Snitch (The Bea Catcher Chronicles) Read Online Free

says.
    I get in his face and cross my eyes. “Everything, you moron.”
    Click, click.
“Yeah . . . full of shit, like I said.” He leans in, whispers, “I don’t know . . . what do you think—is Ian acting different?”
    “Stop being so paranoid, dude,” I whisper back.
    “Dang. I love those bell-bottoms you have on, Bea,” Ian says as we walk toward the school.
    “Yeah, they’re so wide, you could hide small children under them.” Chris laughs.
    “Groovy, aren’t they? Vintage sixties—from Leila’s place.” I remove the snot-ridden clump from my nose and toss it in the trash. “Damn these allergies. To hell with those bees and their sex lives.”
    “Speaking of a Bea’s sex life, how’s Wendell?” Chris nudges me.
    I sigh. “I don’t know. I don’t seem to be ready for that yet.”
    “Are you kidding me? He’s like a god.” Ian fans himself.
    Chris’s brow furrows.
    “He is, isn’t he?” I shrug my shoulders. “It’s weird—but it doesn’t feel . . . right. Not with him at least.” I mumble the last part.
    “I heard that. What do you mean
at least
? You got someone else goin’ on? Let me see your phone.” He shoves his hand in my purse.
    “Stop it.” I slap him away.
    “Why? What’s on it that you don’t want me to see—who’ve you called, huh?”
    “Nobody.” I can’t help smiling. But, I don’t want him to see the texts from Sergeant Daniels.
    The bell rings on the prison yard, and students scurry out of their cars, from behind cinder-block walls, up from the bleachers in the football stadium, out of parked school buses. Clouds of cigarette and marijuana smoke hover, dissipate, floating up into the sky as they approach the sprawling redbrick walls of higher learning . . .
not.
    I wave and mouth
hi
at the security camera tucked awayon the ceiling as we enter the heavy metal doors. Principal Nathanson monitors the camera every morning like an SS guard. Who knows what he’s scanning for or what he’d do if he actually saw someone smuggling something bad in the school. I could be hiding a couple bricks of weed under the bells of my bottoms, and he wouldn’t have a clue.
    “I’ll see you at lunch?” Chris pinches Ian’s ass.
    “If you’re lucky.” Ian winks and walks off.
    Chris bites his knuckles. “God, I love him so much it hurts. Who do you think he’s into?”
    “
You
, you idiot. You were all over each other in the parking lot, sheesh.” I open my locker and brace myself for the crap that will undoubtedly fall out.
    Books, shoes, art supplies, and my crumpled PE T-shirt tumble toward me. “Oh, cool. I was looking for that.” I toss the tee into my bag, shove the rest of the shit back in my locker, and slam it shut. “The coach said I’d get a detention if I forgot my uniform again.”
    “How the hell do you know where anything is, Bea?”
    “I don’t. I’ve given up trying to control things. I figure if it’s meant to be in my life, it’ll surface somehow, right?” I wipe my runny nose on the sleeve of my sweater.
    “Bea! Chris!” Willa Pressman, wearing her cheerleading uniform, prances up to us, her sleek, blond ponytail swaying back and forth like a palomino’s tail.
    “Hey, Willa.”
    She gives me a once-over, scans me up and down like I’m abar code, then pulls a compact box of tissues out of her purse and hands it to me.
    “See, Chris? Meant to be.” I blow my nose. “Allergies,” I say to Willa.
    She then pulls out a large bottle of hand sanitizer from her rolling backpack, obviously not believing me. “You should keep this on you at all times.” And then she gives me a European air-kiss on both cheeks. It’s a greeting all the cheerleaders have adopted, and weirdly, somehow, I’ve been included in the ritual—accepted in the pack, whether I like it or not. Very odd—me being a part of the rah-rah crowd. I’ve always been an outcast, made fun of by those types. But Willa accepted me into her world, and that meant