Page 23 (1/2)

I stared at him until he shut the door behind hie until I couldn’t breathe

I dropped the candy into the trash and dug onna be so flat by the ti to have to blow it up with a bicycle pump" Lily leaned forward to rub her lower back

I bitwould et coldcocked, especially by a hot girl

Instead, I fished for my hat on Em’s floorboard, retrieved it, and pulled it down over ht the ree friend orked at the Peabody Hotel, and she’d comped a suite for us Eht to the school It was still early e parked outside the ad Bennett University sat on the eastern outskirts of Memphis, and the boundary surrounded almost a hundred acres of forest and acadelish countryside," Lily said as we drove through the open iron gates that led onto the property The cae Gothic arches, dark patches of forest, cobblestone sidewalks Everything was green, gold, and shades of red

I slid out of ed to tear her eyes away from the scenery "What is this? Chivalry?"

"No You have the Hot Tamales" I held out my hand "I need a hit"

She shoved the box intonoise "Hot Ta Cinnamon Jelly Bellys Red Hots I’m surprised you have any taste buds left Or teeth"

"Do I make the obvious hot-stuff joke here, or refrain?"

"Refrain"

She grabbed a square, padded canvas bag fro the bag, she took out her ca

"Shouldn’t we be thinking about e need to do next?" I asked Eo," E in with Dad, I was sure "She’ll get the buzz out of her system in a ets kind of possessed Or obsessed"

Even though she was in earshot of the conversation, Lily never wavered, focusing her attention on a single yellow leaf hanging on to the end of a tree branch She lay flat on her back in the grass to take a shot from below, and then climbed halfway up the trunk to take one fro she wants to shoot and she’s gone If not physically, like hanging off the edge of a building or scaling the side of a mountain for a perfect shot, then mentally She fraenerally does her thing until she realizes a world exists outside her pictures"

"Is she good?"

"Unbelievable" Eraphs in Murphy’s Law"

"Those are hers?" I asked, re they were "Those photos are masterpieces"

"Yes, they are"

Finally, Lily walked toward us, shaking bits of leaves and grass froious I was s, too

"I could spend days here All those curves and lines and shadows How did I not know about this place before now?" She shoved her caetic face at Eet excited"