Read The Elephant of Surprise (The Russel Middlebrook Series Book 4) for Free Online Page A

before Wade and Venus had taken us here. It was like a maze back there.
    I thought I caught a glimpse of something moving in the trees up ahead. Could it be Wade? But when I tried to follow it, I didn't see anything at all.
    Then I saw a flash of blue. This had to be someone's clothing, right? Was it Wade? He hadn't been wearing blue the day before. (I wondered how often he changed his clothes.)
    But as quickly as I'd seen it, it was gone. Between the maze of trails and these glimpses through the trees, it felt a little like I was searching for fairies. At least the winter temperature meant I didn't have to worry about being run down by mountain bikers—a real worry in the summer. On the other hand, I was all alone back here, except for the people from the homeless camp. And even Wade had said that a lot of homeless people were mentally ill.
    I rounded a cluster of bushes and ran right into someone—literally. I'd been so preoccupied looking for glimpses through the trees that I wasn't watching where I was going. We didn't knock heads or fall over, but for a second we stood there, locked together in a tangle of arms, and the other person dropped what they were carrying.
    "Sorry!" he said, pulling away. "Sorry about that."
    It was Kevin Land.
    Yes, the Kevin Land. What were the odds? Suddenly, we were two ships crashing in the night. Figures I go looking for Wade and end up with Kevin. Story of my life.
    "Kevin," I said. The air was cold, but my voice was colder.
    "Russel?" he said. "What are you doing here?" His voice wasn't cold, not at all. Then again, he didn't have any reason to be cold to me, did he?
    "I don't know," I said. "I was just out for a walk." Why did I feel guilty? I didn't have anything to feel guilty about. The guy who hooked up with men in the park bushes while waiting for me was the one who had something to feel guilty about!
    "Yeah?" he said. "That's great." He bent down to pick up the bag he'd dropped—something from McDonald's. This made sense. There was a McDonald's not too far from the school and this woods, at least as the crow flies. But from the look of the bulging bag, it was a lot of food for one person. Had he picked up food for the whole baseball team? (Kevin was this big baseball player.)
    "You heading to practice?" I asked him.
    "Practice doesn't start for another week."
    "Oh." I should've known this. I'd walked right by the baseball field and there hadn't been anyone on it.
    "Coach has us doing some runs on our own. That's why I was back here actually. I've been running here for two weeks now." Sure enough, he was dressed for a run: workout shorts, a sweatshirt, and everything. I noticed something else about him: how handsome he is. That's a cliché, isn't it? To run into an ex-boyfriend and notice how handsome he is? But it was also true. His chest was thicker even than just the year before, his black hair even more tousled.
    "Yeah," I said, "I hear Big Macs are a really good workout."
    Kevin stared at me for a second.
    "It's a joke," I said, nodding to the bag on the ground. It was a bad joke, but it was still a joke. What the hell was I doing joking around with Kevin anyway?
    Kevin sort of shuffled his feet. "Oh. This stuff isn't for me."
    "Yeah? Who's it for?"
    He thought for a second. "Listen, I should get going. This is getting cold."
    "Yeah," I said. He should get going. Why was I even talking to him anyway, after the way he treated me?
    "See ya around, Russel."
    "Yeah," I said.
    And he was gone.
    After Kevin left, I'm embarrassed to admit I started shaking. I wasn't sure if it was because I was too flushed or too cold. Maybe it was a little of both. Except it probably wasn't either of those things. It was probably just Kevin.
    And as I stood there shivering, I realized something. Kevin had said he'd been running in these woods for two weeks now, in preparation for the baseball season. He'd also said that big bag of McDonald's food wasn't for him. If he'd been running in these woods