Freak City Read Online Free PDF Page A

find my way back there again. I felt my way through the room to the corner where I thought Sandra and her friends were.
    “Haha, very funny!” That was Vanessa. I stood still at what felt like several feet away from the girls’ table. When I was a kid, I had often wanted to be invisible. Now I was and didn’t have the slightest twinge of a bad conscience listening in on my ex-girlfriend.
    “Well I definitely need a bit of a break from him!” Sandra declared.
    “That sounds like you’re not finished with Mika.” Nadine sounded surprised. “Is he still bothering you, calling all the time?”
    I blushed. It was true. In the two weeks since the breakup, I had called Sandra a few times. And a few times I had sent a text during the night, when I woke up and thought about her. But bothering was too harsh!
    “He just can’t get over it,” Sandra said with a sigh. She sounded pleased with herself, actually. “I mean, what we had was true love, the real thing. Really strong emotions, a serious relationship . . .”
    Steps drew closer and a woman’s voice could be heard. “I’ll bring the drinks.”
    Hot chocolate,
I thought. That was Sandra’s favorite.
    “Latte macchiato,” Sandra said. “I love them!” The waitress served the drinks and moved away again.
    “Where were we?” Nadine sounded eager.
    “Sandra needs a break,” Vanessa picked up the conversation.
    “In the meantime, maybe I’ll figure out that I really do belong with Mika,” Sandra said softly. “We had some beautiful times together. But maybe I’ll realize that it can’t work out between us in the long run. Mika just doesn’t have enough spunk to be a good partner.”
    The blood pounded in my temples. Sandra talked about me as freely as if she were rattling off the most recent pro soccer results.
    “Not enough spunk—do you mean in bed or what?” Vanessa asked with a squealing giggle.
    “Don’t be ridiculous,” Sandra slurped on her coffee. “I mean his personality.” Somehow, I almost wished she had meant sexually. “The problem is just that Mika always takes the easiest way. He’s so content with how things are.” Sandra slowly worked herself into a rage. “He would never get involved in anything. He just accepts things the way they come to him. Spending time together means hanging out on the sofa and turning on the TV. Sure, I like to do that sometimes, too, but not
all the time
. The guy hardly has any hobbies, any interests. I do still love him, but if he doesn’t change, and fast, we’ll never get back together again.”
    The words coursed through my brain like a floodgate had opened somewhere. The easiest way . . . what was so bad about that? And Sandra was wrong: I was interested in things. Her. I had spent the entire last year doing nothing but getting to know everything there was to know about Sandra. I knew how to make her laugh. I knew what kind of music and what groups she liked best. I was the only one who understood why she had to cry when she watched movies about real-life princesses. I knew where she had spent her summer vacation the year she was eight and that she loved ice cream with hot raspberry sauce on it. I knew her shoe size and her favorite color. I was an expert in all things Sandra. How could she claim that I was a bore who didn’t take interest in anything?
    A cell phone rang. Vanessa whistled through her teeth. “It’s probably him,” she said to Sandra excitedly.
    “Who? Mika?” Nadine apparently hadn’t gotten it yet.
    “Don’t be ridiculous.” Sandra answered her phone. Her face was just visible in the weak light the cell phone gave off. She was smiling. Not a smile copied from Pink, but a genuine grin. She had smiled at me like that sometimes when we were just falling in love. That seemed like an eternity ago.
    “Hello?” Sandra listened intently. “Oh, Daniel! It’s you. Where did you get my number?” Her voice trembled slightly, and she sounded tipsy. “Listen, I’m in a