Read She Died Too Young for Free Online

paper.”
    “Is he getting used to your studying so much with Garrison?”
    “Hardly,” Katie said, pulling Chelsea’s brush through her thick black hair. “But the whole thing is harmless, so Josh is just being paranoid for no reason.”
    “No reason?” Chelsea asked.
    Katie felt self-conscious and turned away from Chelsea. “Now, don’t go trying to psychoanalyze me the way you do everybody else. There’s nothing to analyze.”
    Chelsea arched her eyebrow. “Really? So, then why is your face turning red?”
    “I could wait out here in the parking lot for you to finish,” Josh said, pulling his car to a halt in the lot nearest the University of Michigan’s gigantic library.
    “It’s cold out here. You’ll freeze.” Katie gathered her books and prepared to get out of the car.
    “How much longer before you finish this paper anyway?”
    “Another few weeks. The basic research is almost over, then we’ll just have to write the thing.” She kept her voice light, as if the process were an annoyance. In truth, the paper was driving her nuts. Not the paper. Spending so much time with Garrison.
    She reached for the door handle. “Look, I’ll call you the minute I get home tonight.”
    “Garrison taking you home?”
    “What do you expect me to do. Josh? Call a cab?” She could tell that her retort stung him, so she tried a different tack. “Josh, you know how much I want to qualify for a track scholarship, but running isn’t enough to get me one like it once might have done. Coaches want competitive runners, but they also want good students. I lost a whole year of my life with my operation and all. I’m not the best anymore out on the track.”
    “You’re still good, Katie. I know how hard you train. By this spring when track season starts, you’ll be unbeatable.”
    “You have more faith in me than I do,” she said with a laugh. She sobered and with intensity added, “I want good grades. I want to
earn
that scholarship. Acing honors English would mean a lot to me. It’s a top priority in my life right now.”
    “There was a time when I was a top priority in your life,” Josh said softly.
    Guilt tore at her. Still, she clenched her teeth and tried not to overreact. “You still are.”
    “But not quite as high as studying with Garrison.”
    “It bothers me when you don’t trust me.”
    “Garrison bothers
me
. He’s cocky and a show-off, and I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”
    “This conversation is silly, and it’s going no place.” Katie jerked open the door. “I’ll call you later.” She slammed the door and hurried up the sidewalk. She heard Josh gun the engine and squeal out of the parking lot. The smell of burned rubber hung in the night air. She sagged on the steps of the brightly lit library, torn between going in and facing Garrison and going to a pay phone and calling Josh to come back for her.
    Then, remembering what she’d told Josh about the importance of her grades, Katie gathered her ragged emotions and went inside. She found Garrison on the fourth floor, back in a corner near a window. He waved as she approached. “You look unhappy,” Garrison said.
    The last thing she wanted was for him to suspect that there was tension between her and Josh. “It’s been a long day,” she replied, dumping her books and taking the chair across from his.
    “Want to talk about it?”
    “No.”
    He shrugged and turned an open magazine toward her. “I think this article is good. It discusses Iago’s lack of motivation for hating Othello, and this scholar thinks it weakens Shakespeare’s whole play. Without motivation, Iago’s hatred seems pointless.”
    She tried to focus on what Garrison was telling her. He was a brilliant thinker and as intent onscoring big on this paper as she was. He’d told her he was aiming for entering Harvard and after earning an undergraduate degree there would apply to the law school. “I guess motives count,” Katie said.
    She hated it when he