The Hurricane Read Online Free PDF Page A

then
leap out while you’re waiting on the bus one day and swirl her tongue in your
mouth. Daniel was equal parts frightened by and in love with her.
    “You want a cup?” Roby waved the yeasty scent of cheap beer
in Daniel’s face.
    “Nah. I told my mom I wouldn’t.”
    “Me too,” Roby said, his voice rattling around in his raised
cup. He took a long swig, then wiped his mouth with his sleeve. “Hey, maybe the
three of us will go swimming later.”
    Daniel peeked through the living room and out to the
partially lit deck. Each time the sliding glass doors opened, they let in the
sounds of laughter, of girls squealing, and water splashing.
    “I didn’t bring my trunks, and besides, we’re supposed to
get all kinds of rain from that storm.”
    Roby rolled his eyes. “You’re in a pool, asshole. You’re
already wet. Hey, here’s Jada.”
    Daniel looked over his shoulder to see a girl heading their
way, a coy smile on her face. Jada was beautiful. Daniel nearly blurted it out
loud, he was so surprised. She wasn’t gorgeous, not like a model, she was too
short for that. But when he pictured a girl dating his friend Roby, he imagined
someone overweight with bad skin and thick glasses. Jada was none of those
things.
    She stopped in front of Daniel and held out a slender arm, a
hand on the end expecting to be clasped. Roby was saying their names to each
other. Daniel noted her straight hair, so black and clean it looked purple. She
had a normal face, thick lips, a wide smile, and dark eyes that threw out
light. Daniel felt her pumping his hand and heard her say something. He was
still stunned that his best friend was dating someone not hideous.
    “Singing camp, huh?” he asked. He had no idea what he was
supposed to be saying.
    Jada smiled at Roby. “That’s right. Your friend has a
powerful voice.” She smiled and raised a plastic cup to her lips.
    “Aren’t you driving?” Daniel asked.
    Jada took a gulp and shrugged. Roby slapped Daniel’s back
and yelled over a sudden bout of excited screaming from the gamers. “She’s just
gonna have one, and we’re not leaving for a while yet!”
    Daniel wiped a bead of sweat from his hairline. “I think I’m
gonna go outside for a second,” he said. The crush of people, the thumping
music, the rat-a-tat gunfire from the games—they were stifling the hell out of
him.
    “We’ll meet you out there. I’m gonna go hit the keg again.”
    Roby and Jada left him there and wove off through the crowd,
their hands linked. Daniel felt nauseas. He scanned the throng of laughing,
happy, popular people and felt perfectly alone. He really was a rando. A
creeper. A sketch. He saw himself—for just an instant—how everyone else must
see him: cringing from the music, no cup in hand, no girlfriend, no interest in
shooting people online. He dug out his crappy cellphone and checked to see if
maybe his brother had called. Perhaps their date had been called off for some
unknown reason and he needed to pick Daniel up early. But there were no
messages. No texts. No funny SMS clips of the latest thing bound to go viral
that he would be last to discover. All he saw was the time, which let
him know he’d only been at Jeremy Stevens’s party for fifteen minutes.
    Daniel shoved the phone back in his pocket and moved toward
the patio door. He wanted to get outside and let the humid coastal breeze cool
his sudden sweat.
    The glass doors slid open and burped more laughter, squeals,
and wet swimming noises his way. Daniel pushed through the mob choked up by the
doors, fought through the cup-holders and dripping bathers, and finally dove
between the gaping glass teeth of Jeremy’s home, escaping the gullet of his
teenage discomfort.

7
    A stiff wind chilled the sweat on the back of Daniel’s neck,
then moved off to rustle in the trees. The concrete patio behind the house was
wet from the running, shivering, dripping swimmers. Daniel got out of the way
as more people filed through the swish