The Zodiac Collector Read Online Free PDF Page A

safer.
    â€œYou bought enough to feed the whole theater.” I take my nachos and hand Mary her Junior Mints.
    â€œI’m hungry.” He shrugs and sets my Slushee in the cup holder between us.
    Evan tears into a package of Twizzlers with his teeth and chomps on three at a time. Mary steals glances at him while delicately opening her candy.
    The theater goes dark and the previews start. I focus on my nachos. Crunch, crunch, crunch . So cheesy, salty, yummy .
    I lick my fingers clean and reach for my Slushee. My fingers circle around…
    â€¦another hand.
    â€œEek!” I let go and nearly toss my food.
    William starts laughing. “Sorry,” he snorts, “forgot that was yours.”
    â€œY-yeah, it’s okay.” I pick up the drink and suck on the straw until my mouth fills up with sugary ice. While the opening credits roll, I replay the moment in my mind. All I can think about is how slippery my fingers are and how disgusting it is that I slimed his hand with my spit.
    I shudder. It’s hard to tell if it’s from the Slushee expanding in my stomach or the panic rising from my spine. Did I gross him out? No. He laughed. If he’d been turned off by it, he’d have yelled, or something.
    Searing pain stabs my eyes. “Dang!” I spit out the straw and pinch the bridge of my nose.
    Mary elbows me. “What’s going on?”
    â€œBrain freeze.” I lean forward and plop the cup on the floor. Pinching the top of my nose, I pray for the agony to subside. Instead, it intensifies. “Ow, ow, ow.”
    â€œHey, you all right?” William’s breath tickles my ear.
    My leg kicks out in reflex, lobbing the Slushee under the railing and to the footpath below. “Crap!” I groan, squeezing my eyes shut.
    â€œYou should try out for the soccer team.”
    â€œShut up,” I whine.
    He laughs, rubbing circles on my back with his palm.
    I wish I could savor the sweetness of it, but the jabbing in my head is ridiculously distracting. I open my mouth and breathe out, hoping to funnel warm air to my palate.
    William is there the whole time, rubbing and leaning with me.
    Finally, my nerves settle and my brain thaws. I sit up straight.
    He removes his hand. “Better?”
    â€œYeah,” I sigh, relieved the pain is gone and bummed that William’s no longer touching me.
    A huge explosion bursts on the movie screen. Typical action flick. Blow up something important and let the big hunk lead a mission to set things right.
    I can’t pay attention no matter how hard I try. Every so often, I rub the sweat off my palms onto my jeans and remind myself to breathe.
    After the movie ends, we wander out of the theater and hang around the food court. A few other kids from school do the same. We acknowledge each other briefly, like different species meeting at a watering hole, then huddle in groups around the larger tables. The goths are like stuck-up zebras, the nerds are nervous gazelles, and the jocks are hyenas—ready to crack up when the outcast giraffes trip over their own feet.
    I sit on top of a table. “Did you like the movie?”
    â€œYeah, you?” William turns a chair around and sits on it backward. At least he’s facing me this time.
    â€œYep.” I glance at Evan. “What’d you think?”
    He leans back into his chair and runs a hand over his spiky hair. “I’ve seen better, but the CGI was pretty good.”
    â€œThe dialogue was kind of lame, though,” Mary adds.
    Evan chuckles. “Totally.”
    She smiles.
    â€œâ€˜I’ m not just taking you down, I’m taking you down to your graves”’ he mimics the main character’s deep, meathead voice.
    William snorts. “That was so lame.”
    â€œAnd what about, ‘They didn’t destroy our Capitol, they destroyed our heart’” . I fake-stab myself in the chest with a fist.
    We all laugh.
    â€œGuess we