Shadow Keeper Read Online Free

suspects, so don’t go blurting anything out.”
    “Yeah, yeah, I’m not going to tell her. Besides, I don’t want to be the one to hurt her.”
    Carson walked around the table to where Paul sat, but instead of sitting next to him, he plopped his butt on the tabletop and put his feet on the bench. “Where’s my lunch?”
    “You have to go to the window and order it, you dumbass,” Paul said.
    “Oh, wow,” he said in a voice heavy with sarcasm. “I never thought of that.”
    I tried to ignore my two obnoxious friends as I took a seat next to Lisa.
    “Paul.” Sherry crossed her arms and glared at him. “I thought we agreed not to use profanity.”
    “That wasn’t a swear word,” he insisted. “ Ass is in the bible.”
    When she continued to glare, Carson hopped off the table. “You want anything, X–man?”
    Shaking my head was all I could manage. He knew I never bought anything for lunch. Suddenly, I felt self–conscious. I was trying to impress the new girl, but how could I do that if I ate my lunch from a brown paper bag?
    Lisa turned on the bench and nodded to the sack on the table. “Do you have food allergies too?”
    “Allergies?” I glanced at the purple padded lunch box in front of her. “No. Do you?”
    “Peanuts.” Her lips twisted into a grimace. “My mom worries that the fast food places use peanut oil to cook with, so she always packs my lunch.”
    I almost went with the same story. The alternative was to blurt out the truth: My family’s poor, and I didn’t have money to buy lunch.
    “That looks good.” She leaned closer. “What is it?”
    “Roast beef.” I unwound the plastic wrap from the bread roll stuffed with thin slices of beef, and pulled sliced tomatoes and lettuce from a different baggy to add to the sandwich. “My grandma always bags these separate so the bread doesn’t turn soggy before I get a chance to eat it.”
    “That’s so sweet.” Her lips curled into a smile. “Do you live with your grandmother?”
    “Yeah, and my mom, and my little brother and sister. We live up the valley near the Indian casino. Have you ever been there?”
    “No. I’m not old enough to gamble, but we’ve driven by it.”
    I couldn’t hold back my laughter. “I didn’t think you were that old.”
    She put her head down. Her long, silky hair slipped across her face, shielding her expression.
    My belly twisted into a knot. I’d offended her. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have laughed.”
    “That’s all right.” She snuck a peek at me. “Things seem to come out the wrong way when I talk.”
    “I don’t think so. What you said was cute. That’s why I laughed.”
    She looked at me again. This time, I caught a little twinkle in her blue eyes. She also smiled.
    “You’re a junior, right?” I asked. “You must be about sixteen.”
    Her head nodded. She took a tiny bite of what looked like a turkey sandwich on whole wheat.
    Carson returned with his food and spread it on the table top next to where he parked his rear end. “Anyone want some?”
    “Sure.” Sherry grabbed a couple with her fingers. “I love chili cheese fries.”
    “How about you, X–man?”
    I shook my head.
    “Why does he call you X–man?” Lisa asked.
    “Cause he’s the man,” Carson said before I could answer. “He’s always got my back.”
    “He’s called me that since fifth grade. My last name has an x in it,” I explained when her eyebrows knitted together.
    “Oh. Alexander.” She made a cute little giggle. “I get it.”
    “So tell me, Sleeping Beauty,” Carson said around a mouthful of double burger. “Do you and the new girl have a lot of classes together?”
    Sherry and Carson took over the conversation while Lisa and I ate lunch. Paul barely spoke, even though he’d already devoured his hamburger. I didn’t know if it was because he was afraid of saying another swear word, or if things between him and Sherry had reached the point where there was nothing left to say.
    Lunch was