Read Through to You for Free Online Page B

“I would never have seen you if I hadn’t looked to find out where it came from.”
    I roll my eyes and put the Zippo back in my pocket. I’m done listening to her stories.
    She looks at her lap.
    By the time everyone has either driven away or had their parents come get them, it’s gotten dark. We walk across the street side by side, and I’m startled by the headlights of a slow-moving car. The beams slide over both of us. She squints, and moves closer to me. I try not to jerk away. The street gets dark again. The corner of campus seems deserted compared to half an hour ago, though I’m secretly relieved. If this still turns out to be a setup, there won’t be many witnesses.
    We pass the shrine. Viv’s pictures, the notes, the stuffed animals. She slows when we get to the pole, lingering on the images.
    “What?” I ask.
    “Nothing, I just—” She shakes her head. “I used to know her.”
    “ You knew Viv?” I stop and clamp my mouth shut. Is this part of the act too? Would she dare take it that far? Or if it’s the truth … how did they know each other? I knew everything about Viv. How could I have missed that?
    She looks more closely at the notes. “It was a car accident?”
    I can’t unlock my jaw. My teeth are too tightly clenched. I manage to nod my head, but I think it looks more like a shudder.
    “I’m sorry,” she whispers, looking away.
    We’re standing under the street light, which is just flickering on. It’s dark at the base of the pole and in the bushes. No eerie green lights anywhere.
    “Now what?” I say through my teeth, glancing around for Logan. I just want to get this whole fucking thing over with.
    She takes a deep breath, steps into the bushes, and starts moving around, waving her arms randomly. It stays dark, and she stays here. If she isn’t an actress, maybe she’ s crazy. I wonder if she’d like to meet Dr. Summers. She steps back out of the shrubs.
    “Still doesn’t work.” She glances around as if looking for something she missed. Then she swallows hard and stammers. “I—I guess maybe we should try holding hands?”
    Oh, hell no. I shove my hands in my pockets and stare at her, but she’s serious. She bites her lip and holds out one hand. My leg aches. I shift from my right foot to my left. I didn’t think this could get any weirder. But if it helps me get rid of her …
    “Okay.”
    She approaches slowly, and I hold out my right hand so she doesn’t get any closer. She takes it with her left. Her touch is gentle, warm, but not the least bit tingly.
    I wonder, for the first time, what will happen next? Will Logan leap out of the bushes, then post a video of this online? Will she turn back into a ghost and disappear?
    She tugs me forward, and I have this horrible déjà vu about being pulled into that green light, only it stays dark. We trample through the bushes, making a wide circuit around the utility pole. I take secret joy in kicking the prickly shrubs. This feels like some bizarre game of ring-around-the-rosy.
    After several minutes of this, she starts jerking my wrist, like if she yanks hard enough, she can somehow make something happen. I catch her eye, and her face contorts. She looks away, but fresh tears shine on her cheeks in the faint street light.
    “Um, maybe we should get closer to the pole,” I mumble. “It seems like … it was closer before … I don’t know.”
    She just nods, and I pull her along this time, feeling ridiculous. I glance at Viv’s pictures looking back at me, and I feel totally wrong holding this strange girl’s hand. I hope Viv knows that she’s the only one ever . I hope she understands.
    We stop against the front of the pole. Nothing has changed. My hand is getting stiff from being squeezed, but I don’t say anything. Ghost girl’s looking around like she wants to tear the place apart, and I almost tell her it’s okay—that happens to me too. But then she lets go of my hand and flips her hair over her