Glitter Girl Read Free Page A

ever having been one herself). “True beauty comes from within, Ms. Connors. Not from superficial trappings,” she sniffed as she self-consciously straightened her glasses and walked away.
    Kat shook her head. “Too bad. If Ms. Donovan externalized some of that inner beauty and added a superficial trapping or two, she might score a date with the hot new basketball coach over there. I hear he’s single.”
    Jules looked over at the tall, buffed-out and impossibly handsome Coach Scofield, who at first glance appeared to be looking at trophies in a glass display case. But as he smoothed back his hair, Jules realized he was actually checking out his own reflection.
    â€œUh-uh. No way Ms. Donovan would go for a steroid case like that,” said Jules.
    â€œI beggeth to differ,” said Kat, putting on her own fairly decent British accent as she nodded across the hall.
    Jules looked over and saw Ms. Donovan walking slowly down the hall, pretending to thumb through some papers on her clipboard, when in reality she was secretly stealing glances at the coach. As a result, she walked right into a student in a big hurry to get somewhere. Her papers scattered everywhere.
    Kat gave Jules a knowing glance. Jules shook her head in disbelief as she and Kat rushed over to help Ms. Donovan save her papers from being trampled by the horde of passing students.
    â€œHere you go, Ms. Donovan,” said Jules as she handed over a pile of crumpled documents.
    â€œThanks, ladies. I guess I better pay attention to where I’m going,” replied Ms. Donovan.
    â€œTooooootally understandable,” said Kat, handing over papers with a sweet smile and a knowing nod in the direction of Coach Scofield.
    Embarrassed, Ms. Donovan stuffed the papers on her clipboard. “I will, uh, see you in Shakespeare Club,” she said to Jules and quickly scurried away.
    â€œMe thinketh Mistress Donovan doth crush-eth on the coach big-time,” said Kat.
    Despite herself, Jules joined Kat in her giggling fit.
    â€¢ • •
    The display on Kat’s cell phone said 1:37 p.m. as she pushed open the front door and scanned the school parking lot for her ride. It was an early dismissal day, and she was eager to get home, but it had taken her a few minutes to pry herself away from Mr. Deevers’s lecture on the importance of the isosceles triangle in everyday life.
    Tonight, her dad was finally returning from his business trip. For weeks he had been in Tokyo, where his software company was setting up a system for some really big worldwide corporation. It was particularly special to have him back because it was her parents’ fifteenth anniversary as well. She thought about the family dinner, their first together in a long time. She couldn’t wait to see him and witness his reaction to Kat’s special anniversary gift that she’d been working on all summer.
    As she bounded down the steps to the curb, she hopped into the backseat of a waiting Prius. Jules was already inside.
    â€œThere you are. I was beginning to wonder if I should send out a search party,” said Jules.
    â€œSorry I’m late, Mr. Finch,” said Kat to Jules’s dad in the front seat.
    â€œNot a problem, Kat. We’re in no rush. Right, Jule Box?” said Jules’s father, Dale, putting the car into drive and pulling away from the curb. He was wearing his usual plaid cotton shirt, jeans, and work boots, the “official uniform” of the president of a construction company. He was so unlike Kat’s dad in every way. In fact, Kat couldn’t remember the last time she saw her dad in anything other than a business suit and tie. When she saw him at all, that is.
    Kat liked Jules’s dad, who always smelled of freshly sawed wood and called his daughter little pet names like Jule Box and Jule O’Mine. Somehow, he always, always found time to get away from work to pick her up from school. That’s