Pass/Fail (2012) Read Online Free Page A

think that would be a fail. It would be something they didn’t want.”
    Cody took the card away from him. “This suggests otherwise. It’s like they wanted you to try to escape. At least, at first.”
    Jake nodded. He could see it. “They’ve got me in a cage. They expect me to act like an animal in a cage, and rattle the bars. See if it holds. I didn’t just accept the game the way it was described to me, I had to prove it was real, to myself. Okay.”
    “I suppose that makes sense. It’s cheating to try to end the game before it begins. They expect you to cheat, right? That’s what Zuraw said.”
    Jake nodded.
    “It’s a game. They wouldn’t put you through this if they didn’t think you had a chance to make it, right?”
    “That’s the impression I got,” Jake agreed.
    “So maybe you just need to play along, now,” Cody suggested. He threw his hands in the air. “I don’t like that any more than you do. I think it sucks. Especially because it could mean you’ll get—you’ll—”
    “Get taken behind the gym and executed,” Jake filled in.
    “I don’t like that. But maybe it’s your best chance. To play along. Don’t try to break the game, because they’re ready to stop you if you do.”
    Jake just stared forward, lost in his own thoughts.
     

Chapter Six
    He showered. He got dressed. Made himself a bowl of cereal, kissed his mother’s cheek. Then he went to school.
    Jake walked to school, as he did every morning—it was only about half a mile away, and it gave him time to think. It had been a week since he had been brought home from the police station, a week in which he had gone through his normal routine just waiting for another test to materialize. None had so far—otherwise he would have seen an envelope under his door, either a PASS or a FAIL, depending.
    It would come, he knew. It was inevitable. He had to keep his guard up.
    There were moments he thought it had all been a stress-induced breakdown. A hallucination or something. As he walked to school that morning, however, he’d never felt more paranoid. The sun had just come up and still dark blue shadows pooled between the closely-spaced houses. Security lights above garages and front doors cast long, sharp shadows across the sidewalk. A hint of mist crept along in the gutter. Somewhere a dog was barking, though nowhere nearby.
    He felt like anything could be crouching, waiting, just around the next corner. So when he heard footsteps coming toward him down a side street, and saw a hunched figure pressing toward him, walking very quickly, he stopped and waited until she came closer.
    She. It was a girl. It was the girl. The one he’d saved.
    He hadn’t seen her all week, though he’d kept his eyes open in the school halls, watching for her. Hoping to see her again. Even though he knew if he did he would only put his foot in his mouth again—say something even stupider, so that the shallow goodwill he’d achieved with her so far would evaporate and she would flee him like a stalker.
    He thought about saying nothing. Just letting her walk past. He could hang back, wait a while so she didn’t think he was following her. It might be easier that way—
    “Hi,” he said, raising one hand and waving it like an idiot.
    She stopped fifty feet away and stared at him. He couldn’t really see her eyes, just the shape of her hair, lifting a little in the morning breeze. Behind her the sky was orange and purple.
    He walked closer, every step taking a certain amount of effort. Finally he was standing no more than five feet from her. She was biting her lip.
    “Hi, yourself,” she said.
    Jake was too nervous to laugh but he smiled. He tried to think of something to say but failed. Instead he lifted one arm and waved in the direction of the school, and the two of them started walking again. Eventually, she started talking, as if to fill the empty space. “My name’s Megan Gottschalk. We just moved here, like, two weeks ago. Just before