How to Take the Ex Out of Ex-Boyfriend Read Free Page A

he’d run?”
    â€œNah, and all that stuff Wilson said at the party about crushing Dante like a brittle walnut was just guy talk.”
    â€œWhat? Did he really say that?”
    Jesse laughed and sat down in front of me. “It will all blow over by tomorrow. By Monday neither one of them will even remember that Dante said he’d run.”
    I held on tightly to Jesse’s waist and hoped so.

Chapter 2
    T wins are supposed to have a psychic connection. You know, feel each other’s pain, recognize what the other is thinking, wake up in the middle of the night with premonitions if one is stuck down a well or something. Let me say right off this has never happened between Dante and me. When we were younger, I hoped it would. Occasionally I would try to use ESP to get him to share his dessert with me.
    Maybe it’s because Dante and I aren’t identical twins. But it’s more likely because Dante isn’t trying hard enough.
    Â 
    This is what Dante’s probable reaction would be if ever awakened in the middle of the night by a premonition:
    Mystic Inner Voice: Dante, wake up, Giovanna needs you.
    Dante ( grumbling ): What? ( He rolls over and tries to get back to dreaming about motorcycle engines or whatever it is that occupies the empty spaces in his brain. )
    Mystic Inner Voice: Get out of bed. Your sister is in trouble.
    Dante: Yeah, she’s always in trouble. Don’t wake me up again unless you’ve got interesting news.
    Mystic Inner Voice ( fading ): She needs your help . . .
    Dante ( pulling the covers over his head ): It’s probably some girl-trouble stuff, and I refuse to talk about clothes, guys, or anything that’s found in the feminine hygiene aisle. Let Gabby deal with it.
    Gabby is our stepmother, but she’s so annoying I’m sure her inner voice has stopped speaking to her. Besides, if I were stuck down a well, Gabby would probably make me clean it before she pulled me to safety.
    The only one in the family who would worry enough about me to get up in the middle of the night to check on me is the cat. Which might be the reason he occasionally jumps onto my bed and steps on my face. He’s making sure I’m still breathing.
    Anyway, Dante and I aren’t psychic-bond close, but we’re still there for each other. So when Dante brought up the election over breakfast the next morning, I very lovingly said, “Are you crazy?”
    He sat back in his chair, leaving his bagel untouched. “You don’t think I could win?”
    â€œI don’t know why you’d want to. Since when do you care what goes on in student council?”
    Dante leaned forward again. “It’s time we stopped letting Wilson and the rest of those . . . Aztecs run the school.”
    Aztecs is code for another A word which we are not allowed to say in the house because Skipper, our five-year-old half sister, repeats everything we say. And yes, her name really is Skipper, like the Barbie doll and that fat guy on Gilligan’s Island. I have no idea what Gabby was thinking of when she gave her daughter this name, and I just count my blessings Gabby didn’t marry my dad until long after I came along. Otherwise I’d be walking around saddled with a name like Gidget or Buffy.
    Anyway, Skipper sat at the kitchen table beside us, humming and shoveling Cheerios into her mouth.
    With a glance in Skipper’s direction, I said, “Yeah, but even if Wilson and the other Aztecs didn’t win the election, they’d still run the school.”
    Dante ripped off a piece of his bagel and tossed it in his mouth. “Maybe not. A lot of people at school are tired of all Wilson and his friends’ . . .” His gaze slid over to Skipper. “Shellac. The students are ready for a change.”
    Well, I was certainly tired of the shellac thrown in my direction, but I hadn’t noticed that my opinion had a lot of company. I took a couple of bites