Full Moon, Elaina H [books suggested by bill gates TXT] 📗

after he’s gotten on. “Ready?”

“Okay!” I shout.

He takes off, and the speed makes me smile. My stomach gets into a knot, and I wrap my arms around his solid waist.

The leather is soft and warm against my skin. When w come to a spot light I release my grip a little, and turn to the left.

There, to my left, are my parents. Are they on their way home?! I remember that I have my helmet, cheerleading uniform, and cheer shoes on. I could be any cheerleader, right?

“That’s my parents to our left, keep driving when we get to my house!” Finn rolls his eyes, but nods.

When we pass my house, I see my parents turn into our drive way.

“God, that was close!”

My arms tighten around him again. His leather jacket has flow back and his T-shirt is riding up.

My bare arms touch his bare stomach. ‘My God!’ I say to myself. This guy has some serious abs. But besides that fact, he’s burning up! He’s got to me running a fever.

“You can stop here!” I shout, almost forgetting that we have to turn around. Finn pulls into the parking lot, and stops the bike.

“Now what? We can’t really ditch my bike?” I frown.

“I guess not, but do you think we can pull off the ‘I promise, Daddy, I didn’t ride the bike’,” Finn laughs.

“We’ll see, but first, I want a shake,” I look up and see that we’re parked in the parking lot of a run down ice cream parlor.

“Huh, how is it that I never knew this was here?” he smiles at me.

“I’ve seen it before, but I forgot about it.”

I bite my lip, “It looks kind of shady, I’m not sure, Finn. It sounds like a bad idea.”

“Do you honestly think I would let anyone hurt you. I mean look at me, I’m kind of scary,” I giggle.

“Maybe a little, but what if,” before I know it, he’s turned the bike off, taken out the key, and pulled the helmet off my head.

“Looks like we’re going,” I sigh.

Finn helps me off the bike, and leads me over to the ice cream parlor. When he opens the door, the A/C hits us like a wave. “That is amazing,” I say.

“Ya think, princess,” he grins wickedly. “Look at that scary guy over there,” he points to a scrappy man in a US Truckers hat.

“Ha ha! Very funny,” I punch his arm, but I don’t think he notices.

“What can I do you for?” an older man says behind the counter.

“Hi, Sir,” I start, “I’d like a strawberry shake, and…”

Finn picks up where I left off, “Two more strawberries, please.”

“Two more?” I raise an eyebrow, “You really that hungry?”

He looks away, slightly embarrasses, “I don’t need two I guess,” he says it like he’s sad.

“No, no! Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that, I meant, I, uh…” he puts his hand on my shoulder and looks me in the eyes.

“It’s okay, I know what you’re doing,” I furrow my eyebrows.

“And what exactly is that, dipstick?” the corner of my lips pull up into a smile.

“Well, princess, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re trying,” the old man at the counter speaks up.

“Order up!” he hands us the three shakes, and Finn grabs them all.

“You find us a seat.”

“Okay,” I come up behind him, and jab him in the sides with my pointer fingers, “Don’t drop them!” I yell.

Finn almost dropped the one, but quickly caught it with his other hand. He glares at me, “That would’ve been your, princess.”

“I’m sure it would have,” I say as I pull out two chairs.

The old man behind the counter laughs heartily, “The two of you remind me of my wife and I when we were a young couple. So hopeful and full of love,” he smiles at the memory.

“Oh, Sir, we aren’t together, together,” I smile sweetly at him.

“Oh, well, call me when you are,” and with that he turns and leaves the counter.

The little rinky-dink ice cream parlor is decked out it faded red and dirty white. The tables are card tables and the chairs don’t match each other.

The cups are huge glasses that say Coca-Cola. “This place is cute,” I say. “So is the old man.”

Finn wrinkles his nose, “If you go for that, I guess.”

I laugh hysterically, and confusion sits on his face, “Oh goodness,” I say taking deep breaths. “I can’t believe you thought I meant,” I can’t stop laughing, and the US Trucker man stares at me, “that he was cute, cute as in,” I wipe the tear away from my eye, “attractive.”

I lay my hand on his arm, “You just made my day, Finn...” I pause, “You know what Finn, I don’t even know your last name.”

“It’s Finn Sherwood.”

“Huh, Sherwood? I would have never guessed.” He looks at me kind of funny.

“Guessed? You were going to try and guess my name? I would have never guessed Greene, you know,” he sucks the last bit of Strawberry shake out of the bottom of the glass.

“Really? See that surprises me because when I think about it, I sound like a Greene. You just don’t sound like a Sherwood.”

“I think I sound like a Sherwood,” Finn says.

I chuckle, “I’m sure you do.”

After we both finish, we return our glasses, and head to the bike. “Ready?”

“Okay!” I answer.

“So you didn’t ride my bike over, and I’m an Honor Role student?” he asks.

“Yeah, except Spanish, since I’m tutoring you,” he points at me.

“Helmet!”

I grumble, “It’s so bulky! I don’t like it. I wish I had a cute little pink helmet with 2COOL4U on the back. How awesome would that be?”

“Pretty awesome, but for now, all I have is the black bulky one,” he makes sure the helmet is snug on my head than get on, I follow him on.

Finn starts the bike and I feel it rumble beneath me, my arms wrap around him again. “I feel like I should be wearing a leather jacket!” I shout at him.

“That’s be pretty cool,” I smile.

“IKR,” I say.

The confusion is obvious, “I know, right!”

“Gotcha!” Finn takes off, and I feel my self whip around.

When we’re thirty feet from my house, he stops the bike and lets me off. “See you soon,” I say.

I walk up the driveway and see Mom looking out the window. “Hey, Mom!” I say as I walk in.

“Hi, honey. I was starting to get worries about you Anna got home thirty minutes ago.”

“Oh, I had to talk to Finn for a few minutes, he’ll be here soon. I’m tutoring in Spanish,” Mom looks a little nervous.

“Okay, but in the kitchen. You may not go into you room, or anywhere where I can’t see you, got it?”

“Yes, kitchen at all times,” Mom turns to leave. “Wait, am I allowed to use the restroom?”

“Quit being a smart aleck!” outside I hear the Harley come up. Gosh, it’s loud! “What is that?” my mother looks at me.

I smile a little, “That’s Finn, Mom.”

Mom peeks out the blinds at the motorcycle and the boy, “Oh no, you are not dating a Stoner!”

“Mom!” I yell, “He is not a Stoner, he’s very sweet. He’s got good grades in every class except Spanish; he didn’t have to learn it at his old school. Plus, he’s an artist. He’s not a Stoner.”

“Okay, but one slip up and,” Mom points at the door and whistles.

Finn knocks on the door, but by the way my mother acts, he’s going to knock down the door. I open the door, “Hey, Finn. Come on in, this is my mother, Henrietta.”

“Call me Mrs. Greene,” she says very stiffly.

“Thank you very much, Ms. Greene, for having me over on such short notice. I won’t waste any of your daughter’s time.” Mom purses her lips and nods.

“Very well, study,” she walks away.

I smile apologetically at him, “Come on, we’ll be in the kitchen, so my mom can keep an eye on us.” I set my backpack on the table, “If you’re really lucky you’ll get to meet my dad.”

He swallows hard, “Calm down, dipstick, my dad’s easier to handle than my mom.”

“That’s good to know,” he says barely above a whisper.

I put my hand on his forehead and he jerks back, “Stop moving!”

“What are you doing,” he asks.

“Feeling you temperature, you felt really hot on the bike. Plus, you’re not acting like yourself. And yeah, you feel really hot, Finn. Didn’t you feel sick all day, you’re a trooper!”

“I’m always this hot, don’t worry about it. My whole family has wacky body temperature, bell except for my mother,” this is the first time I’ve heard of his mother.

“Okay, I’ll take your word for it,” taking out my Spanish I things from my freshman year, I lay them out.

“Where do we start?” I laugh.

“Good question, this is going to take us a while.” We study and study and study until I hear someone coming down the steps.

“Hey, Gwen, I thought I heard somebody else down here,” Dad’s voice is light, but his stare is heavy.

Finn stands up, and sticks his hand out, “Hello, Mr. Greene, my name is Finn. I’m here because your daughter is tutoring me in Spanish,” my dad’s lips twitch into a smile.

“Sit down, son, you’re all right,” Finn sits down, and rubs his palms on his jeans.

“Thank you, Daddy. We’re trying to study,” I kiss his cheek and get him the glass of water I know he came down here for.

My dad looks out the window of the kitchen sink, “Woah!” he looks to Finn, “Is that your Harley?”

Finn clears his throat, “Yes, Sir.”

“Huh?” he looks right at me, in the eyes, “Have you ridden on it, Gwen?”

When I stare into Dad’s honest eyes, I have a hard time lying, “Yes, Daddy,” I look away.

“Does it ride nice?”

“What?” my head snaps up.

“I asked, does it ride nice?” my dad waits for an answer.

I smile, “Yes! Oh it’s the best bike ever, and Finn is a really good safe driver,” my smile is too big to hide.

“I’m sure he is,” Dad mumbles. “But it’s a pretty awesome bike, do you think you have enough time to stop studying and show me the bike?” Finn grins and nods.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Seven

Now that Dad and Finn are bike buddies, my dad can pretty much convince my mom to let me do whatever I want with Finn. As long as we’re safe.

The next two weeks pretty much go by at this pace exactly. He drives me home, we study for whatever, and then we go for a ride.

I’ve only met Aaron so far, but I want to meet the rest of his family.

I think about the past two weeks as I wait on the steps of my house on Thursday morning. I stand up when I hear the Harley coming down our street.

I’m almost positive the whole block has called my mom, asking her id she knows I get a ride from a, I quote, ‘useless punk’. Finn got a kick out of that one.

When he drives us he stops the motorcycle, and turns it off. “Sorry to ask, but does your mom have any of the scone thingies? I didn’t get breakfast,” I roll my eyes dramatically.

“I swear you don’t eat breakfast, just, so you can have my mother’s scones!” he shrugs.

“I can’t lie, they’re really good,” after I run inside, and grab him a scone, I put on the bulky black helmet.

“Let’s ride!” I shout.

He takes off down the street, and like every other time, people stare as I get off the back of his bike. “You’d think they’d get used to it,” he mutters.

I strap the helmet to the back like he showed me, and we walk into the school talking about his Spanish test.

“You’ll be fine! I’ve gone over everything I could possibly go over, dipstick!”

“Sorry, did I offend your skills, princess?” I punch him in the arm, and he’s silence for a moment.

“So, thank you for helping me and all,” he says.

I comment back, “No problem, it was easy!”

“Well, my mom’s