Uncanny Day Read Free Page A

me to read someone’s mind. All I needed to do was make eye contact, just as I had earlier with Laura. But before I could do that, Kate turned, just as if she knew the eyes were the key. What did or didn’t she really know?

Chapter Five
    WHAT I FIND FASCINATING about secrets is how people use that newfound information—information they previously would never have known or would have found out too late to do anything about. It’s almost poisonous, but for me, it’s business. A business that creates a sort of traffic of information that puts cash into my pocket, and that’s what I’m out to get. Call me selfish or call me coldhearted, but I’ve promised to only provide the facts. The rest is up to them.
    I strode down the opposite side of the main hallway, my mind set on delivering new secrets to my client, getting paid, and finishing this job, and although I would have liked to take my time, I was late and began to jog. I’d rather not look like I’m in a hurry. Since people know I carry information, I’m constantly being watched for whom I talk to and even whom I don’t talk to. Sometimes it drums up clients, but on the flip side, it also shoos them away.
    A little out of breath, I made it to the entrance of my classroom, and my timing couldn’t have been more perfect. Walking toward me was Stephanie, chatting with another girl—maybe her new future best friend?
    But then I focused on Stephanie and began to feel bad for her. She played backup to Laura in almost every category. Like when Laura was appointed captain of the cheerleader squad, Stephanie got co-captain. Stephanie received the part of understudy when Laura won the main role in last year’s spring musical, Grease . And it didn’t stop there—in a shared art class, Laura’s exhibit took first place in a school-wide vote. Guess who came in second? The worst was when school dances came up.
    Every autumn, River West held the annual Fall Ball (impressive name, I know). And Laura and Stephanie were at it again. Even though they were best friends, I knew they constantly battled in secret.
    This time it was over the new guy in school, Greg Wilkins. Greg had just started attending school that Monday, and the two girls had been fighting over him ever since. What is it about girls and new guys? Fresh meat? I wondered if Greg had any idea two girls were fighting over him. The real problem here was that Stephanie actually liked Greg. I’d been in her mind—I’d seen it. Greg, I assumed, just wanted to be with the most popular girl. Girls had too much drama. I wouldn’t complain, though. I didn’t care enough, and it kept a steady stream of cold, hard cash in my pocket.
    Stephanie was ten feet away. I wanted to be sure about her, so I held my eyes on her until she glanced up and into mine. I jumped inside.
    Having been back and forth in both of the girls’ minds the better part of that week, I felt like I was returning to some vacation spot my dad had never taken me to.
    Yet this was no vacation. Stephanie Daniels’ mind was much different from Laura’s. Stephanie’s mind was a tiny, one-room gym, although her gym had only one exercise machine in it—a treadmill. Strange, I know.
    I spotted canned lights above that coated everything in a yellowy hue that shone off a set of mirrors lining the wall in front of the treadmill. Stephanie’s current train of thought was a stereo in the corner of the room. Her thoughts just kept repeating, as though the song was skipping.
    Please let it be somebody else. Please let it be somebody else. Please let it be somebody else.
    My official synopsis of Stephanie was that she was on an unending cycle of playing catch-up. The treadmill itself ran at normal speed and beeped every so often. I had half a thought to do a few miles on it just to see what would happen, but for some eerie reason, I didn’t want to step foot on the