The Face Read Online Free PDF Page A

scar. The slender, white scar cutting through one eyebrow. The black eyebrows, arched just slightly over the dark, brooding eyes.
    â€œNo way!” I ripped out the drawing and flung it to the floor beside the other one.
    I quickly brought the cover of the drawing pad down. I shoved the pencils into the drawer.
    My heart pounded. I wiped my clammy hands on my jeans legs again.
    And stared down at the two drawings on the floor. The two faces. Of the same boy. The same unknown boy.
    â€œWho
are
you? Who?”
    He stared up at me. As if trying to answer. As if trying to tell me something.
    Trying to tell me
what?
    â€œWhy am I drawing you? Why can’t I draw what I want?”
    I bent down. Grabbed up both sheets of paper. And ripped them.
    Ripped them again and again. Ripped them into narrow shreds.
    And asked myself:
Am I cracking up? Am I totally cracking up?

chapter 6
    T
hat night I hurried to meet Aaron at the mall at eight o’clock. We had a date for the eight-thirty movie. He works a weekend shift behind the counter at Pete’s Pizza. Aaron’s father is friends with the owner or something. Aaron usually gets off work a little before eight.
    I had trouble finding a parking space near the movie theater. I finally had to park all the way at the other end, near the Doughnut Hole.
    I started jogging across the lot when I realized I’d left my headlights on. “Aaaagh!” I let out a frustrated groan and went running back.
    By the time I finally made it to the theater, it was a few minutes after eight. The lobby was packedwith people. I think I saw half of Shadyside High as I searched for Aaron.
    I spotted him finally at the side of the popcorn counter. And to my surprise, I saw Justine too.
    She had an arm draped casually around Aaron’s shoulders. And they were laughing about something with their heads pretty close together.
    What is
this
about? I asked myself.
    Justine always flirts with Aaron when I’m around. They’re always teasing each other and kidding around.
    But I never stopped to think that she flirts with him when I’m
not
around.
    Watching them laugh together, with her arm around his shoulders as if she owned him, gave me sort of a sick feeling.
    Justine was my friend, after all. I didn’t want to start having evil thoughts about her.
    I made my way through the crowd and hurried over to them. Justine dropped her arm from Aaron’s shoulders and took a step back when she saw me.
    â€œHey. How’s it going?” Aaron asked. He flashed me his great smile. It instantly made me feel better.
    â€œOkay,” I said. I had decided in the car not to tell him about my strange afternoon, about the face I kept drawing almost against my will.
    Aaron has been through so much unhappiness with me since the accident. He’s been so good to me, so understanding about my memory loss.
    Sometimes I don’t tell him upsetting things that are on my mind. I don’t want him to think that I’m crazy or anything.
    â€œWhat’s up?” I asked him cheerfully. I took his hand. I really was glad to see him.
    â€œThe usual. I had to work.” He motioned to several dark tomato sauce stains on his sweatshirt. “Can’t you tell?”
    I laughed. “You smell like a pizza too. Yum.”
    â€œI was shopping and ran into Aaron,” Justine chimed in. She twirled a ringlet of red hair around one finger. “He said you wouldn’t mind if I tagged along to the movies.”
    â€œOf course not,” I replied quickly.
Just keep your paws off him!
I thought.
    Then I felt bad for thinking it.
    â€œI have the tickets. Let’s go in,” Aaron said.
    â€œWe need popcorn,” Justine insisted. She made her way into the line at the counter.
    A few minutes later she returned with an enormous bucket of buttery popcorn. “I got a small!” she joked.
    Aaron guided me by the shoulders into the theater. The trailers had already