Read Gemini Falling for Free Online

can onto my knees, grinding them into the gravel and trying not too think too hard about the hygiene implications. I mess up my hair and rip my school shirt so that it’s untucked from my skirt and half the buttons have come off.
    I rub my soapy hands as hard as I can across my eyes, so that they sting and start overflowing immediately. My fingers come away streaked with the eyeliner that I only put on a few minutes ago. It’s strange – it’s the wrong way around, but forcing myself to cry makes me actually cry. I suddenly feel overcome with it. There’s no turning back now.
    I can feel that I’ve succeeded, mission accomplished, and I wish I could see the final effect for myself. I am way too far into this to stop and think about the full reality of what I’m doing. I peer around the corner – I can see Josh’s little green car parked on the road, so I guess he is already here.
    I take a deep breath and stagger around the corner, as if I’m confused and disorientated. Through my tears, I emerge into the blurry green of the park, and I can see Josh sitting on a bench. I wonder if I’ll collapse before I get to him.
    ‘Josh…’ I croak, my voice genuinely coming out thick and pained.
    My eyes are really streaming, so the scratches on my face sting, and I’m feeling pretty battered. Maybe I did too good a job; the panic rises in me as I suddenly realise I might have taken this too far.
    ‘Lexy, oh my God! What happened? Are you OK?’
    Josh leaps up from his seat, and his hands feel warm and solid as he helps me to sit down.
    ‘I’m fine. I don’t know…’ I crumple weakly onto the bench, feeling boneless, his hand still holding onto my arm. ‘I mean, I’ll be fine. I think.’
    I don’t have to put on an act, as I had feared. My head is genuinely spinning and my words are all over the place.
    ‘Lexy, what the hell happened?’
    ‘I… I’m not sure. I was walking over here to meet you and I cut through the alleyway – it was stupid of me; it was probably my own fault.’ I pause to look at him and make sure he is not agreeing with this. ‘Someone came up behind me and grabbed me. They pushed me down to the ground. I think someone was kicking me; I’m not sure. I didn’t really see them. They must have just run off in the end. I wasn’t really sure what was going on.’
    His thumb rubs the inside of my arm through my thin, ripped school shirt.
    ‘You’re shivering. Come on, let’s go – my car’s just over here.’
    He keeps hold of my arm as we walk, and opens the passenger door for me. He has to move a stack of books, a hoodie and a pair of trainers from the seat, chucking them in the back, before I can sit down.
    ‘Come on, let’s get you home.’ He pats my knee very carefully.
    ‘No! Please. I mean, I just… I really don’t want to go home.’
    ‘OK, OK… I suppose I could take you back to mine.’
    ‘Thanks, Josh. I don’t know what I would have done without you.’
    He starts the car and looks grimly ahead while I curl up and face him from the passenger seat.
    ‘I’m sorry about all this,’ I say pathetically. ‘I really do need to talk to you about something, like I said.’
    ‘Yeah?’
    I don’t know whether he’s losing patience with me or just concentrating on his driving, but I feel a sudden panic that I can’t mess this up like everything else. I can’t ever seem to do anything right, not even when I try my very best to make as spectacular a gesture as this.
    ‘It’s about Sorana.’ I make my face and my voice as concerned as I can, as if I’m saying this reluctantly because I only want to help. I’ve practised it in my head but it feels different now and I stumble on my words. ‘I mean, she and I aren’t exactly best friends or anything – as you know – but I’m really worried about her…’
    ‘I don’t get it. Why would you be worried about Sorana?’
    His interest has obviously been caught by the mention of Sorana, which instantly gets my back