Fearless: No. 2 - Sam (Fearless) Read Online Free PDF

fervently hoping it didn't look like a grimace and that her teeth didn't look yellow.
    She heard a noise behind her. She jerked up her head.
    She realized that the sun had dipped below the Hudson River and the streetlamps were illuminated. Oh, no. Could it be? Already?
    She had to go. Fast. She wasn't going to turn into a pumpkin, but she was very likely going to get shot in the head. That could easily put a damper on this fragile, blossoming moment.
    The sound resolved itself into a footstep, and a person appeared. It wasn't CJ, but just the same, it put an end to the encounter as powerfully as a bullet.
    It was Heather. The girlfriend.

COLD BLOOD
    Her adrenaline was pumping now. Her muscles were buzzing with intensity. She was an easy target this close.

CUNNING INTELLIGENCE
    THERE WERE MOMENTS IN LIFE WHEN words failed to convey your thoughts. There were moments when your thoughts failed to convey your feelings. Then there were moments when even your feelings failed to convey your feelings.
    This was one of those, Heather realized as she gaped at Sam and Gaia Moore sitting on the park bench together.
    They weren't kissing. They weren't touching. They weren't even talking. But Sam and Gaia could have been doing the nasty right there on the spot, and it wouldn't have carried the intimacy of this tentative, nervous, neurotic union she now witnessed between them.
    Maybe she was imagining it, Heather considered. Maybe it was a figment of her own obsessive, jealous mind.
    She'd almost rather believe she was crazy than that Sam,
her Sam,
was falling in love with Gaia. It was too coincidental, just too cruel to be real. Like one of those Greek tragedies she read for Mr. Hirschberg's class. Gaia was the person she most despised. Sam was the person she loved.
    Had she done something to bring this on herself? What was it the Greek guys always got smacked for?
Hubris,
that was the word -- believing you were too good, too strong, invulnerable. The world had a way of teaching you that you weren't invulnerable.
    Heather was paralyzed. Anger told her to get between them and make trouble, Pride told her to run away. Hurt told her to cry. Cunning told her to make Sam feel as guilty and small as possible. She waited to hear what Intelligence had to say. It never spoke first, but its advice was usually worth waiting for.
    Her mind raced and sorted. Considered and rejected. Then finally, Intelligence piped up with a strategy.
    "Sam," Heather stated. Good, firm, steady voice. She stepped around to the front of the bench and faced them straight on.
    Sam looked up. Shock, fear, guilt, uncertainty, and regret waged war over his features.
    Staring at them, Heather made no secret of her surprise and distress, but she overlaid a brave, tentative, give-them-the-benefit-of-the-doubt smile.
    The effect was just as she'd intended. Sam looked like he wished to pluck out both of his eyeballs on the spot.
    "Hey, Gaia," Heather said. Her expression remained one of naive, martyrlike confusion.
    Gaia looked less sure of herself than Heather had ever seen her before. Gaia cleared her throat, uncrossed her legs, straightened her posture, said nothing. Heather detected a faint blush on her cheeks.
    Now Heather looked back at Sam. She applied no obvious pressure, just silence, which always proved the fiercest pressure of all.
    "Heather, I -- we -- you --" Sam looked around, desperate for her to interrupt.
    She didn't.
    "I was just . . . and Gaia, here . . ."
    Heather wasn't going to help him out of this. Let him suffer.
    "We were just . . . talking about chess." With that word, Sam regained his footing. He took a big breath. "Gaia is a big chess player, too."
    Heather nodded trustingly. "Oh."
    Sam looked at his watch. There wasn't a watch. A moment's discomfort. He regrouped again. "I gotta go, though." He stood up. "Physics study group." He offered his textbook as evidence.
    "Right," Heather said. "Wait, I have something for you." She fished around in her bag