Pentimento: a dystopian Beauty and the Beast Read Online Free Page A

this point. Either she talked about cute boys, birthdays and liked the same music everyone else liked, or she was considered weird.
    All of this didn't matter, really. As long as Iris was capable of practicing her secret hobby, she was still happy. Now she had to go practice her secret. She patted Zoe on her shoulder and waved goodbye.
    "Are you going where I think you're going?" Zoe asked helplessly.
    Iris nodded, her thumbs tucked between her bag's straps and her shoulders.
    "I assume I can't stop you," Zoe said.
    Iris shook her head. She didn't like to talk about her secret hobby. It was a dangerous one, so she thought silence would help her skip the fear of doing it. "I have to go now," Iris turned around and walked away. It occurred to her that she hadn't practiced her secret hobby for three weeks. So why now?
    Because of what Eva mouthed to me, she thought. That's why now!
    A few steps farther, Zoe summoned Iris again.
    "What now?" Iris puffed, and turned her head.
    "Mrs. Wormwood's wig isn't going to be glued to her head by the way," Zoe said, waving the tube with the glue in the air. "I switched it so you only pasted some gel on her wig."
    Iris narrowed her eyebrows. So her planned prank didn't work? Damn. But she couldn't be mad. Her friend had done this to save her from punishment. She did that a lot, and Iris loved her for that. Iris shook her head, flashing half a smile, and then turned around again and walked away.
    "You're welcome." Zoe shouted in the back.

6
    To practice her secret hobby, Iris had to sneak her way out of school, jumping over the electrocuting security fence guarded by two robot guards. Iris needed help so she had to call Cody Ray, Colton's nerdy younger brother, and total opposite. She'd met him sneaking out of school a day after Eva's Call. Cody was a year younger than Colton, a wannabe hacker, and the curious type. Like Iris, he wasn't content with The Second. The two outcasts clicked and became friends instantly. Zoe had accused Iris of only becoming friends with Cody as a stepping stone to his brother. Iris thought the idea was ridiculous, even though she still dreamt about that look she shared with Colton. In fact, Colton's eyes were Iris's only savior from Eva's mouthed words in her nightmares. The Beasts might have ruled her world, but never her dreams.
    Cody was a 1st rate introvert. He was occasionally bullied--behind Colton's back of course. Colton, coming from a rich family, had never been the fighting type. He was good-looking, well-dressed, and too well-mannered to use his fists. No one was going to come near him anyways.
    “Cody,” Iris said firmly on the phone. She didn't want him to think she liked him. Nerdy boys fell in love like moths to a flame. Besides, she liked Colton. A lot.
    “What’s up, Beauty,” he yawned.
    “I told you not to call me Beauty,” she snapped. She wore her hood of her jacket up over her head and stood behind the tree near the fence. She had about two minutes before the robot guards could locate her. The robots were changing shifts, and she only had a two-minute gap until the newer ones showed up. Cody had told her about this incredible loophole in the system--it had boggled her mind the first time she heard about it; why would robots change shifts? It wasn't like they got tired like humans. “Why aren’t you in school, Cody?” she said.
    “Because I'm in bed,” he almost snored. “Sleeping my day away.”
    “That’s ridiculous,” Iris whispered, her eyes darting around. “I am all about skipping school. But if you sleep your day away, what will you do all night by yourself?”
    “I love it when everyone else is asleep and I'm the only one awake. You know I'm not quite fond of people,” Cody said. “Could you leave me be now. I was dreaming there was no one left in the world but me and the Beasts, and I was fighting them.”
    Iris smiled. The dude was definitely different, and interesting.
    “I need your help, Cody. I have so little