Beyond the Crimson (The Crimson Cycle) Read Online Free Page B

one of the good ones that were always idolized in stories. I shook my hea d. I had trouble believing that; a face beautiful enough to be an angel’s couldn’t be evil, but the questions continued to burn through my mind.
    The class mumbled something in agreement. Darn , I missed that.
    “I will see you Thursday for your final,” Dr. Sims said before the class started picking up their notebooks and shutting down their laptops.
    I quickly shoved my books into my bag and bustled out of class, practically running to my car.
    I saw the white mustang—another Stacey hand-me-down that had been sold to me for next to no thing—wedged between two trucks. A light salty breeze blew past me, and it felt like freedom; I was minutes away from seeing him again. I popped open the trunk and threw my book bag in before slamming it shut.
    “Can’t wait for school to be out , huh?” I jumped at the booming voice and spun around, squinting into the sunlight to make out the dark silhouette of a medium-height guy.
    Chris .
    Darn. I didn’t want to stop and chit-chat, but it wasn’t in me to be rude. “Hey Chris,” I said politely. We had the same English and history class, which meant I saw him every school day, and recently that had started to become a bad thing. He was nice and cute but just not my type, and I was starting to get the feeling he didn’t quite agree with me on our “just friends” status.
    “So… what are your plans for summer?” he hedged, uncomfortably, scratching his head carefully as to not mess up his light brown hair that he carefully gelled to, in fact, look messy. I felt like rolling my eyes at the irony of it but faked a smile instead.
    “Just working, hopefully I’ll be able to get more shifts.”
    His lips curled into a small smile that seemed rather dull and unattractive compared to the wide, brilliant , and alluring smile of the dark knight I had discovered. He began mumbling things of no importance. Ugh. Just get on with it , I wanted to scream. I didn’t want to be impolite, but I really needed to go. I glanced down at my watch only to realize I had forgotten it along with my bracelet. I pulled my hair to the side, feeling the hot sun press against my skin as anxiety climbed higher and higher in my stomach.
    “Hey listen, do you think we catch up later?” I interrupted. “I need to run. I have to hurry to Riley’s Museum to get some research in for the history project.”
    He looked a little hurt but nodded his head in understanding, “oh, um, yeah sure.”
    “Is your proj ect coming along okay?” I asked mostly to salvage some of his feelings.
    He laughed an d squeezed the back of his neck. “Uhhh, well, it’ll do.”
    I smiled back. “I’m sure it will be fine—”
    “Maybe we could get lunch one day,” he blurted out, dark brown eyes looking slightly terrified.
    My stomach dropped. I didn’t want to get lunch with him. It caused my insides to twist in knots and not in the good butterfly way but in the sick, acidy, bile kind of way. “Sure,” I mumbled, unable to bring myself to hurt his feelings.
    He beam ed showing another boring grin. “Great.”
    I smiled weakly , hating what was about to come from this. “I’ll see ya tomorrow.”
    “Sounds good. Bye, Kate.”
    I clambered into my car and let out a groan. Three more days, I reminded myself. It would be easy to avoid him after that. I checked my mirror and pulled out of the parking spot. I would deal with this later because for now I had work to do and a knight to see.
     
    *****
     
    I quickly parallel parked on the side of the curb across the street from the museum, thankful it was only a short drive from school. I rolled up the window and grabbed my camera from the center console so excited my hands were shaking. 
    I threw open my door and stepped out of the car without even looking, as a bright red sports car whizzed by so close I could feel the power of its speed push roughly against me. My heart beat frantically