I Have a Bad Feeling About This by Jeff Strand Read Free Book Online

fire?”
    â€œCan you do that?” Henry asked. “We tried with sticks all evening and we couldn’t even get them to smoke.”
    Monica took out a lighter, flicked on the flame, and lit the tinder.
    â€œWell, yeah, that works too. We aren’t allowed to have modern stuff. What instrument do you play?”
    â€œClarinet.”
    â€œDo you like it?”
    â€œIt’s kind of hard to rock out on a clarinet, but it’s fine. It makes my parents happy. I may or may not keep it up after I graduate. Haven’t decided yet. Do you play an instrument?”
    â€œI’m awesome at Guitar Hero .”
    â€œThat almost counts.”
    â€œAnd I would destroy you in a battle of the kazoos. Destroy you.” Henry hadn’t played a kazoo in years, but he didn’t think it was a skill that you lost.
    â€œI have a kazoo right here, so I call your bluff.”
    â€œSeriously?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œOh, I thought you were joking, but you never know. Some people carry kazoos around just in case. Like clowns. Clowns carry kazoos, I think.” Babbling sequence: off, thought Henry as he shut up.
    â€œIf we ever do find ourselves together with a pair of kazoos handy, I accept your challenge.” She blew into the fire, spreading the flames nicely.
    Henry loved talking to her and really wished he wasn’t in his underwear. There was no dignity in this. He wasn’t comfortable with his body and couldn’t pull off the whole “Oh, yeah, babe, you know you like what you see” vibe.
    â€œWhich school do you go to?” he asked.
    â€œBaver. You?”
    â€œFlagston.” Of course. It would have been too much to hope that they went to the same school and had just missed each other in the hallways all this time.
    She smiled. “So technically, you’re my arch-nemesis. Sleep with one eye open, Henry.”
    Monica’s leg buzzed.
    â€œWho’s texting me at one in the morning?” she wondered aloud, taking her cell phone out of her pocket. She glanced at the display and laughed. “Ah, my friends are such dorks.” She tucked the phone back into her pocket.
    â€œWas that a cell phone?” Henry asked.
    â€œYes. Have you not seen one before? They’re a pretty sweet means of communication.”
    â€œNo, I knew what it was, I was just—Do you have any games on it?”
    â€œI’m not that much into video games,” she said. It was a combination of words that would normally cause Henry to shudder with revulsion, but coming from Monica they didn’t sound so bad. It was okay. They could work through this.
    â€œDo you have any?”
    â€œI think there’s something where you match up coins.”
    â€œCan I match up coins on your phone?” Henry asked. “I won’t use up your battery or run off with it, I promise. One game. That’s it.”
    She shrugged and handed him the phone. He swiped through her weirdly small selection of apps until he found Coin Join . The graphics were from about six years ago. The sounds were nothing but annoying beeps and the gameplay seemed like it had been designed for people who took pride in their own stupidity, but oooohhhhhh, the bliss!
    Oh, yeah, look at those coins. Look at those coins match. Oh, baby, those were some great digital coins.
    Henry glanced over his shoulder, as if Max might be looming above him, snarling with rage. But he wasn’t.
    As Henry sat there, matching multicolored coins, he realized that today hadn’t been such a bad day. Sure, there’d been humiliation and discomfort and gross food, yet he’d talked to a gorgeous girl without her—to the best of his knowledge—thinking he was a total loser. Right now, he was sitting next to her by the campfire, playing a video game. The only thing to make it more perfect would be if he had some Cheetos and a highly caffeinated beverage.
    Okay, it would be more perfect if she