Free Monster by Christopher Pike Page B

and realized he had every intention of dragging her into the water, clothes and all. She ran off t he grassy shore, across View Street, and into trees. She'd be damned if Jim wasn't still hot on her tail.
    “I have a cold !” she shouted back to him.
    “I don't believe you !” he answered.
    Angela darted behind a clump of bushes, hoping to lose him, and bent down low to hide. She figured he'd be able to spot her in a second and had resigned herself to a drenching when she suddenly heard him cry out in pain. She stood up tentatively, figuring it might be a ruse. But she spotted him only fifty feet away kneeling beside a tree, holding his right arm. It looked as i f he'd tripped and cut himself. Surprisingly, he had his trousers on again.
    He gets dressed and undressed faster than anybody I ’ ve ever seen.
    She hurried to his side and helped him up.
    “I g uess I was in too much of a hurry to catch you, ” he sai d ra ther sheepishly.
    “G od ,” she whispered. His right arm was covered with b lood . She couldn't even see where the cut was . “ What happened? ”
    “ I ran into a tree.” He touched the tree they were stand ing b e side. “ This one .”
    “Does it hurt?”
    “ The tree? I t did when it came running at me .”
    She giggled. “ Silly. That's what you get for trying to drench me. Come on, let's go back to my place. I can dress it for you.”
    He was agreeable to the idea at first. But when they got to w here he had deposited his shirt he wanted to wash the cut in the lake and bandage it with his shi rt – tear it into strips, in other words. The wound was still bleeding, but Angela thought that was a bit extreme.
    “ Why don't you just put pressure on it?” she sugges ted. “ That will s top the bleeding .”
    “ Because it hur t s. I don't want to touch it.”
    She nodded to the lake. “ Is this water clean enoug h?”
    “ We drink it every day a t school.”
    “So I've heard.”
    “What have you heard?” he asked.
    “ Never mind. OK, let's wash i t.” She reached down and picked up his shirt . “ At least we'll be able to see how bad it is.”
    “I’ m surprised how much it s ti ngs, ” Jim said. She sus pected it was a nasty cut indeed. He hesitated before dipping it in the water. She knelt beside him and got her trousers wet, too.
    “ Do you want me to help you? ” she asked.
    “ Am I acting like a baby? ”
    “Not at all.”
    “ Good, ” he said. “ Can I kiss you again? ”
    Yes. But first let's—”
    He shut he r up by leaning over and planting his li ps on hers. He couldn't have been in that much pain. Once more he kissed her long and hard. Again she felt his hands on her body, tugging at the buttons on the front of her blouse. She tried to stop him, but he persisted, and she did n’t really want him to stop anyway. Actually, she wanted him to strip her naked and make passionate love to her right on spot . He leaned her head back on the grass and pulled her blouse open. She had a bra on, but that wouldn't be an obstacle to him for l ong. Not this guy.
    This is a hell of a w ay to get to know each other.
    Then she felt a warm, sticky liquid being smeared across her belly as he squeezed her closer. It was totally silly of her, but for a moment she had forgotten he was bleed ing. She sat up with a start, knocking him back.
    “You're bleeding all over me!” she cried.
    “It's OK.”
    “No, It's not OK.” Her blouse was lying completely open; he had snapped free a couple of buttons in his eagerness to get to her breasts . The blouse was badly stained with blood, a s was much of her belly and chest. She couldn't believe he ha d managed to bleed on her that much during just one kiss. She wondered how long it had lasted. “ You've made a mess of both of us, ” she complained.
    He laughed. “It'll wash off.”
    “ I don't think so.” She paused. “How's your arm?”
    He held it up to the moonlight – seemingly without a c are in the world – and she could see