Tears by Francine Pascal Page B

was—
    â€œYo, Sam Moon!”
    A jovial voice tore into the thickening silence.
    Gaia turned to see a tall guy with dark hair and NYU sweats jog toward them.
    â€œJosh,” Sam hissed. He bristled, then backed away. Gaia glanced at him, puzzled. “It’s my—my RA,” he stammered. His eyes were wide. If he was still angry about the Ella comment, he didn’t show it. There was no mistaking the look in his eye: It was fear. But why would he be scared of his RA? Anyway, wasn’t Josh supposed to be Sam’s new pal? She remembered Sam talking about him recently....
    â€œWhat’s up?” Josh asked casually, glancing between the two of them. “You must be the lovely Gaia. Heard so much about you.”
    Gaia’s eyes narrowed.
The lovely Gaia.
Well, she could see why Sam didn’t like him anymore. His slick, oily, confident manner definitely rubbed her the wrong way, too.
In fact, he looked like any number of annoying, handsome jocks who breezed through life
—
never struggling, neversuffering.
But he certainly didn’t come across as anyone to
fear.
Just someone to avoid.
    Gaia opened her mouth to reply—but Sam caught her off guard, grabbing her arm. “We have to get going,” he mumbled, half shoving Gaia down the street.
    She frowned. “Hey—”
    â€œThere’s no need to be rude, Sammy,” Josh shouted after them.
    Sammy?
    Gaia shook loose of Sam’s grasp, then glanced between the two of them.
    There was a weird dynamic here, one she couldn’t understand. Who on earth called Sam “Sammy”? But neither of them spoke for a moment. Sam was glaring at Josh. Gaia had never seen him so flustered.
    â€œSo you two are just hanging out in Chinatown, huh?” Josh asked, oozing his macho frat boy version of charm. “Just sight-seeing?”
    â€œWhat do you want?” Sam spat. His voice was trembling.
    Josh clucked his tongue. “You shouldn’t be down here. You shouldn’t be hanging out with Gaia.” He flashed her a phony smile. “Nothing personal toward you, but Sammy knows he shouldn’t be hanging out with you.” He turned to Sam again, his smile vanishing. “You’ve got another test coming up, Sam. I know you don’t want to fail.”
    â€œAnother. . . test?” Gaia asked, completely bewildered now. That was news to her.
    â€œI’m just going to take her home,” Sam whispered.
    â€œGood idea.” Josh’s eyes flashed to Gaia. “Well, I’ll tell you, Gaia, I have noticed that Sam’s been pretty tense lately, and I just keep trying to tell him to relax. Like I always say, things could be worse. Things could be much, much worse. You know what I mean, don’t you, Gaia? Don’t you ever just sit and contemplate how much worse your life could be—”
    â€œWe have to go!” Sam spat. He grabbed Gaia’s arm again, dragging her down the street.
    This time Gaia was too shocked to resist. Their rapport made absolutely no sense. As far as Gaia could tell, Josh was just an oaf with a penchant for spouting clichés. So why was Sam acting so weird?
    â€œSee you back at the dorm,” Josh called. “And nice to meet you, Gaia. Hope I see
you
again real soon....” His voice finally faded into the distance.
    â€œWhat was that about?” Gaia hissed in Sam’s ear.
    He just shook his head, his face an unreadable mask.
    â€œNothing to do with us, huh?” Gaia asked. With a savage twist she pulled her arm free of Sam’s grip. Ashen faced, he opened his mouth, apparently searching for the right words to say.
As if there could be any.
Too late. Gaia turned, and this time she really sprinted. Sam would never catch up to hernow—not if she put her mind to it, and that was exactly how it should be.
    She’d had enough of the boyfriend-girlfriend thing for one day.
    LOKI HAD SEEN SOME UGLY FACES in his time. But