Free Lost by Francine Pascal Page A

small of his back. His knees hit the floor, but then he quickly swept out his leg and took Gaia off her feet. She hit the ground on her butt—hard—and Jake was instantly on top of her, trying to pin her down.
    God, he was strong. His hands pinned her wrists as he tried to flatten her legs with his knees. Gaia flailed in an attempt to at least get her legs free and suddenly realized that he was going to win. After all this, he was going to pin her. She was not going to wipe the cocky grin from his face; she was only going to make it cockier.
    And he was laughing. In her face. He was already laughing.
    Gaia let out a loud, cathartic growl, and somehow she managed to free her right leg. She crossed it over her left under his torso and swung it up, with all the strength she had in her, to meet his side. Jake was thrown off of her to the right and lay on his back. Gaia pushed off the ground with her hands, landed on her feet, and shoved her boot into his neck just as he was trying to get up. He struggled, but she only pressed harder. When Jake finally started to choke, Mrs. Argeski stepped in.
    â€œAll right, Ms. Moore, that’s enough,” she said, walking over to stand next to Jake’s prone body. “I think you win,” she said with a satisfied smile.
    Gaia had to concentrate to make her foot move. Part of her wanted to snap the guy’s neck. But when he got up, rubbing at his raw, red skin and looking every bit the confused, upset, humiliated teenage boy, she knew that Loki hadn’t sent him. He was too authentic to be a spy. He was just a damn fine fighter.
    As the class erupted into applause, Jake turned to Gaia, snapped his legs together, and executed a little bow. Gaia rolled her eyes. What does he think he is, some kind of martial arts gentleman?
    She pulled her arm across her face, and the blood from her nose left a long red streak on her skin. Mrs. Argeski appeared with a wad of towel and pressed it into Gaia’s face, sending a fresh sliver of pain through her skull.
    â€œKeep your head back,” Argeski warned.
    â€œGaia, are you all right?” Ed’s voice asked from somewhere at her side.
    But Gaia couldn’t answer. Her vision started to cloud over, and she realized she only had moments. Moments before the postfight blackout she always suffered rendered her unconscious. That couldn’t happen in front of all these people. They couldn’t see her weakness. Jake couldn’t see her weakness.
    She turned and busted through the crowd, staggering for the locker room. She shoved through the door and into one of the shower stalls, where she was able to just pull the curtain closed before darkness consumed her.
    Mocking Smile
    â€œGREAT GIRL YOU GOT THERE, FARGO,” Rob Jeffers said with a laugh, slapping Ed on the back as the crowd around the wrestling mat started to disperse. “She’s gotta be a wild thing in bed. I bet she likes it freaky.”
    â€œRob, you don’t even know what it is,” Ed shot back.
    â€œOh! Snap!” Javon Benton called out, covering his mouth in glee as Rob turned ten shades of red.
    Ed slipped away from them and headed for thebleachers, fighting to keep his face from betraying his irritation. In these situations it was always best to play along to cover his true feelings. In this case, embarrassment, resignation, jealousy. Who was this cover boy who had just rearranged his girlfriend’s face? And was it just him, or had she seemed to enjoy it?
    All around him his classmates were talking.
    â€œDid you see the way she—”
    â€œGod, he was all over her—”
    â€œÂ . . . bet he copped a feel at some point. Who wouldn’t?”
    Ed was definitely going to throw up.
    â€œStill, man,” Javon remarked, shaking his head as he and Rob fell into step with Ed. He put his hand on Ed’s shoulder companionably. “It can’t be easy to watch your woman get all hot and bothered