Read Online The Ghost of Gruesome High by Larry Parr - Free Book Online

again. There was something about Ben Thompson. Someplace I’d seen him. And then it came to me!
    Of course! The figure hiding near the boy’s locker room at lunch! The one spying on me! Now that I thought about it, it was Ben Thompson!
    But why? Why was Ben Thompson spying on me?  
    I could only think of one reason. If I was right . . . .
    At that moment, Wesley’s red bug came around the corner, toward the front of the house. I could see Jason sitting in the front seat, and I could see him smile as he realized it was me sitting on the porch, waiting.
    Jason really has a great smile, I thought to myself. A really great smile!

 
    Chapter 13
     
    Gruesome!
    I ran to the driveway and opened the door of the car before Wesley had even come to a full stop. Jason looked surprised and a little scared as I leaned into the car, put my arms around his neck and gave him a big kiss, right on the lips!
    I don’t know why I did it, except that I was just so happy to be here, with him, and all of us O.K. I guess my run-in with that Neanderthal, Ben Thompson, really affected me.
    I knew the kiss was a mistake the moment I’d done it. That was the first time I’d ever kissed Jason quite like that before. He and I had gone out together lots of times in all the years we’d known each other, and there were a couple of times we even called them dates, but we’d never really gotten physical.  
    We’d hugged a few times, and kissed once or twice—but not like I’d just kissed him. I knew he wanted us to get more physical, but I still wasn’t sure how I felt about that.  
    But now-now I had kissed him Big Time. And I wasn’t even sure why. And he certainly didn’t know. When I stopped kissing him I saw he had a really surprised look on his face for a moment, but then I felt his hands grab me and pull me down to him again.
    This time he kissed me!
    Now I was mega confused! I liked it—but I didn’t want to like it. I panicked and pushed away from him so hard I hit my head on the top of the bug’s door frame.
    Jason looked at me and smiled in a confused sort of way. “What was that all about?” he asked. Then he leaned toward me and said: “Whatever it’s all about, I like it!”  
    “Well, forget it! It’ll never happen again, not in a million years!” I yelled. “So don’t start thinking it will!” I was mad. Not at Jason, but at myself. I had just done something really stupid and now everything was going to get all messed up. And I knew, I absolutely knew that my getting mad would just make things worse, but I couldn’t stop myself!  
    Suddenly it was as if I was floating above Wesley’s driveway, looking down on all of us, watching myself screw things up and completely unable to stop myself! I’d like to think that a large part of what was going on had to do with my lack of sleep and how worried I’d been all day about my meeting with Mr. Greenwald and how scared I’d been because of my run-in with Ben Thompson, and how happy I was now that everything was O.K.  
    But I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that I’d just blown everything. Nothing would ever be the same again.
    I tried to get my unreasonable anger under control as I stood back and watched Jason and Wesley slowly get out of the car. They just stood by the car, staring at me as if they’d never seen me before in their lives.  
    Alan finally pushed the front seat of the bug forward and climbed awkwardly out. He looked at me, then looked at Jason and shook his head. “You two are crazy,” he said. Then he reached back into the car and pulled out a bag of art supplies. “If we’re gonna help with this project we’d better get started. My Mom has dinner ready at precisely six every night, and if I’m not there—”
    “The dog gets it,” Jason finished, not taking his eyes off me.
    “That’s right,” Alan said, lamely. “So, let’s get busy. It’s already four thirty.” Alan started walking toward the door. Wesley hesitated,