Fearscape by Nenia Campbell Read Free Book Online

crooked smile that could break a heart.
    He was smiling that smile now. The “aww shucks” edition of it, which had gotten him out of trouble successfully, and on more than one occasion too. It might have even worked on Val if that wasn't such a blatant lie. Val was torn between amusement and annoyance. Lies usually went right over her head, blatant or no. She didn't often get the opportunity to call people out on their BS.
    But pointing out James's lie wouldn't do her any good. It would only make her look like a desperate stalker, creeping his profile to see if he was online. Make that an extremely possessive stalker. Lisa had told her many times that boys didn't like possessive girls — which was stupid, considering how possessive boys acted.
    Val remembered her own stalker, and her stomach tied up in knots of dread. “It's okay,” she muttered.
    But it wasn't, not really.
    James's smile brightened. “Good. I'm glad. Because, you know, I felt pretty bad about that.”
    I bet you did .
    “ I'm still down for a movie, though, if you and Lisa are.”
    Val said nothing, so he pressed on.
    “ What movie were you guys thinking about? There's a cool action one — ”
    There was that word “cool” again. What had possessed Lisa to think that this was going to work? James didn't even see her. She could tell. Not as a girl, anyway. Boys didn't look at girls they liked like that.
    He obviously doesn't care about anyone but himself ….
    “ — great rating on Rotten Tomatoes — ”
    A clatter in the back gave her a polite excuse to divert her attention from James's rambling monologue. Gavin was missing from his seat, and his tablemate was staring at the floor. Val's brow furrowed. She could see his hair peeking over the desktop. What could he possibly be doing?
    “ — not a big fan of chick-flicks, but I'd be willing to see — ”
    He must have dropped something , she decided.
    “ — good dramatic comedy — ”
    Oh, he's coming over here!
    “ — and some horror, if you're into that — ” Even James, self-absorbed though he was, noticed his audience's reactions weren't on par with his standards of what constituted raptness. He glanced over to see what had held her attention, and his lip curled. Something Val registered with annoyance.
    Ignoring the two of them with a nonchalance that surely had to have been practiced in front of a mirror, Gavin threw away his broken charcoal pencil, now snapped into two distinct pieces. He washed the black from his hands, and his face, and then reached past her to get a paper towel, accidentally brushing her side. She looked up at him and thought she saw him wink.
    “ So anyway , do any of those sound good to you? Lisa says she doesn't care.”
    Val wadded up her own piece of paper towel, which she had been twisting and knotting in her hands this entire time, and lobbed it into the bin. “I'm not sure.”
    “ Playing hard to get?”
    “ No. Actually busy. I'm on the track team, you know,” she added, unconsciously mocking his earlier tone. At his blank look, she added, “You do know I'm on the track team, right?”
    “ Uh, yeah. I think I've seen you in uniform before. You wear it on game days, right?
    Wearing a sports bra and spandex shorts to school? Game days? For heaven's sake. “No, I don't wear it to school. And we don't have game days. I'm not a cheerleader.” Val was tired of feeding him hints. “I'm wearing it in my profile picture. On Facebook.”
    Which you would know if you had actually looked at my profile, you liar.
    James had the grace to flush. “Ah.”
    Val eyed him. “You didn't even read my message, did you?”
    “ I read the email notification on my phone. Same thing.”
    No, it isn't. She sighed. “I don't think this is going to work.”
    “ Hey,” he said, a touch defensively. “There's no need to get all uptight. So track's not my thing.”
    “ This isn't about track.” A hot spike of annoyance bored through her, that he could be so