Free Watcher by Valerie Sherrard

introduction. Tack was a little friendlier than I’d been, though he seemed puzzled.
    â€œWell, we’re off,” Lynn said cheerfully, like she wasn’t doing a single thing wrong.
    â€œGreat meeting you guys,” Daryl added.
    I ignored him and asked Lynn what she wanted me to tell her boyfriend if he called.
    â€œI don’t have a boyfriend,” she said, but her voice wavered just a bit.
    â€œWho was that?” Tack asked me as soon as they’d left.
    â€œI don’t know or care,” I said.
    â€œUh-huh.” He dropped it. “So, you ready to go?”
    We’d made plans to hang out at Pockets. It was kind of a fallback for us when we had nothing else to do because it was cheap. Two bucks a game if you were playing but you could just hang out and watch if you wanted.
    Tack and I were both average players, so whether or not we shot a game depended on who was around. Some girls were impressed if you had a cool attitude and a cue in your hand. But a few were slick and accurate on the felt themselves and you didn’t want to be shooting in front of them.
    Tubby, the owner (who was actually frightfully thin) was an all right guy. He had rules and stuff but they were fair, and he only charged a buck for fountain pop.
    We checked our funds and found that between us we had a little over seven dollars. Most of it was Tack’s — he earned a bit here and there by doing odd jobs for a few people in his building. I usually found a way to pick up a few bucks, too, cleaning cars mostly, but there hadn’t been much going on that week.
    Didn’t matter. We always threw in together. It evened out in the long run.
    So, we were walking along and I was drifting a bit, thinking about this and that, when Tack alerted me to the fact that The Watcher was coming up behind us. I tried to catch a glimpse of him in a store window but in the dark with all the lights on inside and out, the reflection was too hazy.
    â€œTake a right at the corner,” I whispered to Tack.
    We did, and walked half a block out of our way before turning back. The guy had disappeared.
    â€œHe must have realized we were on to him,” I said, disappointed. I’d envisioned walking a ways down the street and then doing an about-face and going back like we’d forgotten something or changed our minds or whatever. In that case, The Watcher would have had no choice but to keep going, and giving him the slip would have been a cinch.
    I’d thought that would be good practice for when I put my plan into place and turned things around — started watching him instead. Before I could get behind him, I’d need to figure out a few ways to throw him off when he was following me.
    I figured Tack had done something that tipped him off this time. No big deal. It would be easier when I was on my own.
    I’d been thinking about it a lot and I was just about ready to get started. In the meantime, the pool hall waited, and I had a particular reason for wanting to get there.

chapter twelve
    I t looked like Tack and I might finally make it to Pockets after our detour, though we’d had another “offer” on the way when we ran into a couple of guys from school — Jake and Lee. They were heading to a party at Tiffany Rutledge’s place and they stopped to ask if we wanted to crash it.
    â€œShe’s like, unveiling her new piercing tonight,” Lee said. He looked like he might hang out his tongue and start panting any second. I didn’t personally have much interest in finding out what part of her body Tiffany had decided to stick a hole in this time. Besides, Lavender Dean was supposed to be at Pockets and running into her was hardly ever the worst thing in the world.
    We told them thanks but we already had plans.
    â€œCool,” Lee said. He grinned like we were sharing a joke.
    â€œYou got any smoke, man?” Jake asked unsteadily. By the look of them they’d already