Island Boyz Read Online Free PDF Page A

back against it, then fell on his bed, gasping.
    Casey, still reading, looked up.
    “Just . . . just ran a bit,” Keiffer said. “To wake up.”
    Casey shook his head.
    A moment later he said, “Your friend Nitt was here looking for you.”
    Keiffer didn’t answer. Immediately he got up and checked his stash to see if Nitt had taken his cookies that his mom had sent. There had been fourteen left. Now there were only five.
    “He also messed around over at your desk,” Casey added.
    Keiffer checked there too. Everything was out of place, but nothing seemed to be missing. “What did he want?” he asked.
    “What does he ever want? Food.”
    Keiffer scowled and straightened his desk. His hands still shook from the shock of almost getting caught. He had no idea, just no idea, that sound could carry so far in the night outside Mrs. Noonan’s window.
    It took him hours to fall asleep.
    Moments after he finally did, he bolted awake.
    He turned on his desk lamp and grabbed his math book.
    The letter was gone.
     
    On Tuesday Keiffer took the biggest chance he’d ever taken in his life. It was so big he wondered what was happening to him. He’d never acted this way before. He’d
thought
about doing things like this, many times, but he’d never actually followed up on anything.
    This time he did.
    Because the killer thought had arrived.
    He pretended to be sick and spent the day in bed. But while everyone was at class, he crept over to the senior dorm and went into Nitt and Johnson’s room. Nothing was ever locked. Which in this case was great. He had to find that letter and tear it up.
    The room stank. It was like Nitt and Johnson had a stash of really gross laundry somewhere.
    Keiffer couldn’t find the letter.
    In fact, Nitt had nothing at all of interest on or in his desk or clothes drawers or closet. He didn’t even have one picture of anyone on his corkboard. He didn’t have a stereo, a clock, or even a pencil sharpener. Keiffer frowned.
    But there was the one other thing he’d come to get. And that was way more than enough.
    Nitt’s binoculars.
    They were high up on the top shelf of Nitt’s closet in their frayed black case. Someone had scribbled
Nitt, U.S. Army Infantry
on the strap.
    Keiffer grabbed the case and left.
     
    That night, after he heard Casey breathing deeply, Keiffer threw the binocular case over his shoulder and peeked out into the quiet hall.
    One light was on down near Mr. Bentley’s apartment.
    He hurried to the door and went out into the night, feeling an electric thing inside him even stronger and more driving than before. It raced through him. Charged every nerve in his body so that the trembling in his hands took hold again, and even before he’d gotten halfway to the grassy hiding place outside Mrs. Noonan’s window, he had to stop and breathe.
    Breathe and think.
    All right, settle down.
    He gripped the binoculars.
    She was reading.
    She was wearing the kimono.
    Keiffer couldn’t keep the eyepiece still.
    Wow.
    Wow, wow, wow.
    She was even more beautiful up close—so close that he kissed her, tasted her lips, felt them so soft and damp and smooth, her hands now caressing his face and hair.
    Keiffer watched her read for fifteen minutes, exploring every inch of her—her eyes, her smile, her hair, her body, everything—until she put her hand inside her kimono above her breast, as was her habit.
    When she did that, put her hand there, in that spot, Keiffer lowered the binoculars. His ears quivered with the pain of it all. He could never have her to himself. Never. She loved Mr. Noonan. Not him. She would hate him if she knew he was out there spying. She would think he was nothing but some sick, dorky tenth grader.
    “But it’s not like that,” he whispered.
    He looked one more time, then lowered the binoculars and put them down in the grass, near the case.
    Do it now, he thought.
    He coughed, very lightly, as if trying to stifle it.
    The light in the house went out.
    Keiffer