Read Pulse of Heroes for Free Online Page B

down and began to eat her own lunch.
    No one said anything for a while, so finally
Samantha had to break the silence. “There is something wrong,
right?”
    Michelle contemplated telling her the truth
of what she had just done, but she just couldn't bring herself to
do it. It was strange because she always shared everything with
Samantha. But, just like she hadn’t been able to walk to class, she
felt the same impediment when she tried to talk about it.
    “No, I'm just tired,” Michelle answered.
    “Are you sure?” Samantha insisted.
    “Yeah. I don't know, maybe it’s just the
holidays.” Michelle was still staring into the distance, rather
than looking at her friend.
    Confused, Samantha asked, “Is it because your
brother's girlfriend is going to be sleeping in your room?”
    “Maybe,” Michelle answered, and at the same
time realized that she had completely forgotten about that. Toby
was bringing his new girlfriend to Thanksgiving dinner and Michelle
had suggested to him that she could spend the night in her room
because there was no way that their parents would feel comfortable
with Toby and her sleeping together. And besides, nobody enjoyed
being that intimate with somebody’s parents around. Well, at least
Michelle imagined that they wouldn't. Truth was that at that time
she hadn't really minded, but now as she thought about it in school
she realized that she wasn’t feeling very sociable.
    “Do you even know her name?” Samantha asked.
Michelle had to think about that for a while.
    “You know, I never bothered to ask,” she
giggled. Somebody blew a whistle from the track down below, and Tim
and three other guys began running while the wrestling coach stood
to the side with a stopwatch in hand. When they passed the
bleachers where Michelle and Samantha were sitting, Tim slowed down
and jogged over to the side.
    Are you girls defrosted yet?” he shouted up
to them.
    Samantha elbowed Michelle and whispered, “I
told you he's still trying to get your attention,” keeping her
teeth together. Michelle whispered back in annoyance, “I don't
care, Samantha.”
    Samantha whispered right back at her, “What's
with you?” and a heartbeat later she stood up and yelled back down
at Tim. “Keep running, we’re still freezing. I’ll let you know if
it works!” Tim laughed and sped up to catch up with the rest of the
team. Michelle immediately shoved Samantha in disapproval.
    “I can't believe you did that.” Michelle
couldn't wait for the day to be over.
     
    When Michelle got home from school there was
an unfamiliar van parked outside her house with “SAFETY FIRST –
ALARM SYSTEMS” stenciled in big bold letters on the side door.
Michelle rolled her eyes and wondered how much worse her day could
get. She had cut class for the first time in her life, Tim was
obviously back together with Bethany, and she was failing Italian.
And now on top of all that, her parents were going to cage her up
like some bird inside her house because everyone was paranoid over
a measly little private school that was moving into the town.
    Michelle walked into the house through the
open door and saw two men in blue uniforms wiring up the windows
and installing a security system panel by the front entry. They
both greeted her, and although the younger one was actually really
cute, she wished that they would just go away. There were amazing
aromas coming out of the kitchen and when Michelle recognized one
of them as homemade stuffing she realized that her mother was
already cooking for Thanksgiving dinner.
    “Come here and try this. Tell me what you
think,” her mom asked, holding a wooden spoon dripping with
homemade gravy.
    “What's up with the alarm system, Mom?”
Michelle asked instead.
    Her mother set down the spoon and replied
nonchalantly, “Oh, you know. Everybody else is getting them. It was
a great deal this time of year, so I thought hey, why not?”
    “Right. And you’re telling me this has
nothing to do with