Read Online The Star Group by Christopher Pike - Free Book Online

as well as my skin. There was no question, I felt as if I had died and gone to heaven.
    But then I recalled how close Shena had come to death.
    The park officials had ordered all of us to leave the park.
    It was only a little after midnight. Not late.
    Gale was wearing a beach towel when she came out of the house five minutes later. Her dark blonde hair seemed longer right then, for some reason, and when she tossed aside the towel before stepping in the water, her eyes flashed with a wonderful light. Once again she appeared to me as the embodiment of all desire, a heart that pulsed with a life I could only hope to draw close to. She was beyond me, I knew it, but I still thanked God that He should allow me to spend even a brief time with her. My fatalistic attitude was as potent as ever. She swam into my arms and kissed me and pressed close so that I could feel the whole of her body. Her lips were so warm.
    “Daniel,” she said as we kissed and touched.
    I needed a dozen hands. “Yes?”
    “Do you like me?”
    “Yeah. I guess.”
    Her tongue pressed against mine. There was a pause.
    “Do you love me?” she whispered.
    “I guess,” I mumbled.
    She drew back; it was nice to see all of her. Thank God for shallow ends.
    “You're not sure?” she asked, and maybe she was hurt.
    I pulled her back. “It's always a possibility.”
    She moved her mouth to my ear.
    “I will make you sure,” she promised.
     
    Much later, when we were lying naked in her bed together, her head resting on my contented chest, she asked if I had ever slept with a girl before.
    “No,” I said. “At least, not that I remember.”
    She liked that. She got up on her elbows. The light in the room was low, the moon peeking in through lacy curtains. Her skin seemed to glow.
    “Would you be upset if I told you that you weren't the first?”
    I considered. “You do seem experienced.” I hastily added, “That's not necessarily bad.”
    She studied me. “I won’t tell you who it was, but it was somebody at school.”
    I felt a stab at jealousy. “Tell me.”
    She played with my hair. “No.”
    “Why not?”
    “I don't screw and tell.”
    “Is that what we're doing? Screwing?”
    She tugged at my hair. “Screwing is not a bad thing. But I’d like us to go somewhere after tonight.”
    “Where?”
    She kissed my chest. “Somewhere special. A realm of magic.”
    I touched her hair. “You are magic.”
    “Thank you.”
    “But you can tell me who it was, I won't get upset.”
    She ran her nail along my lower lip. “Yes. You will.”
    “How do you know?”
    “It was someone you know.”
    Not a pleasant thought. “Who?”
    “I told you already. I don't tell. It doesn't matter, it's over now.”
    “But how well do I know this person?”
    She looked sad.
    “We shouldn't be talking about this. Please?”
    “All right.” I felt unsettled. “What did you want to talk about?”
    Her mood had changed. She sat up and stared at the window, then reached out and pulled the lacy curtains aside. The unfiltered moonlight on her face made her appear ghostlike. A spirit from an alien world.
    “Shena scared me tonight,” she said softly. “I thought she'd do it.”
    “What?”
    “You know. Die.” She paused. “Do you think about death much?”
    “Yes.” I paused. “I think that's why I'm drawn to esoteric books. But I am beginning to think death is a mystery that can't be solved.”
    “Shena almost solved it tonight.”
    “I don't think solving the age-old riddle was her motivation.”
    Gale stared at me. “Jimmy did tell her to hook up the cables the wrong way. I saw it all. When I turned on my car and gunned the engine, the battery exploded right in her face. It was his fault and she has a right to hate him.”
    I sat up. “Do you hate him?”
    Of course I was asking another question. I was relieved when she shook her head. “I don't hate anyone.”
    “Why didn't you wash the acid off her face immediately?” I asked.
    “We had no