Read Blur (Blur Trilogy) for Free Online

restroom to wash the soda off his face.
    As he did, he wondered wh y K yl e had seemed defensive when he asked him about Emil y. It wasn’t like him at all. Based on K yl e’s reaction, Daniel couldn’t help but wonder if there was something his friend wasn’t telling him.
    With that bothering him, he finished cleaning up. He tried not to disturb an yo ne when he walked into the ph ys ics lab late, but ended up getting a tard y slip an yw a y.
    After that, the da y went b y quickl y, but a swarm of questions pursued him ever yw here he went.
    Could Emil y reall y have been killed?
    Wh y had she appeared to him?
    Was T y just tr yi ng to get on K yl e’s nerves, or, if not, what’d he been referring to?
    After school, when Daniel was in the locker room changing for football practice, he was surprised to discover that there were no marks on his arm. None at all. Somehow the wound, which had been burned so deepl y into his skin that morning, had healed during the da y.
    Or ma yb e it was never there at all. Ma yb e yo u imagined the whole thing.
    He rubbed his head.
    No matter what was going on, it was like normal life was being warped out of shape little b y little and he was getting drawn into something dark and confusing, something that was wa y be yo nd his control.
    Practice did not go well.
    The team was distracted, their timing was off, and their concentration was at zero, but the coaches must have understood that it had to do with the recent traged y at their school and didn’t get on an yo ne’s case.
    Afterward, Daniel and his wide receivers met with the offensive coordinator and the head coach to review the film of the Coulee Pioneers dismantling the Spring Hill Panthers last weekend. He had a lot on his mind, but he tried to ignore ever yt hing except the game film and did his best to concentrate on anal yz ing the pla ys .
    The Pioneers’ defensive ends were crashing a lot. “We should go with read options on Frida y, ” Daniel suggested, anticipating what the coaches would be thinking.
    “Right,” Mr. Jostens, the offensive coordinator, agreed. He was a trim, fit gu y in his late twenties who’d been a wide receiver for UW–La Crosse and had been an assistant coach at Beldon for the last four ye ars. He didn’t teach an y classes and Daniel wasn’t sure what other job he might work at to help pa y the bills.
    Coach Jostens paused the video and pointed to the Pioneers’ all-state tackle, a kid who weighed more than 260 pounds. “The y have an enormous line. This gu y’ s trouble, but yo u’re good out of the gun. Read the defense, fire it fast, and we’ll roll over these gu ys .”
    When the y were done, the head coach, Mr. Warner, called Daniel to his office and looked at him sternl y. “Have a seat, son.”
    Daniel did.
    With his round, st yl ish glasses, perceptive gaze, and meticulous mannerisms, Coach Warner looked more like a statistician than a ph ys ed teacher and hard-nosed football coach.
    But looks can be deceiving.
    “I heard about an incident earlier toda y between yo u and T y Bell. Care to tell me what happened?”
    “I was just tr yi ng to help this other kid out of a locker. He was a freshman.”
    “Did yo u fight with T y? ”
    “No.”
    “That’s not what I heard.”
    “He swung at me, I stopped things from escalating. That’s all that happened.”
    Daniel wasn’t sure that would be enough to reassure his coach.
    “You need to be careful, Daniel. Bell is trouble and he’ll drag yo u down with him if he’s given half a chance. You understand that?”
    “Yes, Coach.”
    “Alright.” With that, he dropped the subject of the almost-fight. “He y, listen, I’ve got some good news. There are two scouts coming this weekend. One from the Universit y of Minnesota, the other from Ohio State. Have either of the schools talked to yo u ye t?”
    “Just letters so far.”
    Daniel’s grades were good, especiall y in math and science, but all he could reall y count on