Read Live Through This for Free Online Page A

slow down. The driveway we want is hidden, but there’s a ‘For Sale’ sign kind of sticking out of some bushes. See it? There!”
    The truck bounces us down a long gravel driveway between thick trees until we reach a clearing. Reece parks in front of an imposing building.
    “Hey, I’ve been here before,” I tell them.
    “No!” Xander says.
    “Yes! I’ve come here tons of times. Just never from that direction.”
    Everyone laughs, obviously thinking I made it up to mess with Xander. We pile out of the truck and they all stare up at the structure. It was going to be a house at one time, but it was never finished. It has no siding or doors, and someone nailed black plastic over where the windows should be. Alejandra once told me that she heard the builder ran out of money.
    “Awesome, right?” Xander asks, switching on a flashlight.
    “Yes,” Ming says, kind of breathlessly as she takes his free hand. “And the sky tonight is like stars piled on top of stars.”
    Reece raises an eyebrow and I bite back a laugh.
    “Are you going to show us how to get inside?” Reece asks me, teasingly.
    “ I can show you,” Xander says. “I’ve actually been here before, remember?”
    He and Ming head toward the house, Reece follows, and I bring up the rear. I hope none of them ever tell anyone else about this place; I’d hate for partiers to come in and trash it.
    Xander pulls on a sheet of plywood that’s attached with a hinge. It creeks open like a human-sized cupboard door. He and Ming rush inside, taking the flashlight and its glow with them.
    “Jeez,” Reece says, “it would have been nice if he’d clued us in about the need for flashlights, maybe.”
    I pull out my phone. “Pretty sure I already have one.”
    “Ah, good thinking,” he says, taking his out too.
    We press buttons for about two minutes and then make our way carefully through what would have been a garage, past dozens of wooden beams, and up the stairs, shining our phones at our feet. My eyes were pretty well adjusted outside, but it’s completely black in here and I can’t see more than three steps ahead of me.
    When we get up on the second floor, Reece lifts his phone up high and a soft glow illuminates the framed rooms withoutwalls. “It is pretty cool,” he says. “It’ll be a nice house if someone finishes it.”
    “Me!” I say. “Ever since I was thirteen, it’s been my secret wish to buy it someday.”
    “So you really have been here?”
    “Alejandra lives down the street and this was our hideout. Back, you know, before we stopped being friends.”
    He nods slowly as if he’s waiting for more.
    I don’t know what to say, though—we never talk about her—so I change the subject. “It’s set up for five bedrooms and four bathrooms. That’s where a bathroom would be, obviously.” I point toward a tub. “And over there’s the kitchen. And then the dining room.”
    “So this must be the living room?”
    “Yes. And that’s the master suite. There’s also two bedrooms downstairs and the other two are on the third floor. It’s actually really cool up there. We stashed sleeping bags and games and flashlights. I’ll show you.”
    I make my way up the next flight of stairs with Reece on my heels, hoping Alejandra hasn’t taken the stuff out in the months since I’ve been here.
    When we’re almost to the top, Reece takes my arm gently. “Um. Given the sound effects,” he whispers up to me, “I don’t think we want to keep going.”
    He’s right. I cover my mouth to hold in my giggles as we tiptoe back down.
    “One of these days we’ll learn, right?” I say, when we’re safely on the second floor.
    “Yeah, one of these days.” He takes a seat on the steps and pats his hand on floor beside him, so I sit too. “I don’t know why they keep bringing us. I’m going to pretend that they’re eating soup up there.”
    We’re so close that our elbows are touching. I can just barely feel it through all my layers.