Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 90564 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90564 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Just as we started the game, the TV cut off and the motor to the box fan silenced, the blades slowing to a stop.
“Dude,” Wolf said. “Your power is out.”
My eye twitched. “No shit, gremlin-faced genius!” I threw the controller to the couch. Then dragged my hands through my hair.
Had I not spent the twenty bucks on the gas to burn that treehouse to the ground the other day, I would have had enough to pay my power bill today. But no. Of course, I had to burn the stupid thing down, and now— Now I couldn’t even charge my phone or cool my balls with my fan.
Fuck Lola Stevens. Fuck Kyle Jones. Fuck everything!
I was tempted to go take a shit on my own porch because I was that pissed at myself. And if that girl didn’t end up renting the spare room, I just might.
Chapter 6
LOLA
Kyle shifted on his sofa, a horrified expression on his face as I passed his phone back to him. The second his gaze dropped to the screen, his face went a weird shade of gray. “He’s going to kill me, Lola.”
“Hendrix is all talk. Just ignore him.”
“All talk?” he squeaked. “He set Nikki’s car on fire because… I don’t even know why. Robert bought weed from him one time, told his mom where he got it, and Hendrix broke his nose with a lunch tray. And he thinks—” He puffed his inhaler. “He thinks I’m trying to do the horizontal wiggle with you.”
“He’s just being an ass.”
He did think that, though, and even by the standards of Hendrix’s wild imagination, that was ridiculous. It was Kyle. He just called it the horizontal wiggle...
“The other day, he was standing at the urinals and told me he was going to eat my face. This is bad.” Kyle swiped over his screen. “This is so bad.”
I watched him pull up his privacy setting, scrolling down to unblock Hendrix.
“Don’t show weakness.” I snatched away the device. “It’s what he wants. He—”
My phone dinged. A notification ribbon from InstaPic popped up. Message from DigBick69. Hendrix. I should have just blocked him, too, but as always, curiosity won out.
I opened the message, pressing play on the voice clip.
“Unblock me, Kyle. Don’t let a girl—especially that traitorous, blond Medusa—tell you what to do.”
Kyle snatched my phone and pressed his finger over the screen. Oh, my God. He was going to send a voice clip. “Lola’s not a traitor, Hendrix.” His brows tugged together, his cheeks reddening. “You’re…you’re…” I saw the desperation, the panic in his eyes. Bless him, trying to stand up for me. “A stupid asshole.” Then he dropped the phone to the sofa like it was on fire, his face washing white. “Now, you can’t tell me I’m not going to die.”
“Aw, thanks, Kyle—” The phone pinged again.
Hendrix’s low breath rustled through the speakers. “Sticks and stones will break your bones because your stupid fucking words have pissed me off!” He sounded like a complete psychopath.
I’d always liked his crazy, though… A little too much.
“We have to leave.” Pushing to his feet, Kyle grabbed his keys.
“Hendrix is not about to jump out of a closet.”
“No, he’ll jump through a window. He knows where I live.” He snatched his inhaler from the coffee table, tucking it into his pocket.
“You’re being ridiculous.”
A sheen of sweat glistened on his forehead. “He pooped in the sandbox when we were six because I said he couldn’t play with us.” He ticked off a finger. “He put poison sumac on my chair in fifth grade because I got you and me matching Yoda shirts. And don’t forget when he hogtied Isacc Isaccs to the railroad tracks in fifth grade because Isacc said you were pretty!” Okay, well, when he said it like that, Hendrix sounded mildly insane.
He headed for the door like his ass was on fire. “Robert said there’s a party tonight at Rabbit Hill. Let’s go.”
“You hate parties, though. It’s a weekday. And what if he turns up there? At least your house has locks.”
“Robert has an invite. That means it’s a geek party. Hendrix doesn’t even know those people exist.”
“Uh, pretty sure they just paid his mortgage this month. He knows they exist.”
He puffed on his inhaler, so many times I lost count.
“Fine, fine. Off to the geek party we go.” I let out a sigh and shoved my feet into my ratty Converse. “There had better be beer.”
Oh, there was beer. And it wasn’t just a geek party. Enough pickups to fill half of Dayton’s parking lot were backed up to a massive bonfire, tailgates lowered. Hordes of drunk teenagers swayed in beat with the loud music blasting from a busted subwoofer.
Meanwhile, Kyle’s friends all huddled around in a circle, clutching beers and playing Truth or Dare. It was wild. This would require a lot of beer.