Betrayal Read Free

instead.
    ‘I wanted to ask you something, Jess,’ he blurted out.
    Eve blinked in surprise.
    ‘Sure,’ Jess said. ‘What’s up?’ Eve could tell her friend was a little freaked, but Jess was doing her best not to show it. She was always careful not to hurt anyone’s feelings.
    Simon shifted his backpack – which looked like it contained half the books in the library – from one hand to the other, then shot a look at Eve. ‘Alone. If, uh, that’s OK,’ he added.
    Eve glanced at her best friend to make sure she didn’t mind being alone with Simon. Jess gave her a quick I’ll-be-fine nod. ‘I’ll wait for you over there,’ Eve said, gesturing to one of the stone benches near the huge maple tree on the school lawn.
    When she reached the bench, she sat down and rummaged around in her bag for her lip gloss. She didn’t want to sit there and stare at Simon and Jess, even though she was kind of curious. Make that very curious. Simon and talking – they just didn’t go together. Simon and talking to Jess – that went together even less. As far as Eve knew, when Simon wasn’t in class, he was in one of the cubbies in the back of the school library, hunched so far over a book that it was hard to see his face.
    She applied the vanilla-scented gloss, returned it to her purse, then tilted her head back and closed her eyes, enjoying the feel of the soft, warm breeze brushing over her face. Tonight she and Luke were going to the movies, and Eve tried to decide what she was in the mood for. She wouldn’t drag him to a chick flick. She’d wait and go to those with Jess or one of her other girlfriends. Maybe that new horror remake? It could be fun to grab onto Luke and hold on tight. But there’d been enough real-life horror in the past few months. Maybe—
    The sound of boys laughing, a bunch of boys, pulled her out of her thoughts. She straightened up and opened her eyes. Jess was coming towards her, Seth at her side, with three of his buds trailing along behind.
    Uh-oh. Jess looked mortified. Were they laughing at her? It didn’t seem likely. Seth wasn’t the kind of guy who’d let his friends give his girlfriend a hard time. Eve stood up. ‘What’s so funny?’ she asked.
    Seth and Jess both opened their mouths to answer, but Dave Perry beat them to it. ‘Let me tell,’ he begged, laughter mixing with his words. ‘You’re not going to believe this, Eve. That freak just asked Jess if she would “accompany him to the prom”. Seriously, that’s exactly how he said it. “Accompany him”. ’
    Eve raised her eyebrows, turning to Jess. ‘Simon asked you to prom?’
    ‘He didn’t know Seth and the guys were behind us,’ Jess explained. ‘I was just starting to tell him that I’d already been invited when they all went nuts. This one getting all chest-thumpy about me being his girlfriend.’ She nudged Seth with her elbow. ‘That one laughing until I was afraid he was going to wet himself.’ Jess jerked her thumb towards Dave. ‘And the other two very helpfully offering to beat Simon into a hamburger.’ She flipped her hand at Al Defrancisco and Connor Bray, who both happened to be on the wrestling team and ended up in scuffles on a regular basis.
    Eve sighed and rolled her eyes, and Jess did the same.
    ‘What, you wanted him to ask you?’ Seth asked.
    ‘No,’ Jess said sharply. She sucked in a breath, and Eve could tell she was trying to get a grip on her temper. ‘No,’ she said more gently. ‘What I wanted was to politely turn him down. Po-lite-ly. You guys were kind of jerks, you know that? You scared him off before I could even say thank you.’
    ‘Oh, kind sir, thank you kindly, but I must refuse your kind offer to escort me to the prom,’ Dave said in a high voice and an attempt at what Eve thought was a Southern accent. Al and Connor cracked up. Eve scanned the courtyard for Simon and saw him on the sidewalk just outside the school. He was staring at them.
    Eve heart tightened like