ChaPter 2 - Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr

6
looked out the large front window and saw Kaleb standing
across the street from Java Junkies as if she’d conjured him
with her thoughts. Admittedly, Smithfield was a tiny town, so
she bumped into Kaleb every time he was home from school,
which seemed to be a lot lately. Still, Mallory felt the same
warm flush of excitement she did every time she saw him and
then quashed it.
Bad idea. Very, very bad.
She lowered her gaze, suddenly finding the words painted
on the door fascinating, and stepped onto the sidewalk with
her eyes still downcast. She should be scanning the area for
danger, but all she wanted to do was look at Kaleb. She stole
a glance at him and debated going over to at least say hello.
Nothing could come of it. She knew it—but she couldn’t
bring herself to tell him that. It was foolishness, but she wanted
something to come of it. She’d never felt so instantly at ease or
so embarrassingly attracted to anyone. Telling him to go away
wasn’t something she could bring herself to do—despite how
inevitable it was. Instead, she walked away, forcing herself not
to look at him. She let her gaze wander over the flowers in
planters along the street, the man in the rumpled suit playing
his cello for change, the debris that accumulated in gutters . . .
anything but the boy who had occupied all of her free thoughts
the past month.
She hadn’t gone more than a few steps when Kaleb caught
up with her. “Are you ignoring me?”
“No,” she lied.