Am I annoying you?" he asked. He sounded amused.
I glanced at him without thinking… and told the truth again. "Not exactly. I'm more annoyed at myself. My face is so easy to read — my mother always calls me her open book." I frowned.
"On the contrary, I find you very difficult to read." Despite everything that I'd said and he'd guessed, he sounded like he meant it.
"You must be a good reader then," I replied.
"Usually." He smiled widely, flashing a set of perfect, ultrawhite teeth.
Mr. Banner called the class to order then, and I turned with relief to listen. I was in disbelief that I'd just explained my dreary life to this bizarre, beautiful boy who may or may not despise me. He'd seemed engrossed in our conversation, but now I could see, from the corner of my eye, that he was leaning away from me again, his hands gripping the edge of the table with unmistakable tension.
I tried to appear attentive as Mr. Banner illustrated, with transparencies on the overhead projector, what I had seen without difficulty through the microscope. But my thoughts were unmanageable.
Frown 皱眉
Dreary 沉闷的
Engrossed 全神贯注的
Transparency 幻灯片
"是不是我惹你生气了?"他问。他听上去很开心。
我想都没想,就瞥了他一眼……并且又一次告诉了他实话:"不全是你惹的。我更生我自己的气。我这张脸太不争气了,太容易看透了--我母亲总说我是她打开的书。"我皱起了眉头。
"恰恰相反,我发现你这本书太难读懂了。"尽管我什么都说了,他也什么都猜对了,但听他的口气,好像说的是真心话。
"那么,你肯定是个很会看书的人,"我回答说。
"八九不离十吧。"他咧嘴一笑,露出了一口完美无缺、超白的牙齿。
班纳先生这时让全班同学安静下来了,我舒了一口气,转过头来听讲。我简直不相信自己刚才把我枯燥无味的生活说给这个举止奇异、漂亮的男孩子听了,他可能会看不起我,也可能不会。我们聊天时他似乎全神贯注,可此刻,通过眼角的余光,我可以看见他又歪向一边去了,他的双手抓着桌子的边缘,显而易见,紧张得不行。
班纳先生用投影仪上的透明幻灯片讲解时,我努力摆出一副专心听讲的样子,虽然讲解的都是那些我用显微镜不费吹灰之力看到过的东西。可我的思绪却硬是不听使唤。