House at the End of the Street Read Online Free PDF Page B

face. “You want to tell me how you ended up getting a ride with Ryan
Jacobsen
?”
    No—she wouldn’t tell Sarah what happened. Her mom couldn’t even hear the name Ryan Jacobsen without getting bent out of shape. How would she feel discovering that Tyler Reynolds, perfect, president-of-the-famine-relieffund honors student, was a date rapist? “No one wanted to give me a ride home. I started walking, and he saw me. He gave me a ride. End of story.”
    Sarah crossed her arms over her chest. “And you just got into some stranger’s car? At this time of night? Why didn’t you call me? I could’ve come and got you.”
    “Yeah right,” Elissa mumbled. When had Sarah ever picked her up before?
    Elissa could see what was happening. It was in the way Sarah said “some stranger.” She’d turned against Ryan Jacobsen before she’d even met him. She’d eaten up every word the Reynoldses had said, bought all their nonsense about Ryan being deranged. What did they know? Who were they to talk about family values? They were helping their son run a charity club based around getting drunk and stoned.
    “So…” Sarah asked, changing the subject. Her lips curled into a small smile. “How was the meeting?”
    Elissa met her mom’s eyes. She wanted to tell her everything. It would be so much easier to tell her everything. But Sarah was looking so hopeful, so determined, Elissa didn’t want to destroy her this-town-will-change-everything dream. At least not until she had to…
    “Tyler’s a jerk,” was all she said.
    “Because he works hard in school and wants to get into a good college?” Sarah looked at her, the sarcasm oozing in her voice.
    Elissa wanted to scream. She’d spent the whole day alone, been assaulted by some stoned idiot, then been kicked out of a party she didn’t even want to go to in the first place. And now her own mother was giving her an attitude? She couldn’t take it anymore—the day needed to end. The only thing good about this night was that it was almost over.
    She pushed past her mom, not bothering to look back. “Right,” she said, looking away as the tears welled in her eyes. “That’s it.”

D uring fifth period Elissa strode out onto the grassy quad, scanning the long picnic tables for somewhere to sit. There was the table of techie kids, their big headphones pulled down over their ears. A few petite girls with nearly identical curly hair sat on a row, picking at their salads. Then her eyes fell on Tyler, Caitlin, Zak, and the rest of the famine relief crew. Tyler waved her over, as if he hadn’t just yesterday tried to molest her.
    She glared at him, then turned the other way, finding a shady spot beneath a maple tree. She settled down in the grass and pulled out her sandwich, munching while she played games on her phone, did some light reading, sent an occasional text to a friend in Chicago so she didn’t looklike such a loser. She’d spent all day yesterday alone—this was nothing she couldn’t handle.
    She was just finishing sketching a football for a drawing game, when she noticed someone towering above her. Tyler stood, his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes focused on a spot behind her. “I wanted to make sure you were okay,” he said, his voice slow. “You know, our little misunderstanding at Caitlin’s.”
    Misunderstanding? Did he really just say that?
It took all Elissa had not to knee him in the crotch again. “There wasn’t a misunderstanding.” She glared at him until he met her gaze. “They call it date rape. And if you come near me again, I’ll go to the cops. And you can put that on your college application.”
    Tyler just stood there, his mouth half open, looking a little stunned. Elissa tossed her phone in her bag and stood up to push past him, unable to be in his presence even a second longer. Misunderstandings were murmured words, or not realizing someone told you to meet them at nine in the morning instead of nine at night. He had thrown her