Read Online Double Date by R.L. Stine - Free Book Online Page B

about me, he told himself.
    It’s the fact that there are two of them—and I’ve got them both!
    The whole school is talking about me! Bobby told himself with pleasure. The whole school knows that both Wade twins are mine.
    I’m famous!
    At Shadyside High they’ll be talking about Bobby the Man for years to come! They might even have to put a special trophy in the case in the front hallway of the school. BOBBY THE MAN, it’ll say. BOTH WADE TWINS AT ONCE!
    Bobby’s thoughts cheered him up.
    He strolled around for a bit, searching for kids he knew. When he didn’t find anyone, he stopped and had a big chocolate milk shake.
    Samantha has got some kind of mind control, he joked to himself as he slurped the last drop of chocolate syrup from the metal milk shake can. I’d never sit here by myself having a milk shake if she hadn’t put the idea in my head.
    He paid the waitress, wiped the chocolate mustache off his upper lip with a napkin, and headed to the outside parking lot. To his surprise, the lot was dotted with dark puddles. Bobby realized it must have rained while he was inside the mall.
    He raised his eyes, searching for the moon. But it was hidden behind a covering of clouds.
    His sneakers splashed through small rain puddles as he made his way to his car. When the red Bonneville came into view, Bobby saw at once that something was wrong.
    It was resting at a tilt. A slight angle.
    The car seemed lower than the other cars.
    Bobby waited for a station wagon to roll past, its headlights forcing him to shield his eyes. Then, blinking away the glare, he hurried to his car.
    â€œWhoa!” he cried out when he realized why the car looked strange. “My tires!”
    The front tires were both flat.
    How could he get two flats at once?
    Bobby bent down, squinting in the dim light, to examine them.
    Slashed.
    Both tires had been slashed.
    Long tears had been cut into them. Jagged tears.
    Bobby ran his hand over the torn strips of rubber. A car edged past, sending up a low wave of water from a puddle. Bobby cried out as the spray of water hit his back.
    He climbed to his feet, hurried to examine the back tires.
    Also slashed. Also flat.
    â€œWho?” Bobby uttered the question in a choked whisper. “Who did this?”
    He leaned on the trunk, ignoring the puddles, his eyes searching the large parking lot.
    â€œWho did this?” he shouted.
    There was no one in sight. But still he felt like shouting.
    How am I supposed to get home? he asked himself.
    Who would
do
this to me?
    He walked forward to study the front tires again, as if maybe he was hallucinating. Maybe this time they’d be okay.
    No.
    The tires had been cut to pieces.
    Bobby angrily slapped both hands against the hood.
    It took him a long while to realize that a car had stopped in front of his. He heard a car engine running, saw the long rectangle of light from headlights on the wet asphalt, and waited for the car to drive past.
    But when it didn’t move, he spun around and stared into the driver’s window.
    He recognized her at once. Saw the strange, amused smile on her face.
    And guessed that she had been the one who cut his tires.

chapter 16
A Shock
    â€œ
M elanie!” Bobby cried.
    She smiled back at him, that strange, amused smile, her face half hidden in shadow.
    â€œMelanie—you—!” he cried.
    She rolled down her window. Loud music floated out from inside her car. “Bobby, hi! I
thought
that was you!” she called.
    She sounded too cheerful, he realized. Since when was she so friendly? She’d been angry with him since he’d started dating the Wade twins.
    He hopped over a puddle to her car and rested both hands on the door, peering in at her. She clicked off the radio. The sudden silence seemed louder than the music.
    â€œI’m on my way to Arnie’s,” she volunteered. “But I had to stop and pick up something for my mom. I thought I saw you