Gotcha Read Online Free PDF Page A

“Listen, I’m gonna go get her. Lock the car after I get out and you’ll be just fine. If Mariah comes back, let her in.”
    Tanysha studies me for a moment but then does as she’s told. “Be careful, Katie,” she says.
    “I will.”
    As I walk toward the front door I have a sudden moment of clarity. I am not in a movie, and these are not just lines I’ve been instructed to recite. This is my life. Real life. So what am I doing here? This lurking around a stranger’s house late at night is totally not me. I seriously consider turning back and going home, but then I remember Paige and I’m torn. It’s just a stupid game, I remind myself. A stupid game, a stupid game, a stupid game. “Go home,” I tell myself, “go home, go home.” But I don’t. My feet keep moving forward. I don’t seem to have any control over what I’m doing.
    When I reach the door I knock softly. Paige’s head pops back out. “Katie!” she says.
    Well at least she hasn’t been shot. I should leave now.
Go home go home go home
. I quickly link my arm through hers and pull her back outside. “Are you nuts?” I ask. I can hear the steady beat of rap music coming from somewhere inside the house.
    “I didn’t go any farther in than the front hall,” she says. “I just hoped I’d run into Elijah.” She tugs my arm and I find myself stepping into the hallway with her. The music instantly gets louder. We both peer intently down the dark hallway and don’t hear the person who slips in the door behind us.
    “Boo!”
    I swear we both jump six feet, and Paige clutches onto me. She lets out a gasp as a tall figure darts around us and slips into a room to our right.
    “Who the hell was that?” Paige whispers.
    “I don’t know and I’m not staying to find out.” I yank on her arm but pause when I hear a muffled voice callingout from inside the room. “C’mon in. Join the party.”
    We look at each other, and then Paige steps toward the room, pulling me with her. My curiosity is stronger than my common sense. We both poke our heads into the room, which appears to be a den. Two guys are sitting side by side on a couch, arms linked, grinning like little boys who are sharing a naughty secret. There doesn’t appear to be any father with a shotgun. Paige pulls me farther into the room.
    “Hey, fancy meeting you here,” the boy who must be Elijah says.
    He looks just like his picture, the kind of person you’d pass right by and not notice because he just doesn’t look like anything out of the ordinary. Medium build, probably medium height too. His hair is cut fairly short and is a nondescript brown color. No highlights. No gel. His face doesn’t strike you one way or another with its clear skin and slightly large nose. T-shirt and jeans are not brand names, but neither are they geeky. I wonder if he works hard at looking so...so blend-in-able.
    Sitting on the couch with him is Joel Keister. I’ve known Joel since first grade, but we’ve never been friends. I think he’s now into mountain biking or something. I make eye contact with him but immediately feel such a jolt that I have to look away. My face burns. What’s with that? When I finally force myself to look back again, there’s only a trace of a smile on his face but his eyes are shining.
    “What’s happening?” I ask after we settle ourselves into a leather armchair, Paige sitting on the cushion whileI balance myself beside her on the wide arm. We’re still firmly linked. I’m relieved that everything seems so normal.
    “Not much,” Elijah says.
    “So what just happened out there?” Paige asks.
    “I think Mariah just lost her bead.”
    “But you were supposed to go out for coffee with her,” Paige says, playing dumb.
    “Right.” Elijah glances at Joel. “As if I couldn’t see through that little setup.”
    I feel myself squirming. Admitting that a girl like Mariah wouldn’t ask him out must feel awkward.
    “But Elijah did just happen to know who had