Addison Blakely: Confessions of A PK Read Free

row. The redheaded girl beside me slipped her hand in the air, and I breathed a sigh of relief as she began to read.
    I followed along, mouthing the words with Juliet, when Austin kicked the back of my chair. I paused, hoping it was a spasm. He kicked again, and my fingers tightened around my pen in disgust. Why didn’t he just pull my hair while he was at it? I ignored him. What exactly did Claire see in this loser? He kicked a third time.
    I spun around, my jeans sliding on the desk chair and providing extra momentum. “What?” I tried not to let how proud I was of my hiss show on my face. Even Claire would have approved of that one. She’s always harping on me to be more aggressive.
    He leaned in with a loud whisper. “What page are we on?”
    “Two sixty-eight.”
    “What book?”
    I rolled my eyes. “Get a clue.”
    “Get a miniskirt.” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
    “Dude, lay off.” The guy to my right chimed in, his tone low and borderline threatening. I blinked at my sudden rescuer. No white horse or shining armor to give away his hero status. Just sandy-blond hair that draped a little long near his eyes—in a cute sort of way, not the please-get-a-haircut kind of way. He seemed vaguely familiar, like maybe we’d had a class together last year.
    Before Wes came into the picture and muddled my memory.
    Austin leaned back in his chair, but I could tell by the challenge in his eyes that he wasn’t done. Oh well, I could handle that later. I offered a small smile to my defender. “Thanks.”
    “He’s a jerk.” The guy tossed his hair out of his eyes, and the gesture drew my attention to his startling blue gaze. “I’ve wanted to tell him off for days.”
    “What took you so long?” I joked.
    Ms. Hawthorne cleared her throat from the front of the class, and immediately my cheeks flushed. “Sorry,” I mouthed to her. She nodded with a slight smile before turning her gaze to her teacher’s guide. Hmmm. Yesterday when another pair of girls had been caught talking, she wrote them up. Oh well, count my blessings.
    I looked back at my new friend, wondering if I should risk Teacher Wrath. He grinned, and I darted a cautious glance up front. “I’m Addison.”
    “Luke.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “No relation to Darth Vader.”
    I snorted back a laugh.
    “We had a class together first semester last year. Geometry.”
    That explained it. I nodded, though I truly didn’t remember him. Then again, I’d sat on the front row of all my classes and pretty much kept to myself.
    The girl beside me finished reading the scene, and Ms. Hawthorne wrote some discussion questions on the board for us to answer. As I was halfway through copying down the third question, she called me to her desk.
    Heart in my throat, I tried to keep my chin up as I made my way down the aisle, ignoring the muffled, sarcastic “ooohs” that followed in my wake.
    She smiled, her teeth nice and straight without a smidgen of lipstick stain. “Hi, Addison. I hope I’m not embarrassing you.”
    Oh, not at all. I love feeling like the entire class is staring at my butt. I forced my lips upward. “No problem.”
Hurry up, hurry up
….
    “I just wanted to ask if you’d mind staying after class for a minute.” She was talking softly, but not softly enough. The front row behind me buzzed with rumors. I nodded, even though my chest tightened. What could I have done, besides talk to Luke? Surely this wasn’t about that. But I had to know. I’d never gotten detention before, and trust me, I didn’t want to start now. “Listen, I’m really sorry for talking during the reading—”
    “Oh, that’s no big deal.” Ms. Hawthorne waved one hand in the air, brushing off the idea as if she hadn’t just busted two other girls for the same offense yesterday. “Don’t worry. I just received some rave reports from your teachers last year and thought you might want to hear them. I’m very glad you’re in my class,