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

of cereal, feeling the intensity of Dante’s stare on me the entire time.
    â€œYou know you’d like to see Wilson and his pals eat some humble pie,” he told me. “So will you help me campaign?”
    I shook my head. “Dante, don’t do this. You’ll just make everyone mad at you and me, and then you’ll flake out halfway through the election and decide you don’t want to run after all.”
    He sat up straighter in his chair. “When have I ever flaked out about anything?”
    â€œYou flaked out about tennis. Remember how you were all fired up about learning how to play, so Gabby enrolled us both in lessons?”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œAfter two weeks you sneaked off with Lisa Jones during every lesson instead of playing. Meanwhile I got stuck playing Julie I’ll-serve-it-down-your-throat Segner. I came home every afternoon covered in welts.”
    Dante grinned, and his voice took on a reminiscing tone. “I didn’t flake out. The reason I wanted to take tennis lessons was so I could sneak off with Lisa.”
    I pointed my spoon at him. “How about swim team, then?”
    â€œCute lifeguards,” he said.
    â€œI got up every morning at six and swam laps in a cold pool so you could flirt with the lifeguards?”
    Dante shrugged.
    â€œSo why are you running for president? Have you decided girls like politicians?”
    He rolled his eyes at me. “I don’t need to find ways to meet girls.” True. Dante is six feet tall and has wavy brown hair and dark brooding eyes. Even some of the popular girls check him out when he walks by. Not that any of them would ever admit it. Jesse’s friendship isn’t enough to grant Dante full entrance into the world of the in crowd.
    â€œYou know why I want to run,” he said. “Wilson is a jerk, and Norman needs a memorial. Simple as that. Are you going to help me, or will I have to explain to everyone why I don’t have the support of my twin sister?”
    I took a bite, glaring at Dante over my cereal bowl. “Sure, I’ll help you. Even though it will make all of the popular kids hate me forever, and I know I’ll regret it before the election is over, I’ll help you.”
    He smiled at me. “Great. I’m going to ask Jesse to be my campaign manager today. If you see him before I do, hint that you’ll only keep dating him if he agrees, okay?”
    â€œOh, see—I regret it already.”
    Dante held up a hand and laughed at me. “All right, I’m just kidding, you can date whoever you want.”
    I looked at Dante, pleading. “Don’t drag Jesse into this. You know he’s one of Wilson’s friends.”
    â€œYeah, but everybody at school likes Jesse. He’s not stuck-up like the rest of the popularity posse. If he’s on my side, I can win this thing.”
    Dante was right. If Jesse helped him, he might have a shot. I still didn’t like the idea, but I knew I’d have to try and persuade Jesse to help Dante. And I already had a date set up with him. We were meeting for lunch at Country Burger that day.
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    All that morning while I mopped floors and cleaned toilets, I worried about how to convince Jesse to be Dante’s campaign manager.
    I had a lot of time to worry about it, because on this Saturday morning, like most Saturdays for the last three months, I cleaned Bickham’s Parks and Rec Center—chipping away at sixty hours of a community service sentence. It was a verdict Judge Rossmar had given me without really listening to my side of story.
    You know that saying “Innocent until proven guilty”? Well, it turns out they don’t need a lot of evidence to prove you guilty, especially if you do stupid things to incriminate yourself along the way.
    But really, none of it was my fault.
    Well, okay, maybe some of it was my fault.
    The school counselor, who I am still required to check in with on a