S 01 Never Smile at Strangers by Jaynes Jennifer

Author:Jaynes, Jennifer [Jaynes, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery
Published: 2015-01-26T18:30:00+00:00

Later that evening, after the girls finished dinner, Haley got a prank phone call.

Erica was sitting at the kitchen counter next to her, pouring drinks. It was the third each of them had had that night.

“Hello?” Haley asked. “Who is this?”

“Another prank call?” Becky called from her place on the couch once Haley hung up. “That’s like the third one today.”

“I’d be pissing my pants if I were you,” Seacrest said.

Haley hung up. “It was just a breather,” she said quietly, her eyes glassy. Erica had noticed early on that it took the girl less than a drink before she started to get drunk. But regardless, she kept drinking. Erica knew that she was the one who had introduced alcohol into Haley’s life. Now she wondered if she’d done a bad thing.

Becky straightened on the couch. “That creeps me out. You know, it could be the guy who kidnapped Tiffany. And he keeps calling us.”

“Yeah, it could be a killer,” Seacrest said. “He could be stalking you. Holy shit, he could be watching the house right now.”

“A keeler?” Sasha gasped, and a blue crayon tumbled out of his hand, onto the floor.

“She’s just joking, baby,” Haley muttered, and threw Seacrest a nasty look.

Sasha climbed down from the barstool, trotted into the living room, and stood in front of Becky. He screwed up his round face.

“What are you looking at?” Becky demanded.

“Guess!” he squealed.

“No, Sasha. I’m not guessing.”

Sasha inched a little closer.

“Get out of my face, dammit,” Becky snapped. “Why are you staring at me?”

“Why’s yo face that culuh?” Sasha demanded.

Erica looked across the room at Becky. Squinting, she could make out orange streaks across the slouching girl’s cheeks and neck, even her arms.

“Go color in your stupid book, Sasha,” Becky spat.

Seacrest giggled from her place on the couch. “It’s tanning lotion gone wild. She put it on a little while ago. Why’d you put all that cheap tanning lotion on yourself anyway, stupid? I told you not to.”

Becky grabbed a bag of Doritos from the coffee table. She stuck one in her mouth.

“You have beautiful skin, Becky,” Haley said, stumbling on the words. “You shouldn’t . . . mess with it like that.”

“I like yo face da otha culuh,” Sasha said, his face serious. He took a step closer to Becky and stuck out his index finger. “Does it huht?”

Becky ignored him. “How can you say it’s beautiful? It’s so pale,” she whined.

“Pale can be beautiful,” Erica said. “My mother has pale skin, and she’s the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen.”

Becky looked at her, uncertain what to say.

“I think she needs more color,” Seacrest piped up. “Not orange. But something. Maybe a lot of makeup. Like that pancake crap. Would cover all her freckles.”

“Nothing’s wrong with . . . Becky being pale,” Haley slurred. “And I don’t want to ever hear you call my sister stupid again. You understand me?”

Seacrest shrugged. “It doesn’t look healthy. And I was only joking when I called her stupid. You know that, right, Becky?”

Becky nodded, but she looked unsure.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.