The Nightworld Read Online Free Page A

Her hair’s come a little bit undone and it’s blowing a little in the breeze, twisting into her face. It’s blue, then pink and then yellow again in this weird, shifting twilight.
    I almost want to reach out and put my arm around her—I have this weird feeling that she wouldn’t push me away. But just as I’m about to do it, she turns from the sky and back to me and busts me staring. I feel heat rise to my cheeks.
    “It was cool being in class with you this year,” she says.
    I’m surprised. I didn’t even think she’d noticed me. “Um,” I mumble. “It was?”
    “Yeah. I, um, I sort of wondered if maybe you were going to ask me out, before the year was over. But you never did.” She looks up at me sort of funny, and it suddenly hits me. I realize that she must be shy. Lara Hanover, shy!
    “Wow.” I don’t know what to say.
    “You’re really pretty smart, aren’t you, Nick? I noticed in Mrs. Martin’s class that you really read the assignments. I could tell because of the way you knew what she was talking about sometimes.” Lara looks down at the balcony railing. “I read them too. I like books, mostly.” She looks back up at me. “Does that sound dumb?”
    I’m about to say that she could never sound dumb to me, when my worst nightmare appears at the balcony door.
    “There you are!”
    I close my eyes. I know that voice. I turn, and sure enough, there’s Donny Morris. Standing just inside the apartment, grinning his sleazy grin at Lara. “I wondered where you were hiding.”
    Lara smiles back at him. I’m not surprised—I’ve never seen her be mean to anyone. “Hi, Donny. Did you find the beer?”
    Donny keeps grinning and brandishes a bottle. “I sure did. Want to show me that game now, Lara?” He holds up another bottle he’s been hiding behind his back.
    “Oh, Donny, I forgot.” Lara looks at me, an apology of some sort in her eyes. “I told Donny I’d show him Brian’s newest Wii game. Maybe,” she says to me in a lower tone, “we can meet up later.” Then she’s heading toward Donny, and I’m standing there alone.

Chapter 5
    Almost as soon as Lara and Donny disappear through the open door back into the apartment, Charlie pops out onto the balcony. He must have been lurking around, waiting to see how things went between me and Lara.
    “I tried to keep Donny busy, but he’s one focused guy.”
    “Oh, yeah?” I wait for the scoop.
    “Yeah. I saw him sniffing around in there; he couldn’t figure out where she got to, and then when he saw her out here with you, he headed straight for the door. I managed to block him for a few minutes, talking about how cool all his football moves were this year, but even that didn’t hold him off for long.”
    Figures. Any other time, if you mentioned football to Donny, he’d be happy to keep you entertained for hours detailing his greatest plays. “Well, thanks for trying.”
    Charlie nods. “Some place, huh?”
    “Wild.” I wonder what it’s like to come home to this view every day. Or to just sit around watching reruns or whatever on that huge flat screen in the living room. I can’t really imagine inviting Lara over to watch TV on our thirty-six-inch Panasonic.
    “Want to go check out the rest of the place?” Charlie holds up his empty bottle. “I need another beer anyway.”
    “Yeah, might as well.”
    We go back inside and grab a couple more beers. I see lots of people from our class. Over in the corner a couple of guys—the class president, Mark Johnson, and his ever-present sidekick, Greg somebody—are geeking out about the weather.
    “. . . tornado. Or maybe it’s just an early manifestation of the changes we’re going to see from global warming. Or it could even—”
    “What are you guys talking about?” Charlie butts into the conversation.
    Ben nods a greeting at both of us. “Have you taken a look at the sky lately?” His voice is all dramatic, like he’s announcing a national disaster or