The Cheater by R.L. Stine Read Free Book Online

Since I happen to be free tomorrow night, I’ll go out with you and Adam and Ray. But I want you to know that I’m doing this for one reason, and one reason only: something’s going on with you and Adam, and I’m going to find out what it is.”
    Adam came up behind Carter. She turned toward him and gave him a nervous grin. “Great, great. I’m looking forward to it too, Jill. See you tomorrow night.”
    She hung up the phone, still fiddling with the drawer. Absently, she pulled it open.
    Adam stood behind her, peering over her shoulder as she glanced into the drawer.
    Something gleamed among the scraps of paper and pencils and tape in the drawer. Something shiny and black.
    A gun.
    Adam reached around her and picked up the pistol. She stared at him in shock.
    â€œLike it?” he asked her.
    She was shaking now. She was alone in a house on Fear Street with a guy who had a gun.
    â€œIs it yours?”
    He nodded. “You never know when you might need a gun, Carter. Who knows, even you might need one someday. Want to hold it?”
    He pushed the muzzle against her.
    She gasped and pushed the gun away. “Are you threatening me?”
    â€œI don’t need a gun to threaten you, Carter.” He was grinning smugly.
    Shaking, she ran into the kitchen.
    Adam didn’t try to stop her. His laughter followed her, though, loud and cruel.
    A few seconds later she was out the door and running down the street as fast as she could. She didn’t think about where she was going. She just ran.
    Fear Street. Dim yellow light fell on the street sign. Carter ran past the sign, her heart thudding.
    Got to get away. Got to get away from here!
    She saw a bus pull up to the curb. She jumped on. With a wheeze, the bus doors closed and it pulled away.
    She stumbled to a seat in the back of the bus, panting. She pressed her face against the window, watching for Adam.
    No. He hadn’t followed.
    It was late, so the bus made very few stops. The only other passengers were two old men and a middle-aged woman in a flowered dress.
    The bus wound its way through Shadyside toward North Hills. Trying to calm herself, Carter watched the town go by outside her window. The streetlights cast empty pools of yellow on the asphalt, which darkened as the bus passed them by.
    Up Park Drive. Carter got off a couple blocks from her house. She started for home.
    The street stretched dark, quiet, empty.
    Empty, except for the slow approach of a car behind her.
    First, she heard the hum of the car’s engine. Then she saw the headlights illuminate the sidewalk.
    She waited for the car to pass her. But it didn’t. It inched along, a few yards behind her, as if it were following her.
    Carter turned to look. The headlights glared in her face.
    She couldn’t see anything. She shielded her eyes from the light.
    She turned and started walking more quickly.
    The car kept a steady pace behind her.
    What’s going on? she wondered, frightened. Is it Adam?
    She tried to see who it was again. The lights were too bright.
    She began to jog. What’s going on? Why is he
doing
this? She began to run. The car still followed.
    It stayed right behind her, its headlights focused on her like a spotlight as she ran.

Chapter 7

    F inally she was fumbling for the keys on the front porch of her house, then she was darting into the safety of the front hall. She slammed the door and leaned against it for a long while, waiting to catch her breath.
    She worked up the courage to peek through the side window.
    Was the car still there?
    Yes. There it was, in front of her house. Its headlights still on.
    Who is it? She still couldn’t see the make of the car.
    Carter continued to peer out the window, frozen.
    What do they want? Why was that car following me?
    A moment later the car peeled out with a squeal of tires.
    Carter hurried up to her room, her entire body trembling. Her parents were in bed.
    Carter usually turned off the