duke Nukem sticker I want to show Patrick.” She said Patrick’s name funny; the syllables too distinct for Marianne’s taste. “For his next skateboard, you know. With his track record, he’s about due to break this one anytime.” She laughed and rolled her eyes. “OMG!” she said, looking directly at Marianne.

Shoot. Now they’d have to have the obligatory post-high school conversation about how long it’s been and what they were up to nowadays.

“Is that iced tea?” said Vanessa, hopping off the edge of the pool table. “Can I have some of that?”

Or not. Marianne nodded and gestured that Vanessa was welcome to it. “You wanna sit down?” she offered, standing up.

“OMG, thanks,” said Vanessa. “I’m sooo tired.” She climbed into the chair, putting her back to Marianne. “So, anyway,” said Vanessa to Christian, “there were these ridiculous Goth guys at the store. They were totally staring at us, and it was so gross. As if!”

Marianne could only stare at the back of her head and blink. The level of hatred was such that she couldn’t even feel it; there was only shock. With the notable exception of the Dark Lord, the Goths were ten times nicer and more intelligent than the git now sitting in her chair. Marianne lowered her eyes and tried to decipher the tattoo peeking out on Vanessa’s lower