Read The Fire and the Veil (Veronica Barry Book 2) for Free Online

passed drove fast, however.
    “I don’t know,” Caitlin said. “I can’t run in these heels.”
    “Why’d you have to wear those ‘fuck me’ boots anyway?” a girl with half her head shaved demanded. She was the only other girl in the group; the rest were boys.
    “Shut up, Maricela. You wear heels, like, all the time.”
    “No, I don’t, puta . Not unless it’s like a dance or something. You’re gonna slow us all down,” Maricela said. “I’m cold. And hungry. You got food at your place, Rich?”
    “Yeah,” Rich said, gazing at the freeway dreamily.
    “Your parents better not be home, dude,” said Curly.
    “Dude, they don’t care about anything. My dad just gets stoned in his room and my mom spends all her time in the neighbor’s house anyway.”
    “Let’s go,” the girl Veronica was seeing through said. She saw her hands reach up and grip the links of the fence above her. Across the middle phalanxes of the fingers of both hands were spelled the words “fuck” and “slut.” She pulled herself up quickly, toes finding purchase in the links below, and the others began to climb as well, Caitlin complaining all the way. Veronica swung a leg over the top of the fence as Rich caught up to her. The inner thigh of her jeans got caught and for a moment she couldn’t swing the other leg over. Then she heard a rip and she was free. She and Rich landed on the other side at the same time, and she started to laugh.
    “What’s so funny?” he asked.
    “I ripped my pants,” she said, and found the hole with her fingers, touching soft skin.
    “Whatever,” Rich said. “Come on!”
    He started running across the freeway. She would have followed but she got knocked over when Curly came down off the fence and hit her. She grunted with his impact and then again as her knee smashed into the concrete.
    “You asshole,” she cried.
    “Sorry,” Curly said, giving her a hand up. “My ankle got caught.”
    She stood up, testing her leg. The knee hurt. She didn’t think she could run, but Rich had almost reached the other side. A car whizzed by, but he was well beyond it.
    “Come on,” Curly said with a grin, and he was off, racing across the freeway.
    “This is stupid,” Caitlin moaned, dusting herself off, although another boy had caught her as she jumped off the top of the fence.
    “You’re stupid,” Pouty said, and then turned to Veronica. “You coming?” She looked right and left as if she was crossing just any street, and started to run. The boy that had helped Caitlin took off after her.
    It looked like Caitlin was about ready to go, and the others would be too, and Veronica’s host couldn’t let them all beat her, not when she’d been the one to say that she’d do it. She looked at the on-coming cars. Three, their headlights just tiny pin-pricks in the distance. She had plenty of time. So she scrambled down the gutter that separated the fence from the freeway, and back up the other side, paying no attention to the foul water at the bottom. She launched herself onto the freeway, moving as quickly as her injured knee would allow.
    After four or five steps, however, the knee buckled, and a gasp of pain escaped her. The pin-pricks of light looked more like flashlights, now. She tried to figure out which lanes they were in, but she couldn’t tell. She had to either turn back or get to the oleander bushes in the center divide.
    Caitlin pulled ahead of her. She couldn’t turn back, and let crybaby Caitlin win.
    She pushed on, limping, trying to hop on her good leg. The lights were coming so fast. She stumbled again, and crumbled to the concrete. A wave of hopelessness washed over her. Why even try? Why not just let the fucking car hit her?
    No! Veronica screamed at her, but she only felt the girl’s despair.
    “Come on!” A hand grabbed hers and yanked. It was Pouty. She pulled her hard, and Veronica did her best to keep up and not bring them both down to be smashed by cars. She could hear