Beth Vrabel Pack of Dorks (retail) (epub) i

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.Her mouth hung open a little and she sniffed back something horrible in her nose.I fought off a shudder.“Um, hi!” I called to her.She glanced behind her and back to me.Becky rolled her eyes.April closed her mouth, but didn’t answer.We sort of stared at each other a minute, then she said, “Are you going to kiss Tom Lemming today?”“Yeah,” I said.My heart hammered.“But, um, I really need help.You know, from someone trustworthy and smart.Thought of you right away.” Sometimes I am such a good liar it scares me.April’s face lit up.“Really? Like how? How do you need help with the kissing?”“Ew,” I said automatically.Becky giggled again.“I don’t need help with the kissing! I need help getting to the kissing without Ms.Drake spotting us.Can you, I don’t know, distract her for me?”April cocked her head to the side and stared at me down her long shiny nose.“Okay.” Then she opened her mouth as wide as it could go and screamed.She sounded like a dying cat.“That’ll work!” I yelled, and her mouth stretched into a weird screaming smile.Becky and I raced down the hill toward the ball shed.A group of fourth graders already was gathered around the sides of the shed.Some people were running up the hill because of the screaming, but anyone who was anyone in fourth grade didn’t budge.Tom was waiting for me back there.To kiss me.I noticed that none of the other couples in class stood together around the ball shed.They were too busy carefully ignoring each other, I guess.I rolled my eyes just thinking about it.I could never be part of such an immature relationship.And then I got a flash of Becky’s goopy lips.Was I ready for such a mature relationship, though?Suddenly my stomach hurt, like the time I ate bad pasta salad at the family reunion.“Becky, I don’t know if I want to do this.” I stopped, dragging Becky to a halt, too, even though we were still a couple feet from the back of the shed.Becky fluffed her hair.It fell in long thick curls and she was always separating them.Otherwise she ended up with four huge corkscrews instead of lots of little ones.She smeared on more cherry Chapstick.Her lips looked gloppy and huge.How had I never noticed her enormous mouth before? Did Tom have a huge mouth, too? I stood on tiptoes and tried peeking over Becky’s shoulder.I couldn’t see Tom’s lips, just that his face was red as a stop sign.Would his fat lips smoother my entire mouth? Becky rolled her eyes, almost like she could hear me thinking.“I don’t think we should do this,” I whispered again.“You are so doing this,” she snapped.For all the bouncing and giggling, Becky could be pretty fierce.She turned the full force of her angry eyes on me.“Remember when you decided penny loafers were cool, so I bought a pair, too?”“Yeah,” I said slowly.After Becky and I wore our new shoes to school at the beginning of the year, every girl in our class now sported a pair.“Well, I never thought they were cool.But I still wear them.Every day.” She leaned in close.“You are going to do this for me.”“I don’t want to anymore,” I whispered.“Let’s just call it off.”Becky crossed her arms and rolled her eyes all at once, like she was talking to the stupidest person alive.Maybe she was.“If you want to be popular—and my best friend—you sometimes have to do things you don’t want to do.”“Why should I?” I blurted.She glared at me, her cheeks flushing.“It’s what separates us from them.” Becky jerked her thumb to the clusters of kids waiting to see The Kiss.Becky marched ahead, the crowd parting like she was some kind of queen.I followed behind her.It was the first time I followed her.April still was screaming.Becky strutted over to Henry, who had pushed back his ball cap in preparation for The Kiss.She turned around, waiting for me to strut up to Tom, who stood with his back against the shed.The whole crowd hushed, like they do when the teacher flips the lights.Becky glared at me now, since I still hadn’t walked toward Tom.Her mouth crumpled into a line and then she, weirdly, giggled even though her eyes were fierce.The sound rattled around in my head, but I was relieved to hear something other than my own heartbeat going crazy.I took a step toward Tom, and everyone around us almost hummed.He dropped his arms.In the background, April’s screeching suddenly stopped.It was now or never.I leaned in to Tom [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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