Black Tuesday Read Free

wasn’t micromanaging her career?
    â€œWe’re putting highlights in Ellie’s hair, Mom. I’m on a roll with the foil, or else I’d get the door.” Jayne’s mind raced, trying to cover any loophole she hadn’t thought about. “Gustav couldn’t fit us in, so we got our own kit.”
    â€œI’ve warned you girls about those box highlights. I hope you’re not turning that gorgeous hair of Ellie’s orange.”
    It was just like her mom to think Jayne was screwing up. Jayne had never gotten anything less than an A-minus in her entire life, but her mom still found a way to harp about a minus.
    Her mom’s voice pierced through the door again, breaking through Jayne’s thoughts. “Whose car is that out front?”
    Back to that question again. Jayne wasn’t fooled by the no-nonsense, sane tone of her mom’s newscaster voice. She knew that if any of them played this the wrong way, her mom would get a drill and pry the door off its hinges.
    Ellie looked at Jayne, speechless again. When it came to standing up to their mom, Ellie had a way of becoming a big useless blob.
    Which usually turned Jayne into a big fat liar. All for the sake of saving Ellie’s butt. “One of Ellie’s friends took her to get the highlights, and when they got here, the girl ran out of gas. Dan . . . ielle took the bus.”
    Jayne winced. Even she thought the story was Swiss cheese.
    â€œYou couldn’t have just given her a ride?”
    â€œThe bus stop is just outside, Mom. The girl had some appointment she had to get to, and I’m trying to finish up Ellie’s hair before tennis practice.”
    Jayne had already figured out this fictitious girl was going to decide that she didn’t have time to come back here tonight to pick up her car. That meant Jayne had to deal with the car later.
    Jayne held her breath. She wasn’t the greatest at lying, but the key was to play the scenario out like a little movie in her head. That’s how she figured out tests: she put herself back at her desk in her room, with her CDs playing in the background, and she tried to remember during what part of which song she’d memorized the bit of information that she had momentarily forgotten.
    She knew her mom’s next questions before she asked them.
    â€œWho is Danielle?”
    â€œShe’s one of Ellie’s mall posse.”
    â€œAnd why aren’t you at tennis practice yet? Doesn’t it start at four?”
    â€œPractice starts late today. Coach had a teachers’ meeting.” Jayne grimaced at Ellie. Her stomach hurt. Lying had a weird way of doing that to her.
    The girls were quiet as they waited to see Gen’s reaction.
    Ellie whispered, “Danielle? Mom’s going to want to meet her at some point. Nice, Jayne. Couldn’t you have used one of my real friends?”
    â€œYou have a car out there that doesn’t belong to either Janice or Megan, dweeb.” Jayne checked her watch. For once, she wanted time to move faster. “And you better remember all this when Mom quizzes you later. I didn’t put my butt on the line so you could screw me over.”
    They heard their mom’s heels click down the hall. “Well, make sure you get out of here in the next ten minutes so you’re not late, Jayne. Harvard’s not going to take you just on grades alone.”
    Jayne wanted to say, Well, duh. She wanted to so badly. The words were there, on the tip of her tongue. She just had to open her mouth and say them.
    But she didn’t. Instead, like usual, she sucked the words down.

3
    C’MON, THOMPKINS. What’s the answer to twenty-three?”
    Jayne hunkered over her paper. She had two more essay questions to go and fifteen minutes left. She didn’t have time for Lori Parnell.
    Instead, she needed to spend the next nine hundred seconds worrying about herself.
    Jayne took another look at the clock.