Non-classifiable
It had only been seconds, but I glanced up and realized that I was alone in the office. The rest of the class had already reached the stairwell.
A pair of eyeballs peered over the edge of the desk. I froze in shock.
They were human eyeballs...that were still attached to a human head.
I suppressed the urge to yell as a guy popped up from behind a desk and started toward me. Something metal gleamed in one hand. He had a scruffy goatee, a nose ring and a tattoo on his upper arm.
The spit in my mouth dried instantly. My feet were moving before my brain gave the command to run. I sped out of the office and down the stairs, slamming the door behind me.
"You can't do that," Luke said. "If those two guys catch you, they'll kill you."
"If I don't do it," I said, "they're going to kill hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of bloodline bulls. Including the one I used to feed by hand with a bottle."
I turned and ran back toward the barn.
"I saw Eve on the street this summer," says Zoe. "She's gotten so fat. She looks like a blob."
I feel like a herd of horses are stomping through my chest. I want to turn and run, but my feet are glued to the pavement.
I was in the trees and three turns down before I noticed that something was wrong. My bindings were loose on the board. They rattled when I turned.
I struggled for control, but I was going too fast. My board shot free. It hurtled down the hill without me. I hit the snow hard and flipped, my bindings still attached to my boots. It hurt.
I tucked and rolled. I was still in the trees. Bad place to fall.
"There are many causes for which I am prepared to die, but none for which I am prepared to kill," Mr. Roberts said. "Does anybody know who said that?"
I didn't allow myself to think about what I was doing, because if I did, I knew I would chicken out. I just typed the name and hit Enter.
Zhwuuup! In a flash my information was gone, launched into cyberspace somewhere. Before I had time to blink, a new page appeared on the screen. It was bare except for two short sentences: You are logged on, Roxane. You may now enter a forum.
My heart started beating so hard it hurt. Oh my god--what had I done? I was a registered chatter! Now I could be traced. The site administrator could track me down.
"And don't do anything stupid like try to run," he said. "I'd hate to have to get rough."
I looked hard. He was still in the shadow of the truck. His hands were out of sight. Did he have a gun?
"Here they come!" Courtney learned eagerly against the railing. A blur of orange streaked past before I had a chance to see it clearly. The sled went into the turn. I watched it careering back and forth on the smooth curved ice of the track as it rocketed through the Kreisel.
"Aren't they supposed to keep the sled steady, Trevor?" asked Robyn.
"I think so," I answered. Courtney's attention was riveted to the orange sled that was fishtailing out of control.
"What's wrong?" Robyn said, just as a screech of tearing metal filled the air. Something silver had wernched loose and was lying on the ice. The sled flipped.
"Josh!" Courney screeched. The bobsled landed on its side and skidded toward the final turn, where it slowed to a grinding stop.
