Read Boy from the Woods (9781311684776) for Free Online Page A

have enough money to
go to London mid-August.”
    Everyone beamed at each other.
“Well, that’s settled then,” Tamara decided. “I say we propose a
toast to our travel plans!”
    When Florian
got up to flip the record, he came back with a small bag of pot.
“It’s time to relax,” he announced.
    “What… you’re
going to hit the Chinese all-you-can-eat joint stoned ?” Tamara
blurted out in shock. “Just so you know, I’m not sitting with you
if you act like an idiot.”
    “He act like
an idiot no matter what,” Axel remarked, easily dodging the punch
Florian aimed at him.
    Axel went
inside and got the leaflets and guidebooks about London that were
still sitting on Florian’s desk. Soon, everybody was absorbed in
the information , making plans for a
four-day trip to the English capital.
    “It’s pretty cool we’re all going to London,” Julia
mumbled to Gaby. “And I can just focus on work in the weeks leading
up to the trip. If I get the job, of course.”
    Gaby put her
arms around her in a sweet hug. “You will. It was made
for you, you bookworm. Plus, it will keep
you off the streets so you won’t run the risk of bumping
into some people anymore.”
    Julia nodded.
Today, she had felt empty when she’d passed the Old Town – a
certain meaninglessness that couldn’t be filled. It was as if she
were walking the streets of an unfamiliar town in a blur, keeping
up the same appearances but feeling hollow and cold on the inside.
No longer could she hold out hopes of running into Michael. Gaby
was right: she should go and hide for a while. And where to find a
better hiding spot than in her personal Valhalla, the
bookstore?

    That evening,
they all walked together through the narrow streets and alleys of
Salzburg to the Rudolfskai along the river. The door to Shamrock was wide open, a rocker-style crowd
gathering outside holding beers and smoking cigarettes.
    “W hy don’t you give me the
flyers,” Axel told Gaby. “I’ll get drinks for everyone.”
    “Hey, thanks,” Gaby
replied. “Guess I’ll be the selfish Goth
and smoke a cigarette just for me.”
    Axel laughed
and tried to give her a friendly pat on the head, but she nimbly
danced away.
    They decided to wait outside. The band was clearly
doing a sound check – every now and then, the loudspeakers
sputtered some acoustic feedback when one of the band members
pushed up the fader on a mixer channel too much.
    Julia checked out the crowd and felt her
heart skip a beat when she spotted two of Michael’s friends
stepping out of the front door.
    Tamara nudged her. “You
okay? You look like you’ve seen a
ghost.”
    Gaby followed
Julia’s stare and rolled her eyes. “Just your luck. Oh well, for
all we know those two came here without
him. Michael is probably throwing darts all by his lonesome in
O’Malley’s. He’s, like, the last person I would expect to
show up at a concert like this.”
    Julia let
out a shaky breath. Gaby was most likely
right, but she couldn’t relax. When Axel showed up with a tray of
beers announcing that the band was ready to start, they all
shuffled inside. The room was chock-full and dark, which was a
blessing. Even if Michael had decided to come here, he wouldn’t be
able to see her anyway.
    When the
spotlights lit up and flooded the stage with bright, colored
beams, loud music immediately exploded
from the speakers. Julia flinched – she was standing close to the
loudspeaker on the left.
    “Holy hell,”
Gaby shouted in her right ear, “they’re playing ‘Cities in
Dust’! I love this song.”
    Meanwhile , Florian was staring at
the stage with glassy eyes. Julia looked over at the bass player he
was clearly checking out. The guy had on a black wife-beater shirt
and sporting a black-and-purple dyed Mohawk.
    “Holy hell,”
he repeated Gaby’s words. “Who is that? I
think I’m in love.”
    Julia snickered. This was typically Florian – he said whatever he
was thinking. She shambled a bit away from