Crash by Eve Silver Page A

exchange where it was like Luka waswarning him off, or maybe he was just being protective of me. I ended up thinking he might like Carly, then decided he liked both of us as friends and nothing more. I chalked up my confusion to being lousy at reading romantic signs since I was mourning while everyone else was learning the dating game.
    But for a second, looking at him now, I feel like there’s something else here that has nothing to do with who he’s crushing on, something I ought to be able to see.
    â€œSo . . . back to Jackson,” Luka prods.
    â€œIt’s always back to Jackson,” I mimic, bumping Luka’s shoulder with mine. “So here’s what I’m thinking . . . what if he didn’t explain stuff because he wanted us to go in clueless, to discover things for ourselves. To watch us discover those things. You only get to go through the game for the first time once. Do you see?”
    He gives me a look. “I’m the one who just told you that.”
    â€œI’m not talking about a video game. I’m talking about the game game. You only get to experience that first exposure once. Jackson’s been in it forever. He sees it all through jaded eyes. He might be missing stuff because he has all these expectations based on what he knows and what he’s already experienced. But a new recruit is going to go through it for the very first time, and if Jackson tells them nothing, then their experience isn’t tainted by preconceptions.” I pause. “Except one. The preconception that the Drau are evil.”
    A frown flickers across Luka’s features, followed by something else I can’t quite name. Wariness, maybe. “Well, that’s kind of the whole point of the game, isn’t it?”
    â€œExcept it isn’t a game,” I say softly.
    â€œIsn’t it?” He stares at me for a long moment. He opens his mouth and I think he’s going to say something else. His look is so intense I start to worry. Then he just shrugs and grins and shovels in another forkful of food.
    Because to him, these conjectures don’t matter. To him, they aren’t earthshattering revelations. But I’m the girl whose Sofu collected Japanese puzzle boxes, the girl who grew up solving them, and to me, this is another precious piece in the puzzle that is Jackson Tate.
    â€œHey, I’m curious,” Luka says, eyes on his plate. “Did you and Jackson ever figure out why the game was lagging on the last mission?”
    â€œNo, why?”
    His eyes meet mine and something in his expression reminds me of the day he tackled Carly on the field. When he caught me watching, he looked guilty. I thought it was because he felt awkward for having fun when the fate of the world was at stake. But his expression now is exactly the same, and I don’t know what to make of that.
    He shrugs and pushes some veggies over to bump up against his rice. “Just curious.”

UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE
    HarperCollins Publishers
    ..................................................................

    THE NEXT MORNING, JACKSON DROPS ME OFF AT THE HOSPITAL’S front doors and heads off to park the Jeep. I wait for him by the bank of elevators.
    I’ve been there maybe two minutes when I get this weird sensation crawling along the back of my neck. The lobby’s warm, and I’m wearing my down coat, but I shiver anyway. For a second, I think the creepy feeling is just because I’m back in the hospital, which isn’t exactly my happy, happy place. But it’s more than that. It’s the shiver-up-my-spine feeling I get when someone’s watching me, the same feeling I had in the hall at school the day Marcy tried to pass Jackson her number.
    I turn. There are people everywhere. No one looks like they’re paying attention to me.
    Still, I can’t shake the feeling that unseen eyes are locked on me.
    I shift so my