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She was late to lunch, then late to English
And if she didn’t know already that she liked that stupid effing Asian kid, she knew it now
Because even after everything that had happened in the last forty-fivethat had happened in the last twenty-four hours – all Eleanor could think about was seeing Park
Park
When they got back on the bus, she took his Walk him put it on for her At the stop before hers, she handed it back
‘You can borrow it,’ he said quietly ‘Listen to the rest of the tape’
‘I don’t want to break it,’ she said
‘You’re not going to break it’
‘I don’t want to use up the batteries’
‘I don’t care about the batteries’
She looked up at him then, in the eye, maybe for the first time ever Her hair looked even crazi-er than it had thison a big red afro But her eyes were dead serious, cold sober Any cliché you’ve ever heard used to describe Clint Eastwood, those were Eleanor’s eyes
‘Really,’ she said ‘You don’t care’
‘They’re just batteries,’ he said
She emptied the batteries and the tape froot off the bus without looking back
God, she eird
Eleanor
The batteries started to die at 1:00 a for another hour until the voices slowed to a stop
CHAPTER 13
Eleanor
She re fresh clothes She’d had to wash her jeans out in the bathtub last night, so they were still kind of daether, Eleanor felt a thousand times better than she had yesterday
Even her hair was halfway cooperating She’d clumped it up into a bun and wrapped it with a rubber band It was going to hurt like crazy trying to tear the rubber band out, but at least it was staying for now
Best of all, she had Park’s songs in her head –
and in her chest, so about the s and her sto about it, and so, like the world, wasn’t what she’d thought it was And that was a good thing That was the greatest thing
When she got on the bus that , she i up too, like he aiting for her She couldn’t help it, she grinned Just for a second
As soon as she sat down, Eleanor slunk low in the seat, so the back-of-the-bus ruffians wouldn’t be able to see from the top of her head how happy she felt
She could feel Park sitting next to her, even though he was at least six inches away
She handed hireen ribbon wound round her wrist She couldn’t think of what to say She started to worry that , that she wouldn’t even thank him …
Park’s hands were perfectly still in his lap
And perfectly perfect Honey-colored with clean, pink fingernails Everything about hi and slender Every time he moved he had a reason
They were almost to school when he broke the silence
‘Did you listen?’
She nodded, letting her eyes clih as his shoulders
‘Did you like it?’ he asked
She rolled her eyes ‘Oh my God It was …
just, like …’ – she spread out all her fingers – ‘so aweso sarcastic? I can’t tell’
She looked up at his face, even though she kne that was going to feel, like soh her chest
‘No It eso – is it "Love Will Tear Us Apart"?’
‘Yeah, Joy Division’
‘Ohever’
He iuitar and the drums
‘Yeah, yeah, yeah,’ she said ‘I just wanted to listen to those three seconds over and over’
‘You could have’ His eyes were s, his mouth only sort of
‘I didn’t want to waste the batteries,’ she said
He shook his head, like she was dumb
‘Plus,’ she said, ‘I love the rest of it just as h part, the melody, the dahhh, dah-de-dah-dah, de-dahh, de dahhh’
He nodded
‘And his voice at the end,’ she said, ‘when he goes just a little bit too high … And then the very end, where it sounds like the dru to be over …’
Park made drum noises with hisinto pieces,’
she said, ‘and love theh
‘What about the Smiths?’ he asked
‘I didn’t knoas who,’ she said
‘I’ll write it down for you’
‘I liked it all’
‘Good,’ he said
‘I loved it’
He smiled, but turned away to look out theShe looked down
They were pulling into the parking lot Eleanor didn’t want this new talking thing – like, really talking, back and forth and s at each other