جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 160

NO MORE PRETENSEThe next morning, Ethan came to school even earlier than usual. He was trying to convince himself that it was because he wanted to be the first one to use the library. This was not entirely true — the main reason why he came so early was Blake, since Ethan did not want to meet him right now, especially after what had happened yesterday.It took Ethan quite a while to forget about what he had seen yesterday — although he was sure that he had already promised himself he would stop doing that. Every time he closed his eyes, he could see Maya taking a few steps towards Blake, her hand touching his shoulder and the surprise in his eyes. Then — the kiss.Ethan tried to convince himself that he did not know enough about what really happened to judge anything. Perhaps Blake had not kissed her back? Perhaps he had not expected her to kiss him? Anyway, none of that mattered, since Ethan understood very well how he had felt seeing them kiss. Stupid, jealous, replaceable and — th

ASK MAYAEthan hadn't seen the person standing at the end of the hall, hadn't seen the phone, hadn't seen the message. All he could think of was that Blake was still walking besides him. It seemed odd. Having seen everything, Ethan had expected the rest of the day to be uneasy, for Blake to explain to him everything, or for Ethan to keep asking those questions he already knew the answers to. Instead, they managed to slip into something like old days.Something close to old days.They approached the stairs that led to the library, and Blake leant against the railing. "So."Ethan looked at him. "So?""You haven't answered my question yet," Blake said."What question?" Ethan asked."Whether you'll let me help you with the chemistry project," Blake said.Ethan adjusted his glasses. "Do you mean whether I'll let you pretend to help, while I'll do everything myself?"Blake put his hand on his heart, hurt. "That stings.""You have never opened the textbook," Ethan said."I have opened it," B

WHAT JAKE ALREADY KNEWFor a few seconds, nobody did anything. The hallway was becoming packed with students yet again, but Ethan paid no attention to that whatsoever. The sounds of their laughter and conversation formed one continuous sound, somebody shouted something from the other end of the hall, a teacher rushed up the stairs holding a big pile of documents close to his body. None of it made any difference now, all of that faded in the background, as Ethan kept looking at the message on the phone.YOU SHOULD HAVE ASKED HER.Blake was standing next to him, looking at the same screen, Maya was standing beside them."What does it mean?" she asked."I don't know," Ethan said.Blake took the phone from his hand. "This means that the guy who sent it wants us to believe that Maya knows something."Maya shook her head. "I don't.""I believe you," Blake said.She looked at him, surprise evident in her eyes. "You do?""Yes," Blake said.Blake looked at Ethan. "We can't turn on each other b

NO PRETENSEThe next morning, Ethan came to school even earlier than usual. He was trying to convince himself that it was because he wanted to be the first one to use the library. This was not entirely true — the main reason why he came so early was Blake, since Ethan did not want to meet him right now, especially after what had happened yesterday.It took Ethan quite a while to forget about what he had seen yesterday — although he was sure that he had already promised himself he would stop doing that. Every time he closed his eyes, he could see Maya taking a few steps towards Blake, her hand touching his shoulder and the surprise in his eyes. Then — the kiss.Ethan tried to convince himself that he did not know enough about what really happened to judge anything. Perhaps Blake had not kissed her back? Perhaps he had not expected her to kiss him? Anyway, none of that mattered, since Ethan understood very well how he had felt seeing them kiss. Stupid, jealous, replaceable and — the wor

SIX MINUTES 2And they waited. Ten minutes. Fifteen. Ethan had done nothing but stare at the clock above the door the entire time. Finally, Mr. Grant reappeared with a laptop that he placed on the principal's desk."I tracked down the workstation," he said.His eyes were the only ones to follow him as everyone else circled around his chair. The screen displayed a column of timestamps, and Mr. Grant began clicking one of them. "This was Ethan's session."Everyone looked. Ethan scanned the screen and saw his own name, date, and time. He knew exactly when it was. "Monday afternoon. I was there.""Yes." Mr. Grant began sliding his finger down the column. "Your session ended at 4:17.""That's when I left," Ethan said."Correct." Mr. Grant clicked again. "And another user accessed the workstation at 4:23."Ethan stared at the time. Six minutes. Someone had been sitting at that computer only six minutes after Ethan had left. "Who?"he asked."That's the trouble," Mr. Grant informed him,