Read Online February by Gabrielle Lord - Free Book Online

it in me to go over and play with them.
    All of a sudden I felt the hairs at the back of my neck prickling up. Someone was watching me. I was sure of it. I swung round, but there was no-one there. I turned my attention back to the basketball court and that’s when I got the shock of my life!
    There was a kid on the other side of the netted-off court staring at me through the mesh! But that wasn’t what had frozen me.
    I stared back in disbelief!
    Was I seeing things?
    He looked as shocked as I did, which didn’t help.
    My brain tried to make sense of it. Was I looking at some sort of reflection? I rubbed my eyes like a spun-out cartoon character, but when I looked again, he was still there.
    He was the spitting image of me—or, at least, what used to be me. My face, my body, my eyes, my nose, my jaw, my eyebrows. My face!
    My face before I had to try and make myself look unrecognisable.
    I stared again. He still looked just like me, and he was still staring right back at me.
    I was spellbound.
    I finally snapped myself out of it and shouted to him.
    ‘Hey!’ I yelled, as I started to run around the sides of the court, trying to get to him. The moment I started running, so did he. But he was running away from me.
    He took off, legs and arms pumping, like he was running for his life. It was like some bizarre out-of-body experience, like seeing me running for my life a month ago.
    ‘Hey! Wait!’ I called after him.
    But he wouldn’t look back. He just kept running. I kept on after him, watching him try to duck and weave and lose me in the crowds, through narrow alleys and laneways. They were all the tricks I’d come to know so well.
    I was able to keep him in sight, almost all the way down to the harbour, but that’s where I lost him.
    It was hopeless. I just couldn’t keep up. My body was completely worn out. And he was fast—as fast as I used to be.
    I stopped, doubled over, trying to catch my breath, and trying desperately to make sense of what I’d just seen.

15 FEBRUARY

    320 days to go …

    I took a seat right down the back, choosing a computer with its screen facing the back wall, away from prying eyes, although the place was practically empty.
    I went straight to my blog. My shadowed profile pic appeared and I was reminded of the kid I’d seen at the courts yesterday. I was going crazy trying to work out why there was this guy running around the city who looked exactly the same as me. He must have been asking himself the exact same question.
    But I couldn’t waste any more time on that mystery just now—I had other important things to do.
    I had a lot of messages on my wall. Some of it was horrible—complete strangers calling me all sorts of names. Some were from people who said they wanted to join my gang.
    Like I was some sort of street gangster. Yesterday was Valentine’s Day? I hadn’t even noticed. At least it meant that I’d made it through the first half of the month.

    ‘You’re checking up on the psycho kid, are ya?’
    Startled, I turned around towards the voice that had interrupted me. It was the man who ran the place—a tall, lanky guy in his mid-forties. He must have been bored with the quiet day. I couldn’t blame him, but I wasn’t up for small talk. I hit the ‘close’ button fast.
    ‘Hey, I was just reading that,’ he said.
    ‘Oh, sorry, I have to get going,’ I mumbled.
    ‘He’s got some hide putting himself up on the web like that,’ the guy continued. ‘I read somewhere that psychopaths will do anything for attention. But boy, that kid must be an animal. Imagine your own brother doing that to you.’ He shook his head and then flicked a dead fly away from the keyboard beside me. ‘No wonder his mum’s lost the plot.’
    He looked down at me and frowned. ‘You come in here a bit, don’t you?’
    ‘Yeah, you’ve probably seen me here before,’ I lied. ‘I’m waiting on my dad to get my laptop fixed.’ I turned back to face the screen and reached down to