The Fire Starter Read Online Free Page B

session?"
    "Not us," Kyle answered with horror, as if she would be caught dead studying. "It's just them. Spencer and Reid are study buddies--can't let the other students get to the top!"
    I smiled politely, noting how the books were all about advanced chemistry, one of my weaker subjects. I didn't realize I had swallowed noisily.
    "Yup. Another one who hates Chemistry," Evan chimed in as he sat down with a tray full of French fries and sodas.
    "What took you so long?" Blake questioned, his hands already reaching out for some of the steaming crunchy fries.
    Evan slapped Blake's hand away, only to notice that Kyle had already stolen a portion of his snacks. "No fair! Get your own, Kyle!"
    Kyle stuck her tongue at him and devoured his snack quickly.
    Admitting defeat, Evan took to protecting his remaining fries, which had notably decreased to almost half. One quick look around the room told me that Xander was the culprit, but he was munching undetectably and I was somehow enjoying seeing Evan eye everyone else to initiate a confession. Resigning, he said. "Anyway, I was held up by Alice. She said she was looking for you by the way, Spence."
    Spencer looked up from his books, his brows furrowed deeply. He didn't ask why, and he didn't say she had no business looking for him either. He merely nodded and returned to what he was doing. "I'll speak to her later," he finally said at last.
    "I thought you said she couldn't come to our meeting?" I inquired, realizing that we were supposed to meet tonight.
    "I'm meeting her separately," was his simple answer. He didn't add why Alice wouldn't meet with me too.
    Could it be that she was harboring some bad feelings about me? But if that was the case, then it means she had told Spencer. "Why doesn't she want to meet me?" I didn't realize I had spoken.
    "That's--" Spencer looked up, confusion etched on his face for a second, but recovered easily. "I didn't say she didn't want to meet you. She just has a problem right now, Kayleigh."
    "Ugh. She's disgusting," Kyle coughed. "I mean this coke's disgusting, Evan! Where did you even get this?"
    Evan looked up alarmed, but caught up to what Kyle had said soon enough.
    I felt confused. Spencer was comforting Alice, helping her with her problems? "I didn't realize you and Alice were close."
    "It's a weird--you can call it twisted--relationship, I tell you," Blake answered my question with a wink. He earned a glare from Spencer, but the latter didn't defend himself.
     
     

Chapter 4 - Break the Law
     
    There were two things I noticed in our Physics class, especially in our group. First, that Alice seemed to be uninterested in the subject, her attention either on cajoling Spencer to meet with her somewhere or to throw me looks that could possibly kill if it was probable. Second, that Spencer and I would be the only two doing the project together. We had been meeting after class hours in the cafeteria near the dining hall and so far Alice had conveniently failed to show up.
    "Is Alice ever going to participate in this project?" I asked irritably, rubbing my eyes which were smarting from straining to read the unintelligible notes I had in class. I'm pretty sure they made sense when I wrote them, but considering that I was too preoccupied by Alice's stares or Spencer's cologne, I'm not sure I knew what I was writing.
    "I don't think so, and I would prefer it that way," he answered without any inflection, his attention on the prototype we were building--well, mostly he was building it, as he had assigned me to the paperwork. I hated it, but I hated the bolts and screws more. I was more of a theory person anyway, not the experimental one.
    "Me too," I agreed, but not for the same reason. I liked spending time with Spencer. I liked watching him work on the prototype, immersed in what he was doing and completely unaware that I was watching him. I liked that I could smell his cologne, though I couldn't pin down its scent, and I loved that his long lashes