Don't Look Behind You (Don't Look Series Book 1) by Emily Kazmierski (summer reads .txt) 📗

meeting, her face is red with frustration. Strands of her black hair stick to her neck.

“You need to have everything memorized by Friday. Your performance today was unacceptable.”

Marisa cows before Esau, eyes on the floor. She nods, chewing on her lip.

“Friday, all right?”

I can’t stand by while Esau presses someone into submission. I won’t. “She heard you.” Stepping forward, I put an arm around Marisa’s shoulders.

“Excuse me?” Esau’s dark eyes blaze.

“She knows what she needs to do, okay? You can drop it.”

“No, I can’t drop it. As the director, it’s my job to make sure the show runs smoothly. You want Marisa to embarrass herself in front of everyone? Because I don’t.”

I’m seething with rage as my new friend’s eyes start to glisten. “Where do you get off? In case you hadn’t noticed, your stomping and growling has everyone on edge. Marisa was doing fine until you started barking at her. If anyone should be embarrassed, it’s you. Your actors are too stressed out by you, Mr. Grumpy, to remember their lines.”

Esau’s eyes are narrowed to slits. He looks between Marisa and me. Grunts. “That’s enough for today. See you all on Thursday.” He goes backstage, helping the crew clean up so everyone can leave.

Dariel calls down to me from the booth, asking for help with some cables.

“Just a sec,” I call back. Drawing closer to Marisa, I whisper, “You okay?”

“Yeah. I’m fine. These lines… ugh.”

As one of the show’s leads, Marisa does have a lot to memorize. It took me a long time to get my lines down when we did this play at my old school, and I’m a pro at memorizing. There’s so much I wish I could say to Marisa, tell her about my experiences. Instead, I give her a tap on the shoulder. “I’m around if you want to practice sometime.”

“Really? Thanks.” She stoops to gather her stuff and I high-step it up the stairs to where Dariel’s waiting. There’s a small window behind the sound booth, covered in black cloth to block out the light. I push it aside and peer out to the mostly empty parking lot.

But in the far corner there’s a dusty sedan. Blue. And if I squint, I can just make out fluffy dice hanging from the rearview mirror.

In my head, I know it’s an overreaction, but my heart plunges into my shoes.

“Hey Dariel, whose car is that? The blue one?”

Dariel takes a look over my shoulder. “Dunno.”

“Be right back.” I run down the stairs and out the door, ignoring Esau’s indignance when I brush past him. The car’s engine starts as I hit the asphalt of the parking lot and sprint toward it. Tires screech and the acrid smell of burning rubber hits my nose as it lurches toward the exit.

My heart beats in time with my feet slamming over the hard ground. I’m almost there.

Too late.

The car speeds away before I can see more than a glance of a hand on the steering wheel. It was a man, I’m sure, but beyond that…

“Everything okay?” Fiona asks from behind me, making me whirl around.

Catching my breath, I nod. “Fine.”

Fiona looks formidable with one hand on her hip. “If you say so. Let’s go back inside.”

Everything is not fine, but what’s one more lie?

Chapter 8

Day 106, Monday

Closing my locker, I startle.

Esau is leaning against the wall, looking at me with an inscrutable look on his face.

“Hey.” I roll my eyes, not looking forward to the lecture I’m about to get for speaking out of turn in drama.

Lockers slam around us as people exchange books and binders, or dig through the detritus in their assigned spaces for an errant bag of chips or red vines.

Marisa, Fiona, and Viv approach, but Fiona takes one look at Esau standing next to me and keeps the girls moving down the hall. I stare after them, wishing they’d stopped to rescue me from Mr. Grumpy Pants’s forthcoming tongue-lashing.

Esau draws my attention back to him with a hand on my arm.

My mouth opens in surprise as I look down at his brown fingers on my pale skin. I don’t know what to make of the gentle touch.

He withdraws, dropping his hands behind his back. “How are your classes going?”

I stare, my brain stalling, still trying to figure out why he’s talking to me. The way I look around down the hallway for a sightline on any of my friends must be comical, because when I turn back to Esau, he’s smirking.

“Your classes?” he prompts.

“No one makes me move heavy scenery around or peel gum off the floor, so I can’t complain.”

He strokes his jaw and I can’t help wondering if he’s suppressing a chuckle. Esau’s ebony eyes meet mine. “Look, I have a favor to ask.”

My chin hits the floor. “You’re asking me a favor? Seriously?”

Esau’s teeth clench. “Forget it.” He turns away, but I catch the sleeve of his white t-shirt. The look he gives me over his shoulder makes me drop my hand as if it’s been burned.

“Wait. What was it you were going to ask? I’ll help, if I can.”

Exhaling out his nose, Esau opens his phone and holds it out to me. “Fiona said you’re good at this stuff.”

Taking the device, I peer down at Esau’s social media account. I scroll through, and immediately I can spot several mistakes he’s making. My teeth nibble on the inside of my cheek. Esau does not take suggestions well, so I hesitate even though I could school him on what he’s doing wrong.

“Spit it out,” he all but commands.

“When you put it that way.” I rattle off several suggestions and my reasonings.

Esau nods, his eyes flicking over my face. “See you around.” And then he lumbers away.

I stand in the middle of the hallway, shocked that he actually sought me out to ask my advice on something. Plus, it was weird that he asked about school before getting to the point. It’s not like he cares about my day. Why bother?

The warning bell clangs through