Hush, Hush #1 Read Online Free PDF Page B

involved in the discussion. I haven’t heard him say one word all year, but I put him next to you and—bingo.
    His grade in here is going to improve.”
    “And Vee’s is going to drop.”
    “That happens when you can’t look sideways to get the right answer,” he said dryly.
    “Vee’s problem is lack of dedication. I’ll tutor her.”
    “No can do.” Glancing at his watch, he said, “I’m late for a meeting. Are we done here?”
    I squeezed my brain for one more argument, but it appeared I was fresh out of inspiration.
    “Let’s give the seating chart a few more weeks. Oh, and I was serious about tutoring Patch. I’ll count you in.” Coach didn’t wait for my answer; he whistled the tune to Jeopardy and ducked out the door.
    By seven o’clock the sky had glowered into an inky blue, and I zipped up my coat for warmth. Vee and I were on our way from the movie theater to the parking lot, having just watched The Sacrifice . It was my job to review movies for the eZine, and since I’d already seen every other movie showing at the theater, we’d resigned ourselves to the latest urban chiller.
    “That,” Vee said, “was the freakiest movie I have ever seen. As a rule, we are no longer allowed to see anything suggestive of horror.”
    Fine by me. Take into consideration that someone had been lurking outside my bedroom window last night and compound it with watching a fully developed stalker movie tonight, and I was starting to feel a little 42
    bit paranoid.
    “Can you imagine?” Vee said. “Living your whole life never having a clue that the only reason you’re being kept alive is to be used as a sacrifice?”
    We both shuddered.
    “And what was up with that altar?” she continued, annoyingly unaware that I would have rather talked about the life cycle of fungi than about the movie. “Why did the bad guy light the stone on fire before tying her down? When I heard her flesh sizzle—”
    “Okay!” I practically shouted. “Where to next?”
    “And can I just say if a guy ever kisses me like that, I will start dry heaving. Repulsive doesn’t begin to describe what was going on with his mouth. That was makeup, right? I mean, nobody actually has a mouth like that in real life—”
    “My review is due by midnight,” I said, cutting across her.
    “Oh. Right. To the library, then?” Vee unlocked the doors to her 1995
    purple Dodge Neon. “You’re being awfully touchy, you know.”
    I slid into the passenger seat. “Blame the movie.” Blame the Peeping Tom at my window last night.
    “I’m not talking about just tonight. I’ve noticed,” she said with a mischievous curve of her mouth, “that you’ve been unusually crabby for a good half hour at the end of bio the past two days.”
    “Also easy. Blame Patch.”

    43
    Vee’s eyes flicked to the rearview mirror. She adjusted it for a better look at her teeth. She licked them, giving a practiced smile. “I have to admit, his dark side calls to me.”
    I had no desire to admit it, but Vee wasn’t alone. I felt drawn to Patch in a way I’d never felt drawn to anyone. There was a dark magnetism between us. Around him, I felt lured to the edge of danger. At any moment, it felt like he could push me over the edge.
    “Hearing you say that makes me want to—” I paused, trying to think of exactly what our attraction to Patch did make me want to do. Something unpleasant.
    “Tell me you don’t think he’s good-looking,” Vee said, “and I promise I’ll never bring up his name again.”
    I reached to turn on the radio. Of all things, there had to be something better to do than ruin our evening by inviting Patch, albeit abstractly, into it. Sitting beside him for one hour every day, five days a week, was plenty more than I could take. I wasn’t giving him my evenings, too.
    “Well?” Vee pressed.
    “He could be good-looking. But I’d be the last to know. I’m a tainted juror on this one, sorry.”
    “What’s that supposed to