Read Online Our Chemical Hearts by Krystal Sutherland - Free Book Online Page B

right.
    â€œSeventeen goddamn years without peer pressure and suddenly I get smacked down with it twice in two days. Fine. Let’s get our creep on.”
    Muz clapped his hands. “It’s settled, then. Tomorrow afternoon, after school, we shall be parked and ready in a car outside your house to begin our stealth operation.”
    â€œI’m the only one with a license, though,” I pointed out, “and I very much intend to be hiding on the floor of the backseat. So which one of you cretins, exactly, is going to drive?”
    â€œDon’t worry,” Lola said, unlocking her phone. “I have a brilliant idea.”
    â€¢Â Â Â â€¢Â Â Â â€¢
    â€œI. Cannot. Fucking. Believe I let you talk me into this,” Sadie said from the driver’s seat as I scrabbled into the foot well of the backseat of her SUV. Lola and Murray were already strapped in and ready to go. “I’m a twenty-nine-year-old neuroscientist and I’m aiding and abetting my teenage hoodlum brother to stalk his disabled crush. What went so drastically wrong in my life?”
    â€œDude, what shoes are you wearing, pointed rodeo boots with spurs?” I said to Murray as he pulled the door closed and I tried to get comfortable on his feet, which was difficult, because his shoes were trying to eviscerate my kidneys.
    â€œThey’re kicks, bro, calm your tits. Stop being dramatic and sit next to me.”
    â€œNever! I must protect my identity. La, I really wish you’d climb in the back so Grace can’t see you.”
    â€œAnd miss seeing this train wreck unfold firsthand? Not likely,” Lola said.
    I twisted around, unable to find a spot that didn’t feel like I was being filleted. “Ugh, Sadie, just drive!”
    â€œPatience, John Hinckley Jr. 2.0, we’re following a girl who walks with a cane,” said Sadie as she started the car and slowly pulled away from the curb.
    I conceded to being uncomfortable for the entire trip and rested my cheek in the dirty foot well. “I swear I’m not going to shoot the president anytime soon.”
    â€œSay what you will, but if you book flights to Washington and start watching a lot of Jodie Foster movies, we
will
report you to the NSA,” Lola said.
    â€œWhat’s happening?” I said as the car rolled to a slow stop. “Can you see her?”
    â€œYeah, she’s right up ahead. Just picked a few flowers from someone’s front garden. Freakin’ MPDGs.” I could practically hear Lola shaking her head. “Don’t worry, I don’t think she’s gonna shake us.”
    â€œI’m more worried about her
seeing
us than shaking us.”
    â€œIf we get busted, we’ll tell the cops that Sadie is obsessed with Grace and made us come along for the ride so she could slaughter us all in some kind of violent Satanic ritual.”
    â€œOh, ha-ha,” Suds said. “I hate you all, bunch of little weirdos.”
    â€œSounds like something a Satanist would say. Do youfrequently have congress with the beast or is it on more of a casual basis?”
    Sadie mussed Lola’s hair. La laughed and swatted her away.
    â€œDamn, she’s taking a shortcut,” Murray said. “Where does that alley lead?”
    â€œOnly thing on the other side of the alley is the cemetery,” Sadie said.
    Murray jabbed me in the ribs. “I flippin’ knew it! She goes to a boneyard every afternoon? We’re dealing with some kind of genre fiction here for sure. Anybody wanna stack bets? What do we think? Is she a vampire? A ghost? One of those new age zombies that can love?”
    â€œI’ll wager ten dollars on fallen angel,” Sadie said. “They’re so hot right now.”
    â€œI’m gonna go out on a limb here. What’s mermaid paying, Muz?” Lola said.
    â€œMermaids don’t live in graveyards, you bloody drongo.”
    â€œFine. Demon mermaid