Assured Destruction Read Online Free Page A

feel now that I’m dating again.” She blushes even deeper and I’m stunned.
    “You could have told me.”
    She shakes her head a little. “Maybe it’s time you went on a few more dates yourself?”
    Maybe I am more hurt than I let on, or maybe I’m jealous, but whatever the reason, anger burns through me. “Maybe if I wasn’t chained to the store, I could date.”
    She holds my stare as my eyes water. For once, I wish we could have a conversation without laying on guilt. Her chin drops and she takes a deep breath.
    “Okay, honey, I’ll try to work some more.”
    I’m ashamed that I smashed her good mood into a billion fragments and don’t trust my voice not to crack. Instead, I nod and head to my bedroom. The label on my door reads Vice President Sales . I hate sales and I’m finding it really hard not to hate myself.
    A storm is rolling in, and the whole building shakes with each round of thunder.

Chapter 4

    G ood morning beautiful world,Frannie tweets.
    Soon the world will end and you all will be let off the hook for your miserable lives #endoftheworld, Heckleena tweets.
    Hairy adds his intellectual bit to the conversation: Prophets do not have a good track record when predicting the #endoftheworld. I’m standing at the bottom of the steps to my school, fingers dancing over the gorilla-glass surface of my iPhone as I hail the Twitterverse.
    What should Paradise57 write? It shouldn’t be so hard to come up with ideas.
    Good morning, he tweets, and I roll my eyes.
    My school is sort of pretty. Red brick, built a hundred years ago for a couple hundred students. A thousand now attend, and the additions are matched to the heritage with a modern touch in the form of a big glass atrium. Unfortunately the expansion ate up most of the sports fields, but I’m not into athletics anyways. Last night’s storm has filled the air with a fresh-scrubbed scent and crisp energy.
    As I stroll up the twenty steps to the entry, my heart climbs into my throat. Jonny’s reflected in the windows; he’s right behind me.
    “Hey,” he says as he walks right past.
    He’s in through the doors before I can respond.
    My lip hurts. I didn’t realize I was biting it. Jonny and Jan. JJ. Ugh.
    Jonny is cute, and now that I think about it, always doodling and sketching away at the back of the class. His shaggy hair hangs down in front of his eyes.
    I’m suddenly very conscious that I chose to wear a skirt this morning. I hardly ever wear skirts or dresses, but here I am on the school steps, cold autumn air blowing over my thighs and through my thin sweater. I steel myself to follow and confront him about his hobby, but suddenly everything dissolves into a shrill whine.
    “… break-in? It isn’t a break-in . This is totally more than a break-in.” Ellie Wise’s eyes are saucers; she’s waggling her phone at her chubby sidekick, Hannah, and looking—for the first time in my living memory—like she hasn’t stepped out of a salon. No makeup, frizzy hair—are those clothes even clean? I am desperate to take a picture and seriously wonder if we’ve entered an alternate world or exchanged brains today.
    Ellie’s supposed to be on vacation. She’s not due back until tomorrow—not that I’m keeping track or anything.
    “ Everything is gone?” Hannah exclaims.
    “Everything,” Ellie replies.
    “That sucks,” I say, cutting into the conversation.
    Ellie glances up at me, eyes bored. “You wouldn’t understand,” she says. “They took all our computers and televisions, furniture, clothes. Everything. They took the books off our shelves.”
    “Audacious,” I reply. “That would have taken hours.”
    “Yeah, our stupid neighbors actually spoke with the thieves, who told them they were movers.”
    “Terrible,” Hannah says.
    “Sick,” I add, a little impressed.
    “Maybe you would understand,” Ellie says to me with her finger on her chin. “You know what it’s like to have nothing. It does suck.”
    I bristle,