Read Online Force Out by Tim Green - Free Book Online Page B

Panic filled Joey for the second time that day, and it brought with it the weariness of the sleep he’d missed the night before. With all the craziness and stress, he’d almost forgotten to be tired.
    â€œYou can slow dance. That’s easy—you just put your arms around her and kind of move around.”
    Joey could do that, but he sure couldn’t do anything else. While Zach bobbed and weaved and cut across the dance floor like a butterfly, Joey was a clod.
    â€œJust wait till it’s a slow song, ask her to dance, and you’re set,” Zach said.
    Joey followed his friend through the doors, offering a polite greeting to Mr. Vidich before being brought up short by Mrs. Carmichael. Mrs. Carmichael wore a black dress, thick makeup, blue shadow on her eyes, and fire-engine-red lips. Her hair had been dyed somewhere on the color chart between an inhuman red and purple.
    â€œI smell something.” She sniffed the air. “Were you two boys drinking?”
    Joey and Zach could only stare at her. Her accusation was too ridiculous to even have a response for.
    Zach shook his head, but Mrs. Carmichael took his ear and guided his mouth toward her nose, sniffing like a bulldog. “Okay, but what about your friend, Mr. Riordon?”
    Joey took half a step back. “Mrs. Carmichael, I don’t think you want to smell my breath.”
    â€œOh, I don’t?” Her eyes sparkled and she tugged Joey’s ear so that he held still. “You come right here, young man.”
    When she took a healthy snort of Joey’s breath, he couldn’t say he felt one bit bad for her. In fact, he huffed up some onion fog from the back of his throat. Her face lost its color and she stepped back with a little cough, then waved them past.
    Joey gave Zach a little whiff of what went wrong and Zach burst into a high-pitched cackle that made Joey laugh, too. It was great, really.
    â€œShe is such a witch,” Zach said. “Come on.”
    They pushed into the crowded gym, where multicolored lights spun and swirled in the sea of swaying bodies and pulsing, deafening music. A smoke machine pumped a white smelly fog across the dance floor before it retreated to hover beneath the ceiling high above. The quiet image of a baseball field filled Joey’s mind and his feet told him to get out of there fast, this wasn’t where he belonged. His best friend, though, tugged him by the elbow and propelled him forward toward a small clutch of girls.
    Leah turned and faced him with a smile. She was so pretty it hurt, and her hair shone glossy and soft even in the spinning lights. She said something to him that he couldn’t hear. The rhythm of the music was fast and wild, and from the corner of his eye he saw Zach slip out onto the floor and move to the music like it was plugged into his brain.
    Joey forgot for a moment all about the tuna on his breath. He leaned close to Leah, thinking he could make some small talk while he waited for a slow song, and shouted, “What did you say?”
    â€œI said,” she bellowed above the music, “let’s dance!”

25
    Joey knew there was a beat in there somewhere. He tried to nod his head with the thumping rhythm, but some of it got lost in the noise and he ended up with his arms going one way and his legs another.
    â€œNo!” Leah shouted to be heard, smiling patiently. “With the music, like this!”
    Her shoulders swayed with the beat and her hips moved with opposite gyrations. Her arms seemed to float with the sound and her fingers softly snapped. It looked so easy and so smooth and he tried to snap his fingers, too, but he just felt stiff. Zach appeared, trying to help. He bopped along behind Leah, trying to give Joey some unseen instructions. Joey tried to follow him, but it was impossible.
    He was a square peg in a round hole. A fish out of water. A bird that couldn’t fly.
    He forced a grin and did his best and prayed for the