The Night Has Teeth Read Free Page B

I withdraw quickly. There’s a moment of
awkward silence and then Josh joins us. Setting down the soccer
ball by his side, he paws at the book to glance at the cover.
    “Another comic?”
    “It’s not a comic,” Madison corrects, flipping the
page. “It’s manga. Highly influential stuff, actually.”
    I don’t know if she’s making fun of me or not.
    “Sorry!” he says, raising his hands in playful
surrender. Something about their dynamic tells me this isn’t their
first day of school together. “You know, every once in a while you
could get your head out of your book to talk.”
    “Connor and I were having a perfect conversation
before you came along.”
    “Really?” He casts a furtive look over at me. “And
what were you talking about?”
    “The epicness of this book,” she replies.
    Still not sure.
    He hesitates before following up with me. “You read
comics, too?”
    “It’s ... manga,” is all I can manage.
    Nodding slowly, he says “Right,” drawing out the
word.
    “So, Madison, you must be in the L stream,” I
observe.
    The L stream is for all the humanities kids who opt
to study a number of foreign languages. Hey, I never said it was a
particularly astute observation. She flips a page, eyes focused on
the book, before finally responding.
    “You’re a regular Nancy Drew, aren’t
you?”
    Now she’s definitely making fun of me.
    “She’s a linguistic genius,” Josh says.
    “Shut up,” she snipes. “Just because you’re barely
literate in two languages doesn’t make everyone else a
genius.”
    “I’m not saying everyone else is,” he insists,
taking her snark in stride. “Just you.”
    “Well, cut it out. You’re making Connor
uncomfortable.”
    I don’t argue the point. “So ... what part of Canada
are you from?”
    “Kind of all over the place,” he replies
cryptically as he spins the ball in his hand.
    Madison plucks a strand of grass and uses it as a
bookmark so she can turn to me. With the midday sun above us, her
skin sort of radiates a healthy honey complexion. Up close, I see
her eyebrow ring has a cherry design at the end of it.
    “What Josh is trying to say is that we’re army
brats,” she tells me.
    I grin. “Canada has an army?”
    Her jaw drops in equal proportion to her eyebrows
rising. “Are you for real?”
    With a face-palm, Josh mutters, “Don’t get her
started, Connor.”
    Too late. She splutters for a little bit. Her
eyelashes flutter, eyebrows knit, and she bites her glossy lower
lip. I’m tempted to let her off the hook by admitting that I’m
joking, but she’s kind of cute when she’s aggravated. “Have you
never heard of the War of 1812? Seriously? We totally pwnd your
asses.”
    “Canada wasn’t even a country in 1812,” I
retort.
    She hesitates, her eyes scanning mine. “Well, aren’t
you Mr. Smartypants.”
    “I was just kidding,” I finally
confess.
    “You’d better be! We’re not your backwoods
cousins, you know.”
    “I know.”
    I try to suppress a smile. Madison removes a ring
from her thumb and pulls it apart. It’s some kind of a puzzle that
she toys with, but I don’t want her to catch me staring again, so I
focus on eating the rest of my sandwich and washing it down with
the frap.
    “So, what’s your story?” Josh asks, leaning back
on his elbows by her side.
    I shrug. “Why do I have to have a story?”
    He flashes a smile of perfect teeth. “Because
everyone does.”
    “Oh, let me guess!” Madison cries. Those hawkish
eyes of hers rake across every inch of me, and I feel my pulse
quicken under her scrutiny. “You grew up in some über-posh
neighborhood. Your parents are hardcore white-collar. Like, they
sit on boards and rub elbows with the muckety mucks. Every once in
a while they’ll check in to make sure you’re not on drugs. You’re
going to an expensive private school. Girls think you’re cute but
they can’t figure you out, so you’ve probably never been
kissed.”
    “That’s some