Fear Hall: The Beginning Read Online Free PDF Page B

sweatshirt. “Hope—what do you want to do?” I asked.
    Her eyes flashed. “Get into trouble,” she replied.

chapter 11
    W e walked a couple of blocks to the Blue Tavern. It’s not really a tavern. It’s more like a pizza joint that serves beer. It’s one of the few places in town that stays open later than ten o’clock.
    Just about every table was filled with kids from the college. The room smelled of cigarette smoke, pizza sauce, and beer. Blue ceiling lights cast a dark glow over everyone.
    The restaurant has only blue lights. It’s always dark and kind of gloomy inside. No matter what time of day you visit the Blue Tavern, it always seems like midnight.
    Which, I guess, is why we like it.
    Hope and I stood at the bar for a while, waiting fora table to open up. We gazed around, peering through the smoky blue light, and didn’t say much.
    The waitresses, all dressed in short blue skirts and white blouses, scurried around. They carried pizzas and pitchers of beer on big metal trays, and struggled to squeeze through the crowded tables.
    After about twenty minutes or so, a table against the back wall opened up. Hope and I grabbed it. We ordered a pizza as soon as the waitress came around.
    â€œHey—how’s it going?”
    Two guys at the next table grinned at us. I recognized one of them from my sociology class. He was kind of cute. He had very short, auburn hair and a little beard on his chin. And he had a nice smile.
    His friend looked a little like a pirate. He had a red bandanna tied around his forehead, under a pile of curly, black hair.
    â€œHi,” I called back.
    Hope lowered her eyes to the table.
    â€œWhat’s up?” the cute one asked me.
    I shrugged. “Just the usual.”
    I turned back to Hope. She had hunched down low, a fretful expression on her face. She kept her eyes down.
    â€œWhat’s your problem?” I asked. “Your posture gets worse every day.”
    She didn’t smile at my joke. I suddenly realized that she
never
laughed or smiled at my jokes.
    I crack jokes all the time. I mean, all the time. It’s just the way I am. I think of myself as sort of sarcastic, sort of funny.
    You
need
a sense of humor—right? It’s my way of dealing with things. And people.
    But until that moment, I’d never realized that I could
never
get even a smile from Hope.
    What does she think of me? I suddenly wondered. Does she wish I’d stop making dumb jokes all the time?
    â€œHey—what’s your name?” the bandanna guy called. He had to shout over the booming jukebox.
    â€œEden,” I called back. “What’s yours?”
    â€œGideon,” came the reply.
    He didn’t look like a Gideon. I suddenly wondered what a good nickname for Gideon would be. Gid? Giddy?
    Hope frowned and shook her head. “We’d better go,” she murmured.
    â€œHuh? Did you say go?” I leaned over the little table to hear her better.
    A few tables away, some guy spilled a glass of beer. The glass shattered loudly on the floor. The guys all around burst out in applause and wild laughter.
    So many grinning blue faces. That eerie blue glow washing over everyone.
    â€œWhat’s wrong, Hope?” I asked. “We just sat down. Our pizza isn’t ready yet. Why do you want to leave?”
    She raised her eyes to the front of the restaurant, but didn’t reply.
    I felt a sudden chill.
    â€œDarryl?” I asked.
    She nodded.
    â€œDarryl is watching?” I asked. I turned andsquinted through the smoky blue haze. I didn’t see him.
    â€œHe’s watching,” Hope said softly. I saw her chin quiver. “I don’t want trouble, Eden.”
    â€œHi.” I heard a voice. Close by. And felt a hand on my shoulder.
    I spun around to see the cute guy with the little beard grinning down at me. “You’re in my sociology class,” he said. “I’m Dave. He’s