Dead End Job Read Online Free

the international market.” I signed it in purple. He signed in red.
    â€œI will keep it always,” he said with this dreamy look on his face.
    It dawned on me that Kyla Swimm—my best friend and Lockeport’s only other art nerd—might like him. He wasn’t bad looking, and I could see her going for his weird sense of humor. I got it in my head that I should set them up.
    Big mistake.

Chapter Six
    I told Kyla about Devin that afternoon. I didn’t exactly lie, but I didn’t tell her all the gory details either. No use mentioning that I thought Devin was weird the first time I met him. That would just make her feel like I was handing her my rejects. She didn’t need to know about the pastels, either. I didn’t want it getting back to Leo that other guys were buying me presents too.
    I told her about Tom Orser and the recording deal and Devin’s interest in art. Kyla stopped doodling and looked at me.
    â€œHow ugly is he?” she said. She’d been set up before. She was suspicious.
    â€œNot ugly at all,” I answered.
    â€œWell, I’m interested then,” she said. “Not ugly at all means he’s cuter than 97 percent of the guys around here.”
    My only problem now was going to be finding Devin. I didn’t have a number for him. In fact, I didn’t even know where he was staying.
    It turned out I didn’t have to track him down at all. I saw him the very next day.
    I was at the town library, sprawled across one of the chairs, reading, when he came up behind me.
    â€œFrances? Hey, what are you doing here?” He looked at my book and shook his head in amazement. “You’re not going to believe this …” he said.
    He was holding a scrap of paper. There was a file number written on it and a title fora book called
Strange Houses: Odd Abodes Throughout the Ages
. It was the book I was sitting there reading.
    â€œWow. Great minds think alike, huh?” he said.
    I smiled. I had to admit it seemed like a pretty weird coincidence. I’d never even heard of the book before. I just picked it up because it sounded interesting—and here he was actually looking for it.
    â€œSo are you going to hog it?” he asked. “Or can we share?”
    I said, “Share, I guess.” Why not? I wouldn’t have wanted Leo to see us together like that, poring over a book. It would have really bugged him. But since he never came into the library, I figured I didn’t have to worry. I also needed a few minutes alone with Devin so I could bring up the Kyla thing.
    Devin pulled a chair up beside mine and we flipped through the book. He seemed to know quite a bit about construction and architects and people who build weird houses. It was interesting. I like learning about new things.
    I lost track of time. Suddenly it was almost five. I jumped up.
    â€œYikes!” I said. “I gotta go!”
    He grabbed my arm. “Don’t go yet! Stay until we get into the twentieth century at least.”
    â€œI can’t,” I said and shook his hand loose. “I’ve got to go to Leo’s hockey tryouts.”
    â€œThat sounds like fun!” he said.
    For a second I was worried he was going to ask if he could come with me.
    â€œJust kidding,” he said and elbowed me. “Would you really rather sit in a freezing cold rink than a nice warm library?”
    My answer of course was no, but I didn’t say that.
    I just said, “I don’t have a choice. I promised.”
    I threw my stuff in my knapsack and was about to take off. I had two minutes to make it to the rink, but I stopped anyway. I didn’t want to miss the chance to do my matchmaker thing.
    I turned around and said, “Hey, do you want to have lunch tomorrow?”
    â€œYeah, sure. Sounds great!”
    I was going to tell him about Kyla, but I thought that might scare him off. In a weird way, he actually seemed kind of shy.
    â€œDo