Keep Me in the Dark Read Online Free PDF Page A

in. “We can all agree on that.”
    Cassie nods reluctantly. Dolly crosses her arms and huffs. That’s probably the most she’s going to bend. I shut my eyes. “I’ve been seeing someone.”
    “Who is it?” Dolly asks.
    “Shut up, Dolly. Let her tell the story,” Cassie says.
    “Don’t tell me when to—”
    “Stop fighting you two!” Anna yells. “This is about Laura.”
    The three of them turn their attention back to me.
    “So who is it?” Dolly asks again.
    I suck in a breath. Things are about to get bad. “I don’t know.”
    “What do you mean you don’t know?” Dolly asks. “How long have you been seeing him?”
    “About three months. Since school started.” I don’t talk about the letters he’s been sending for…uh…a little longer than three months. I don’t talk about how he watches me.
    “You’ve been seeing a guy for three months and you don’t know who he is,” Dolly repeats. I don’t know if it’s a question or not.
    “How is that even possible?” Cassie adds.
    “He hasn’t told me his name, and I don’t ask,” I say.
    None of them say anything more about that. “How did you meet him?” Dolly asks.
    I open my mouth. My tongue feels dry. I grip the water bottle he gave me. He’s written me letters forever? No. Way too creepy. I couldn’t say we met at the park and I invited him to the auditorium. That would make him sound like a stalker, which I guess he was, but it wasn’t like I didn’t want him to stalk me. I don’t know how that counted, if that counted, or…God, I was taking way too much time to think of something. “We met at practice one night. The night I stayed late.”
    “How?”
    I wet my lips. “He heard me playing and came in and…we ended up…” What should I say here? We ended up fucking? That was too raunchy. But if we talked, why hadn’t I asked for his name?
    My friends all looked at each other. I guess they’d come to their own conclusions. And they were probably the right conclusions.
    “If you met him at the auditorium, shouldn’t you recognize him?” Anna asks.
    Good question. “No, I hadn’t seen him before.”
    “So he’s not a part of the school,” Anna murmurs.
    “Really?” Dolly asks. “Didn’t you practice around midnight? What the hell was he doing there?”
    Another good question. “I couldn’t see his face.”
    “It was probably dark in there,” Anna nods.
    “Yeah, but you’ve met him since then. Haven’t you seen his face then?” Cassie asks.
    “No,” I let out before I think better of it. My hands slam over my mouth. Shit!
    “You’ve never seen his face?” Dolly squeals.
    “It’s not like that. I mean, it’s always dark and he has it covered.”
    “Has it covered,” Cassie repeats. “How?”
    There really isn’t a good way to say this. I’ve totally backed myself into a corner. “He wears a mask,” I admit.
    Dolly shoots off the couch. “What the hell? Does he think he’s a superhero?”
    “Oh no. No, no, no, no, no, no,” Cassie raises her hands. “He doesn’t wear a latex skin suit, does he?”
    My heart pounds. “He doesn’t think he’s a superhero!” I mean, at least I don’t think he does. I hope he doesn’t. Oh shit, this is getting worse.
    “So you’ve been fucking a guy for three months and for the entire time he’s worn a mask?” Dolly says.
    “Watch your language,” Anna whispers but everyone is ignoring her. They’re all focused on me.
    “I told you guys it was weird.”
    “Well, you were right,” Dolly replies.
    “What do you guys talk about—oh wait, you don’t talk, do you?” Cassie murmurs. When I don’t answer she puts her head in her ands. “Oh God, a mask.”
    “He doesn’t think he’s a superhero,” I repeat.
    “But you wouldn’t know, would you, because you don’t talk, right?” Cassie says. “He thinks he’s a superhero. You’re fucking a guy who thinks he’s he’s a superhero! ”
    “You two!” Anna says. “God, can’t you guys