Double Life - Book 1 of the Vaiya Series Read Online Free Page A

made
her actually interested in him, nothing else really seemed to fit
right now. He’d have to talk to Darien about it later.
    Walking down the long hallway, away from
Hazel and her friend, Ian reached his locker and shoved his
chemistry book back into the crammed space, thoughts about Hazel
still swarming his mind. He didn’t know how he could handle this
new Hazel. Just thinking about their previous conversation made him
embarrassed. Try as he might, he just couldn’t shake it off.
    As uneasiness gripped onto his heart, his
chemistry partners came up beside him.
    “Hey, Ian,” said William, smiling, as Ian
shut his locker and turned to face him and his friend Jimmy. “Do
you have plans this evening?”
    Shoving away his thoughts about Hazel’s
apparent interest in him until a more opportune time, Ian focused
intently on William’s words and frowned inwardly; not only did he
hate turning down people, but even more so, he felt bad bringing up
something that he knew his new friends weren’t invited to. “Yeah.
There’s a party at Hazel’s.”
    “Hazel’s?” questioned Jimmy curiously, edging
his way into the conversation, a blush spreading across his face
upon just mentioning her name. It was a well-known fact that Jimmy
was petrified of females, at least ones that were young and
cute.
    “Yeah,” Ian repeated. “She personally invited
me and I promised I’d come.” He paused and shuffled his feet on the
black and white tiled floor, adding hesitantly, “I can’t back down.
It’d make me look like a liar.”
    “And it’d make you really unpopular,” said
William, smirking. “Turning down Hazel’s a death sentence; every
guy knows that.” Popping a lemon Warhead into his mouth, he
grimaced at the tart flavor, yet still managed to add, “How about
sometime else then, like tomorrow?”
    “Yeah, definitely.”
    As William’s face grew lighter and he was
just about to respond, suddenly, Shawn Evalise appeared from
seemingly out of nowhere and snaked towards them like an Australian
hunter. Dusty brown hair flopping on his forehead like bunny’s
ears, well-formed grin surfacing on his smooth face earning him the
title of class clown, and calm green eyes emerging like sleepy
frogs awakening, Shawn slapped Jimmy on the shoulder as he shouted:
“Hey, Romeo! Where’s your Juliet?”
    Before Jimmy could think up an answer to this
bizarre question, Shawn had already left towards the vending
machine, smiling ecstatically, leaving Ian in shock. Although Shawn
always had a knack for making an entrance, and his disappearing act
could outclass a magician’s, this was something else. This was just
downright weird.
    “What was that about?” asked Ian, stifling a
chuckle.
    “Nothing,” said Jimmy evasively, unhappiness
blanketing his face, his eyes mere curtained windows. “It’s just
Shawn.”
    As Ian tried in vain to interpret Shawn’s
words and Jimmy’s vague response to his own pointed question,
William’s teeth shattered the Warhead, as he replied somewhat
hesitantly, “Ok, great. See ya in English class.”
    “You too,” replied Ian, as Jimmy, looking
like a ghost of himself, headed over to his next class like a
defeated warrior returning from battle. It seemed Jimmy couldn’t
even take a little joke from Shawn, one that was actually quite
funny.
    Just shaking his head at Jimmy, Ian refocused
on Hazel’s party, as he strode over to the nearest water fountain
and quenched his thirst.
    Though it was true that Hazel had invited him
to a party at her house before, that was to her old house, which
she and her parents had moved out of during the summer. Her new
house, three times as big, a real-life mansion from what he’d seen
while driving past it, had a state-of-the-art exercise room, a
tennis court, a bowling alley, a skateboard ramp, and plenty of
other things. He couldn’t wait to see it for...
    “Hey, man,” mumbled Eddy, his somber frown
chilling Ian’s joyful spirit. “What’s on your