Read Red Heart Tattoo for Free Online Page B

cheeks now. “What about
me
, Mark?” She held up her still-splinted wrist. “This is going to heal. Then what am I going to tell my mother?”
    “I never wanted you to get hurt—”
    “Save it. You’re killing me,” she said through clenched teeth.
    He reached out to touch her, but she scooted out of his reach. “I—I love you.”
    “Don’t even say that to me. I hate you.”
    His face went pale and his eyes misted, but he stood quickly. “My offer still stands, Kelli.”
    “Your offer.” She said the words as if they tasted bitter. “It wasn’t an offer, Mark. It was an ultimatum.”
    He stood over her for a few seconds, lifted his book bag from the floor and walked away.
    Kelli wept for a long time, alone in the tomblike quiet of the gym after the door clicked closed behind him.

T he Watchers stood in their usual places in the atrium, leaning against a wall near the bathroom door, out of the stream of foot traffic, and observing the cliques of Edison, the hoods of their heavy sweatshirts raised to hide their faces.
    “You said you had a plan?” the short one asked the tall one.
    “It’s bold. You may want to chicken out when you hear it.”
    “I won’t! I keep telling you I’m up for whatever you’re planning.”
    “Once you know my plan, there’s no turning back.”
    “Why do you doubt me? We’re friends, right?”
    The thin one jammed hands into pockets. October’s cold air seeped through the cement walls. The school administrators were too cheap to pay to heat the atrium, soeveryone shivered. On the half wall next to the staircase, Morgan sat wrapped in Trent’s letter jacket, laughing at a joke someone had told. The tall one found their esteemed council president especially irksome.
    “Know what I heard?” the short one asked.
    “Will I care?”
    Undaunted, the other one said, “I heard that Roth set the fireworks.”
    The tall one turned full attention on the short one. “Where’d you hear that?”
    Waves of satisfaction washed over the short one. The great smart one hadn’t heard the rumor. This was a coup. “Around. Sounds like something he’d do, though.” A glowering dark look crossed the tall one’s face and brought satisfaction to the one who’d shared the rumor.
    “So Roth is a badass. So what? What I’ve got planned will make his joke look stupid.”
    “I said I wanted to know your big plan.”
    “
Our
,” the tall one said. “We’re doing this together.”
    “Okay.”
    “You have to come over to my house. I’ll show you everything on my computer.”
    “You could email it to me.”
    The tall one glared down at the other. “My plan can’t be spread from computer to computer. I know how to eradicate all traces on my computer. You don’t.”
    The heavy kid bristled but knew the assessment was correct. Smart, yes. Supersmart, no—not smart like the other one. “When should I come over?”
    “This afternoon. I’ll be the only one home.”
    “How am I supposed to get there?”
    “You walk, flabo. It’ll do you good.”
    The short Watcher’s face burned with shame. In his gut he longed to be defensive or to say something back. But he knew better. The other Watcher was in charge, and that was the way it would stay. At least there was someone to call.
    The bedroom was like a cave. The walls were painted black, with black lights in two lamps and a lava lamp on the dresser. Gaming posters of death and destruction, of war and carnage hung on the walls, slapped up haphazardly. The rumpled bed was wrapped in black sheets that glowed purple under the black lights.
    “How do you see in here?” the short one blurted.
    For once, the smart one seemed oblivious. A laptop, two backup hard drives and a lamp with a halogen bulb sat on a desk. “When you’re in my room, call me by my Web avatar name. It’s Apocalypse.”
    “Really? That’s cool. Who can I be?” The short one regretted the question as it came out.
    Apocalypse smirked and said, “How about