Beasts and BFFs Read Online Free Page A

close until I heard it on the news. I mean, you occasionally hear about a rabid raccoon leaping onto somebody’s porch and biting them, but…wolves?”
    He remained silent.
    “Did they get the wolf that did it?”
    “They think so.”
    From Farthington and reprimanded by a cop? There had to be a story here, and I was starting to feel like I had to be a code breaker to piece it together. “I’m with the school newspaper—I’d love to interview you about it.”
    “No, thank you,” he said with absolute conviction.
    My reporter instincts made me twitch. Even a reporter for a small school paper has to react when a student admits to being from the site of the bloodiest, goriest, most mysterious and bizarre wolf attack in a century and the guy doesn’t want to talk about it. It was an eye-poppingly big story. And Pietr summarily turned down my shot at writing the article—writing something far more exciting than “Students Struggle with New Library Filing System.”
    Okay. He’d rejected my request about the Phantom Wolf of Farthington. I wasn’t beyond trying again.
    But something about him was bugging me, and it was more than the fact he came from a place where things actually happened. Living in Junction made you aware the grass was greener everywhere else. I wanted to live someplace exciting, too—okay, maybe not Farthington, because the idea of a rampaging beast freaks me out. I shivered, remembering last night’s strange encounter at the stables.
    I refocused on my more immediate problem. Pietr. It wasn’t that he was shy—I’ve been shy, so I can read that vibe like reading the alphabet. Shy was nothing like what he put out.
    I squinted at him, trying to figure out what his problem was while he looked everywhere but at me. He was handsome enough. His dark hair spiked up and out in an unruly shock, a strand or two shadowing eyes that seemed nearly navy. Comparing him to Derek (whose stats I absolutely knew by heart), I estimated he was five foot ten or so and probably growing by leaps, considering the other family members I’d just seen.
    He didn’t look like he had a reason to be mysterious. He looked like he could actually be somebody. Probably another snotty out-of-towner who thought he was too good for a small town. Maybe Farthington with its bizarre news made him immune to what was important to folks in an old railroad town like Junction. Maybe it was simply beyond his capability to care.
    But that couldn’t be true. If I could still care about something—anything—anyone else could, too.
    He just stood there. Silent and absolutely inattentive.
    “You’re not really interested in any of this, are you?” I said, waving my hands to encompass the whole school.
    He looked down at me for the briefest moment. Our eyes connected, and I caught my breath. His eyes were so much more than nearly navy blue . Looking at them was like looking at the variations in the pietersite in my pocket. He tore his gaze away coolly and simply stated, “I’m not interested in much.”
    He shrugged, not bothering to look at me again.
    Had that been a complete dismissal of me? Was it me and not the school or my hometown that he thought he was so much better than? I was being blown off.
    Fuming, I began walking again, lengthening my stride to close the distance between us and our first real destination quickly. He kept up easily. “Well, you’ll have to care about school if you ever want to get out of here, ” I snapped, turning the door’s handle. “Welcome to lit.”

Chapter Two
    I stalked into the room, my peers’ eyes trying to catch a peek at my expression. I released the door, letting it—and hoping it would—smack into Pietr’s face.
    He didn’t even glare in my direction. I made my disappointment obvious: Handing my pass to Ms. Ashton, I rolled my eyes. But she didn’t notice, letting the pass slip through her fingers as she crossed the floor, apologies to Pietr falling from her lips—for my