Bang Read Free Page A

under a tree, talking and giggling. JD tells me those are the girls. He says he likes one of them, a redhead with green eyes.
    â€œAnd I bet you’re interested in the blond,” he says to me. “The one with the brown hair, she’s a dog, huh?”
    I want to tell him, no, the only girl I’m interested in is Leah, but I don’t have the nerve. I’ve seen how JD reacts to other guys who come on to Leah—he doesn’t like it. I don’t know how he’d react if I turned into one of those guys. So I just shrug and hope that’s the end of it.
    It isn’t.
    JD goes over to the girls. Of course he expects me to go with him. Only one of the girls, the one with the brown hair who JD thinks is ugly, pays any attention to us at first. She isn’t the best-looking girl in the world, but up close she’s not that bad looking either. Plus she has amazingly large, pale blue eyes. JD doesn’t evenglance at her. He’s trying hard to get the redhead to talk to him.
    â€œYou can forget about her,” the girl with the brown hair says. “She’s got a boyfriend.”
    â€œYeah?” JD says. “Does her boyfriend drive a Jag?” He’s looking at the redhead when he says it.
    I look at him like he’s crazy. We came here on our bikes. JD doesn’t have a car, let alone a Jag. He only has his learner’s license, which means he can’t even drive unless there’s a seriously sober licensed driver sitting right up front with him. Still, the question gets him what he wants. The redhead turns to look at him.
    â€œYou telling me you do?” she says. She has a stuck-up voice, like she’s the queen of something.
    JD grins at her but doesn’t answer the question.
    â€œYou should tell your friend to back off,” the girl with the brown hair says to me. “Her boyfriend’s the jealous type. And he’s tough, if you know what I mean.”
    JD is still grinning.
    â€œTough?” he says. He hasn’t taken his eyes off the redhead. “How tough is he? Is he as tough as this?”
    I’m standing a little behind him when he says this, mostly because I want to be out of there. I don’t want to talk to the stuck-up redhead with a tough jealous boyfriend. I don’t want to try to get her icy blond friend to say a word. And I am one hundred percent not interested in the girl with the brown hair. JD reaches behind him, up under his big T-shirt. Because of where I’m standing, I see what he’s doing. He’s getting ready to pull something out from underneath. I do a major double-take when I see what it is. I tell myself it can’t be real. But you never know with JD. So I grab the arm that’s reaching behind him and pull him away from the girls. “Are you crazy?” I say.
    â€œWhat?” he says. He is annoyed with me, like I’ve just ruined his big chance with the redhead.
    I hear a car horn honk up at the road. The three girls turn. The redhead wavesto someone in a black Mustang with tinted windows.
    â€œHer boyfriend,” the girl with the brown hair says. The three of them waggle their butts as they walk toward the car. JD stares at the redhead and shakes his head.
    â€œIs that for real?” I ask him.
    â€œIs what for real?”
    â€œYou know,” I say. I drop my voice to a whisper. “That gun you have stuck in the back of your pants.”
    JD smiles at me. “Yeah, it’s for real.”
    I have a million questions: Where did you get it? Why did you get it? Why are you carrying it around like that? Why would you want to show it to a bunch of girls? What if they decided to call the cops? There’s no way that gun is legal.
    JD says, “Relax. That redhead, she would never call the cops.”
    â€œHow do you know that?” I say.
    â€œI know who she is. I know who her boyfriend is. She’s one of those girls who likes guys with muscle cars