Read Online Black Heart by Holly Black - Free Book Online Page B

school-books. As I get to the top of the stairs, I see Sam stormingdown the hall. His hair is a mess and his neck and cheeks are flushed. His eyes look too bright, the way they do in people who are in love, people who are enraged, and people who are completely bonkers.
    “What’s wrong?” I ask.
    “She wants all her stuff back.” He slams his hand into the wall, cracking the plaster, a move so uncharacteristic that I just stare. He’s a big guy, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen him use his size for violence.
    “Daneca?” I ask, like an idiot, because of course he’s talking about Daneca. It’s just that the whole thing doesn’t make sense. They’ve been fighting, sure, but the fight is over something stupid. They both care about each other—surely more than they care about an exaggerated misunderstanding. “What happened?”
    “She called me and told me it was over. That it had been over for weeks.” He sags now, arm bent against the wall, his forehead resting on his arm. “Didn’t even want to see me to get her things. I told her that I was sorry—over and over I told her—and that I would do anything to get her back. What else am I supposed to do?”
    “Maybe she just needs some time,” I say.
    He shakes his head pitifully. “She’s seeing somebody else.”
    “No way,” I say. “Come on. You’re just being—”
    “She is,” he says. “She said she was.”
    “Who?” I try to think of anyone I saw Daneca talking to—anyone who she looked at lingeringly or walked down the halls with more than once. I try to think of any guy whostayed behind after HEX meetings to talk with her. But I come up blank. I can’t picture her with anyone.
    He shakes his head. “She wouldn’t tell me.”
    “Look,” I say, “I’m really sorry, man. Let me dump my bag and we can go off campus—get some pizza or something. Ditch this place for a couple of hours.” I was planning on meeting Mina tonight in the dining hall, but I push that thought aside.
    Sam shakes his head. “Nah. I just want to be by myself for a little while.”
    “You sure?”
    He nods and lurches away from the wall to thud down the stairs.
    I go into our room and toss my bag of books onto my bed. I’m about to go out again, when I see Lila, on her knees, peering under Sam’s dresser. Her short gold hair is hanging in her face, the sleeves of her dress shirt rolled up. I notice that she’s not wearing tights, just ankle socks.
    “Hey,” I say, stunned.
    She sits up. I can’t read her expression, but her cheeks look a little pink. “I didn’t think you were going to be here.”
    “I live here.”
    She turns so that she’s sitting on the floor with her legs crossed, pleated skirt riding high over her thighs. I try not to look, not to recall what her skin felt like against mine, but it’s impossible. “Do you know where Daneca’s stuffed owl is? She swears she left it here, but Sam says he never saw it.”
    “I never saw it either.”
    She sighs. “How about her copy of Abbie Hoffman’s Steal This Book ?”
    “My bad,” I say, and take it out from one of my drawers. She gives me a look. “What? I thought it was Sam’s when I borrowed it.”
    She gets up in a single fluid movement and snatches the book from my gloved hand. “It’s not that. I don’t know. I don’t know how I got talked into this. Daneca was just so upset.”
    “She was upset? She’s the one who just broke his heart.”
    I expect Lila to say something cruel about Sam or me or about love in general, but she just nods. “Yeah.”
    “Last night—,” I start.
    She crosses the room, shaking her head. “How about a T-shirt with the words ‘NERD HERD’ on it? Have you seen one of those?”
    I shake my head as she starts picking up laundry off the floor. “So I guess you guys got really close? You and Daneca?” I ask.
    Lila shrugs. “She’s been trying to help me.”
    I frown. “With what?”
    “School. I’m a little behind. I might not