Read Minutes Before Sunset for Free Online Page B

sympathy toward him.
    “It looks cold,” I said. He looks lonely.
    “Who cares?” Robb shrugged, barely looking over as a girl appeared from the other side of the hill. Immediately, the two began talking, and I peered at the unfamiliar face.
    “Who’s that?” I asked, tapping Crystal’s arm.
    Crystal’s dark eyes squinted. “That’s Teresa Young—the girl we told you about.”
    “They’re obsessed with one another,” Robb said, pulling his lunch out of his backpack. “I swear they have something going on.”
    “They don’t,” Crystal said.
    Robb bit into his sandwich. “I bet they do,” he said, singing as he leaned into Crystal. He was just trying to annoy her.
    I turned away from my friends and kept my gaze on my homeroom partner. Both Eric and Teresa looked downhill, and then Teresa waved a piece of paper at him. He spoke, and he grabbed his stuff, disappearing down the other side.
    He did not just leave me to handle class on my own.
    I gripped the table, and Crystal sighed, leaning her entire torso on the table. “Did you guys want to do anything tonight?” she asked. “I’m about to go crazy.”
    “Not at my house,” Robb said.
    Crystal cringed. “Don’t worry; I wasn’t planning on it.” She turned to me. “My mom should be home late. You guys could come over.”
    “Sounds good to me.” Robb’s eyes lit up. “I’m sure I could get away from the ‘rents for a while.”
    “Your parents are way too strict,” Crystal said, smacking her gum. Apparently, she didn’t eat lunch.
    “That’s exactly why we don’t go to my place,” he said, allowing his gaze to land on me. “You coming?”
    I shook my head. “I can’t,” I said, trying to ignore the pressures of my school project. “I have plans.”
    Crystal flipped a pen around her fingers, a nervous habit. “With who?”
    “Me, of course,” Robb said, winking his brown eyes.
    Crystal punched his arm. “You wish,” she said, and I laughed.
    “It isn’t with Robb,” I clarified. “I have family stuff I have to figure out.” Like my biological parents.
    “I thought you were going to get a head start on your project,” Crystal said. “You know you’ll have to do it all by yourself, right?”
    Robb straightened up. “I could help you.”
    “It’s okay,” I said, standing up as the return bell rang. “I’ll get Eric to talk to me.”
    Crystal laughed but ultimately nodded. “Good luck with that, Jess.”
    “Thanks,” I muttered. I’ll probably need it.

Eric
     
    Teresa was lying on my bed, her black hair spilling off the side. She tapped her painted nails against her stomach, and I watched her, unsure of why she dragged me out only to read Mindy’s magazines in my room.
    “What’s this about, Camille?”
    “A lot.” She sighed and flipped the page. “The elders have me practicing my Light powers.” She cringed. “I’m really uncomfortable with it.”
    I frowned. Camille never talked about her Light side. “Why’s it uncomfortable?”
    “I’d rather not talk about it,” she said, changing her mind as she stared at me upside down. “But there is something I wanted to talk to you about.”
    I laid my chin on my hands. “So talk about it.”
    “Jonathon told me your father forced you to bond with Noah and Mindy last night,” she said, sitting up to catch my eyes. “How’d that go?”
    “Okay,” I shrugged, relying on my remarkable lying skills. “I still don’t like them though.”
    She lifted her thin, black eyebrows. “Anything else you want to tell me?”
    Did she know? I locked my jaw. There was no possible way. She couldn’t.
    “No.”
    Her expression fell, and she shook her head back and forth. “Eric,” she sighed. “Your father told me you went out with Pierce last night, but it’s obvious you didn’t go.”
    I tensed. “Did you tell him?”
    “No.” She glared and waved her hands in the air. “But why’d you do it? Don’t you know how dangerous it is for you to go out,