Read When the World was Flat (and we were in love) for Free Online

course of true love never runs smooth?’”
    â€œDoes love look with the eyes or the mind?”
    Yadda. Yadda. Yadda.
    â€œIf you paid attention to Mrs Baker like you do Paul Gosling and Simon Caster we could be at the movies,” I had complained as we studied.
    Instead, Sylv had spent the past two weeks flirting like a dime-store hooker with that pair of acne-covered sleazeballs. She played it up because Taylor “Greaseball” Blackwood sat next to them, not that he ever looked up from scribbling on his desk with a sharpie.
    But Sylv was giving it away for free at the Duck-In Diner this afternoon, making rude gestures involving her tongue. The college guys returned the signals threefold.
    Sylv withdrew her consent when the sexual sign language got too hot and heavy. “Home time,” she declared, standing up from the booth.
    â€œHey! Where are you going?” the college guys called out.
    Sylv ignored them.
    â€œI said, ‘Where are you going?’”
    â€œYou mean you ‘asked’ where are you going,” Jo threw over her shoulder as we walked through the doors, leaving them scratching their heads. She was a stickler when it came to grammar. Sylv said it was because she was in love with Mr Bailey, not with the language, but I think it was because she had her head stuck in a book all the time. She literally corrected the text as she went with a red pen, even library books. She had been banned from Green Grove Public Library for editing War and Peace .
    Jo and I split from Sylv at the end of the block as usual, but as we walked down the street I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise, as if we were being watched. My mind went to the man in the balaclava.
    I looked around and saw a man hosing his dead lawn a couple of houses back – nope, not him – and a woman pushing a pram towards Main Street – nuh-uh. A green car with a dent in its fender drove by, its engine groaning like a wounded beast. It was followed by a sleek black SUV that looked like it cost ten times the average wage in Green Grove.
    â€œWhat a jerk,” Jo commented. “That has to be Mr Hodges.”
    I wrinkled my nose as I watched the Mercedes-Benz disappear around the corner, taking with it the adrenaline that had coursed through my body at the thought of the man in the balaclava. “An out-of-towner, I would say.”
    â€œSpeaking of out-of-towners. Tell me how you hate Tom again.”
    I snorted. “You mean speaking of jerks.”
    Jo guffawed. “Told you so.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œYou like him. You want to have his babies.” She put her fingers in her ears and sang, “Lillie and Tom, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G,” childishly until we reached my front gate. “See you tomorrow,” she called out, before walking down the street with her ears still blocked.
    I shook my head. Of course I thought Tom was good-looking. To say otherwise would be like saying summer in Green Grove was cold or Sylv was frigid, but I also thought he was an ass.
    And I would have to be an ass to like him, I thought, thinking of those intense blue irises. The blood began to throb in my ears, as I remembered my dream where I was pregnant with his baby. Thud. Thud. Thud. Ass. Ass. Ass.

 
    5
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    I was on the path that led to the courtyard. My clothes were damp with sweat and I knew without looking that you-know-who was hot on my heels.
    I sped up, navigating the uneven flagstones in the dimming daylight until I suddenly tripped and fell forward. I heard a crunch as my cheek struck a rock.
    The cold was like a wall of water and I woke in my bed, gasping for breath. I sat up and put a hand to my cheek, expecting to find a broken cheekbone. I was relieved when I realized it had been another dream, but then my tongue touched a chipped tooth.
    I rolled out of bed and turned on my bedroom light. I lifted up my lip and surveyed my molars in the mirror. It was a small