Choker Read Online Free PDF

after all.”
    Zoe nodded. “I know, I thought of that too. What if I just stay in your room? I won’t go out, I’ll be totally quiet. No one will ever know I’m here. You can just bring me up food sometimes . . .”
    “We can hang out, talk . . .” Excitement was beginning to flood through Cara. “They work all the time anyway.” She jumped up from the bed. “Zo, you have no idea what amazing timing this is. I really needed someone right now.”
    “I know you did. I could just feel it.” Zoe stood up too and pulled Cara into a hug. For a long moment, they just stood together in the middle of the floor, their arms wrapped around each other. Cara could feel Zoe’s heart beating in rhythm with her own. Zoe pulled away, her face lit up by a huge grin. “Okay, so tell me everything that’s happened to you in the last seven years. Every detail!”
    Cara dropped her arms and swiped at her eyes. “Not here. I have a better place.” She led Zoe over to the window and raised the sash and then the screen. She climbed out onto the roof that spread just below the window, overlooking the side yard. Zoe followed. They settled on the rough asphalt shingles, still warm from the heat of the day. They sat with their backs resting comfortably against the clapboard, their arms looped around their updrawn knees. The autumn night was warm, and scented with the faint smell of wood smoke. Zoe sighed and tilted her head back against the wall, gazing up at the stars.
    “I’m so glad I’m here. You have no idea what it was like, Cara, sneaking out of there, walking to the highway. I was so scared, people kept honking at me. I even lost my backpack.”
    “You don’t have to worry anymore. You’re safe here.” Cara patted Zoe’s knee.
    Zoe raised her head and looked around, taking in the sprawling, manicured lawns and gracious homes all around them, perfectly illuminated by outdoor spotlights. Dark pockets of woods tastefully separated neighbors. At this hour, the only sounds were the soft shush-shush of automatic sprinklers. “I knew you’d have some kind of plush setup,” Zoe noted. “You always did.”
    Before Cara could reply, a door slammed, and the quiet of the night was broken by the sound of girls’ voices next door. “So, he was like, ‘Oh my God, they’re home,’ and I wasn’t wearing anything—,” someone was saying loudly. A chorus of titters broke out. Girls clutching bottles of beer filtered out through glass doors onto the teak deck and collapsed onto the white linen lounge chairs surrounding the jewel-like swimming pool. Its sapphire water sparkled, illuminated by the yellow lights at the bottom.
    Zoe raised an eyebrow at Cara. “My neighbor.” Cara sighed. “Sydney. And her friends—”
    Her words were cut off by the clatter of something metallic hitting the deck, followed by screams of laughter. Sydney, clad in a tight pink tank that clearly showed the outlines of her black bra, had knocked into one of the tables. She was currently trying to extricate herself from the grasp of a closed umbrella.
    “That’s Alexis, Sydney’s best friend.” Cara pointed to Alexis, who was laid out like an Egyptian princess on a lounge chair, posing as if she expected a paparazzo to appear out of nowhere and snap her picture. “She’s the worst one. My parents are really close with hers, and they used to try and make us hang out when we first moved here. As soon as the grown-ups left the room, Alexis would call me Monkey-Face. She’d tell me I was too ugly for her to play with.” Cara sighed. “Mom realized it was a lost cause after a while.”
    Down below, a short blonde named Maren appeared in the doorway of the kitchen, waving a pitcher of something pink over her head.
    “Vodka slushes, everyone!” she called. There was a mad stampede to the pitcher. Maren filled big red plastic cups and handed them around. Someone burped and everyone giggled.
    “You’re so nasty, Erin!” Alexis called out. “Why