Free Twisted Dreams by Marissa Farrar Page B

wanted to ask me a couple of questions,” I told him, wiping grease off my chin.
    He leaned forward. “And what did you tell them?”
    “Exactly what I told you.”
    I refused to enlighten him about anything else. Though Flynn had so far seemed like a good guy, I didn’t really know him. He might take whatever I told him and spread it around the gossip mill. I had a feeling enough people were talking about me already.
    Another figure approached the table, and I glanced up to find Dana, the school’s newspaper editor, standing there. She gave me a smile and slid into the seat next to Flynn.
    “I hope you guys are finalizing the article I gave you to work on.”
    I glanced guiltily at Flynn. “Yeah, sure we are.”
    “Great, cause I need it by tomorrow to get it into the first print run.”
    I made myself smile back, though the last thing I’d thought about was the article. “Not a problem. I was just running over a couple of facts with Flynn.”
    Dana glanced to both sides of herself, and lowered her voice. “To be honest, Beth, I can’t help wondering if I should take you off this report to work on something more interesting.” She seemed to remember who she was sitting next to and glanced at Flynn. “Sorry, Flynn.”
    He shrugged his broad shoulders. “Not a problem.”
    “What do you mean?” I said, though I had a feeling I knew what was coming.
    She leaned across the table, conspiratorial. “I hear you got a front row seat at last night’s accident at the carnival?”
    I shifted in my seat. I didn’t want to lie to her. I had hoped to make the newspaper a bit of a home away from home, and, as lame as it seemed, I wanted Dana to like me. “Yeah, I guess you could say that.”
    “So how about you write me up a piece on what happened? You can tell everyone your point of view. It’s the sort of thing that will make the front page.”
    She hadn’t even seen any of my writing yet, apart from the few pieces I’d emailed her once I’d decided on which college I wanted to go to. This was a huge opportunity, but did I really want that much attention? Plus, this was a criminal investigation now. What would the police make of me plastering my story all over the front page of the school newspaper?
    I said so to Dana and she screwed up her face in consideration. “You have a point. Let me check out what the law is in regards to you reporting the story, and I’ll get back to you. But if it looks like there’s no problem, will you do it?”
    I couldn’t see any other way around the situation. “Sure.”
    Dana began to get to her feet. She touched Flynn’s shoulder. “You coming or staying?”
    He glanced to me. “I thought I might hang out with Beth for a while.”
    Something about the tightness of her jaw and the hard glint in her blue-gray eyes at his words made me certain she hadn’t really been asking him. “Are you sure about that?”
    I’d been sure they weren’t a couple before, but now I wasn’t so certain. There was some kind of connection there, even if it wasn’t romantic.
    Flynn gave me an apologetic smile and got to his feet. The pair slunk away, shoulder to shoulder, Dana’s red curls close to Flynn’s buzzed blond head.
    I turned my attention back to my burger. The meat had grown cold, the grease starting to congeal. I picked it up to take a bite, but changed my mind and set it back down, my nose wrinkled. I took a slurp of my milkshake instead and then absently chewed on a cold fry.
    Whatever might be going on between them wasn’t really any of my business, I decided. Of all people, I should be one who knew the value of other people’s privacy. I’d lived for years wanting people back home to not ask questions about my own home life.
    Whatever was going on between Flynn and Dana had nothing to do with me.

 
    Chapter
     
    9
     
     
    T he afternoon classes passed by without event. I still felt eyes on me as I walked down the hall, and knew other students whispered behind their