Drift (Drift Series) Read Online Free Page A

cool. It was more likely that no one was paying attention to me, or what I was doing, and they couldn’t probably care less. Even so, I still felt uncomfortable and kept my eyes locked on my shoes in a shallow attempt at not making eye contact with anyone.
    Scruffy was taking his sweet time in making his rounds. I ’m not as social as Scruffy and I occupied myself by lifting my stare from my feet every now and then to view the many vehicles pulling in and out of BNB’s. I was looking to win my bet. Thirty minutes went by and there was still no sign of Shade or her friends. Scruffy eventually made his way back to my car.
    “No sign of her, huh?” Scruffy stared at me, resting his butt against my hood as he crossed his arms on his chest.
    “Nope, not yet,” I answered, trying not to seem discouraged.
    In a rare effort to be sincere, Scruffy actually mouthed some lifting words . “I’m sorry, man. I know you dig her. There will be other chances see her.”
    Just as I was about to acknowledge Scruffy’s sincerity, he ruined the moment in true Scruffy fashion, “Now, get your butt over there and order my deluxe burger and fries.”
    We both laughed as he swatted me on the back. I was about to concede his victory and place our orders when I saw Sandra’s convertible pulling into the burger joint out of the corner of my eye. Amongst the four heads bobbing around in the open convertible, the one I was looking for had arrived.
    Shade was sitting in the backseat wearing sunglasses. I assumed what Sandra said about the bruise on her face was true. Apparently Scruffy saw them , too. “Crap,” he muttered.
    Before I could gloat about my victory, he was already en route to placing our order. “I know, Leo, I know. I got it,” Scruffy said, defeated.
    I laughed at him while I watched the girls pull up three spaces from us. All of them hopped out of the car except Shade. It was apparent she was trying to hide something.
    I thought I detected her staring in my direction, but I couldn’t be sure because of those dark glasses. Just in case she was looking my way, I did my best not to get caught staring. I sneaked peeks when I could, and it always seemed she was doing the same in my general direction. The moment I looked at her, she looked away.
    This shy exchange went on for a few more minutes, but eventually my view was obstructed by the many people surrounding Sandra’s car. It was clear everyone was too anxious to confirm the rumors about her and Darryl. It also became clear that their concerns were warranted because she explained what had happened. I could barely see through the crowd, but at one point, Shade’s head came into view. She took off her sunglasses. Her right eye sported a good sized black and blue bruise. It seemed Darryl was indeed taking the shape of a monster.
    Shade left the glasses off. I guess she thought wearing them at night was more embarrassing than the bruise itself. The overwhelming attention being lavished on her was an annoyance. She kept telling her sympathizers that it was no big deal, it was over and she wanted to move past it. I couldn’t blame her at all for being a little put off. Sometimes things are self-explanatory, everyone officially knows what happened is true. No sense in filling the social bellies full of more teen drama.
    Something else that I confirmed was that Shade was indeed looking in my direction. Amongst all the consoling being blanketed over her, she managed to raise herself up and sit on the top of the back seat, allowing her head to just peek above the heads in the crowd. Shade and I locked eyes; this time I didn’t look away. After a few seconds, she looked down, fluttering her eyelids as if she was processing what our shared glance meant.
    Her attention was sharply pulled back to a friend speaking to her. It seemed she was paying no attention to him even though she was staring right at him. I was glaring so hard at her that I didn’t even see Scruffy trying to hand