Warped Read Online Free PDF

accident,” she said.
    “A good accident,” said Hunter. “Who knows, Tess?” he added. His smile was a gleam of white in the dark. “Maybe I really planned it all along.”
    Tessa frowned. She knew he was joking, but the idea of it bothered her. She hated being manipulated. Almost as much as she hated being called Tess.
    When she didn’t say anything, Hunter shrugged and leaned forward to change the radio station. Tessa cast a sideways look at him. He was cute. He had deep blue eyes and a slightly goofy lopsided grin that dimpled one cheek. And it was a beautiful night. Below them, the quiet waters of the cove were lit with color from Portland’s city lights. The rich, salty smell of sea air drifted in from the shore. But she couldn’t help feeling that something was just . . . wrong. She reached out and tapped the bobble-head baseball figure stuck to the dashboard of the SUV.
    “Who’s this?” she asked.
    Hunter twisted to face her. “You’re kidding right? That’s David Ortiz. Red Sox? You’re not a Yankees fan or something, are you?” he demanded.
    Tessa smiled at the hint of actual outrage in Hunter’s voice. “No. I didn’t recognize him is all,” she confessed. She glanced at Hunter with a half smile. “He’s shorter than I expected.”
    Hunter frowned. “It’s a collectible.”
    “Right. Sorry,” Tessa murmured. “Guess I’m just not real sporty.” What was she doing here? Note to self: never make social plans after blunt head trauma .
    A female singer’s voice filled the silence of the car. The song was plaintive and moody. Something about losing her way in the dark. A path overgrown with broken hearts. Forever alone, forever apart. For some reason Tessa’s thoughts returned to the strange tapestry. She just hadn’t felt right since she’d first seen it. And the wild sensations and dreams, if that’s what they were, were pretty strange.
    Hunter drew her closer and Tessa tightened up. Her cheeks felt flaming hot and her lips felt raw, even though it had only been one kiss. “I’d better go home now,” she said. “I haven’t been feeling too well today.” She grimaced and pointed vaguely to her stomach. “I’d hate to give you something. I’ve heard there’s this bug going around school. Something gastrointestinal. Really bad.”
    Hunter shook his head as if in disbelief and leaned back. “Yeah. Okay,” he replied. Tessa could practically hear the eye-roll. He started up the car and threw the shift into gear.
    She couldn’t think of anything to say to Hunter (and apparently it was mutual—wow, big surprise), so all the way home she concentrated on pretending she was alone. She was riding a city bus. She and the boy next to her were strangers.
    It wasn’t that hard.
    At school the next day Tessa thought about all the words she would use to describe her social life: Dismal. Awkward. Meager . She was a walking thesaurus of pathetic.
    Maybe she wasn’t meant to date in high school. There were people like that, weren’t there? Sure. They kept them in a glass case somewhere, right along with alien artifacts and mutant circus freaks. Hunter had treated her politely when he dropped her off at home, but he had definitely had that look . . . like he was visiting Area 51.
    Tessa knew she wasn’t the only virgin in the senior class of Prescott High School. But sometimes it sure felt that way. And now, after the weirdness over the weekend, she could add blackouts and hallucinations to her list of What Makes Me Special. Great.
    Tessa shook her head and took a blank sheet of paper from her folder. She gazed out the window, chose a craggy-barked oak tree and began to draw. Usually the smooth scratch of pencil on paper could take her mind off anything. Not that she was talented. It was the sound she liked. It reminded her of her mother. At the breakfast table, on the beach, sitting cross-legged on the floor, her mom had always been sketching.
    Opal slid into the seat in front of