Wish You Were Dead by Todd Strasser Read Free Book Online Page B

highly unlikely that kidnappers would strike twice. And it seemed even more unlikely that they’d do it in the middle of the day.
    School would be ending soon. By now Courtney had had plenty of time to answer my texts. I could only assume that she was ignoring me. But she was supposed to be my closest friend. If that was no longer the case, I wanted to know.
    I got dressed and went out. The air was cold and damp and there were puddles in the driveway, but at least it had stoppedraining. It was hard to know where Courtney would go after school. Sometimes she went into town and hung out at the Starbucks. Sometimes she went to the mall, or to one of her other friend’s houses. Most of the time she didn’t go home until dinner.
    After deciding that the best place to find her after dismissal would be near school, I drove over and parked a few blocks away. Pulling my hoodie tight around my head, I stood at the bus stop. It wasn’t long before the front doors opened and kids began flooding out.
    Courtney came out alone, her red backpack slung over one shoulder, her long black hair with those streaks of pink and blonde dancing. Since she was alone, I assumed she wasn’t going to a friend’s house. That was good news, because it meant she would pass me on the way to town or the mall.
    But instead of making a right at the bottom of the steps, she made a left. That was bad news, because to catch up to her I’d have to walk right past school.
    Hoping that no one would recognize me, I started down the sidewalk. Courtney was walking fast, which was totally not like her. I wondered if she was going to meet someone. Rather than rush to catch up, I hung back and decided to see.
    She turned right on the next block, entering the residential neighborhood closest to the school. This was one of the older neighborhoods in town, and not many kids we knew lived there. Where was she going? At the next corner she turned left. By now it was just me and her on the sidewalk.
    As she walked, she took out a compact and checked her makeup. Now I was certain she was meeting someone. It was allso strange to me. I thought I knew almost everything about her. Could she really have a secret life I knew nothing about?
    At the next corner she turned right and started to speed up. I practically had to jog to keep her in sight. Then she looked back at me and started to run.
    I started to run after her. Every twenty feet she would look back at me. Suddenly I realized what was happening. She knew someone was following her, but with my hoodie on, she didn’t know who it was. I pulled the hood back and called, “Courts, wait! It’s me, Madison!”
    Courtney looked back and stopped. She bent over and placed her hands on her thighs. As I got closer, I could see that she was panting for breath. “You scared …  the crap out of me.”
    “I didn’t mean to.”
    “What … are you doing? Why … were you following me?”
    “I came to school to find out why you weren’t answering my texts.”
    Courtney kept panting. “Why weren’t … you in school today?”
    “Mom saw Lucy’s dad on TV this morning offering a reward for her return. It freaked her out. I mean, the whole idea that Lucy might have been kidnapped. She wanted me to stay home.”
    Courtney nodded and straightened up. She breathed deeply and ran her fingers through her long black hair.
    “Who were you going to meet?” I asked.
    “No one.”
    “A few moments ago you were checking your makeup in your mirror,” I said.
    “A few moments ago I was looking in my mirror to figure out who was following me. For God’s sake, Madison, you totally scared the crap out of me.”
    “Yes, you already told me that.”
    We stared at each other. It felt like we’d reached a stalemate. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on or not?” I asked.
    Courtney looked around. “How’d you get here?”
    “My car. It’s parked back on Rosewood.”
    “Give me a ride to Starbucks?” she