Little Divas Read Free Page A

school.”
    I decided to just concentrate on what it would be like at King. Maybe Rikki and I would have the same lunch period, and I wouldn’t need any other friends. Maybe things would go back to being just us—Cassidy and Rikki—the way things used to always work so well.
    There were three weeks left until Labor Day weekend, and on the Tuesday after that Rikki and I would have our first day in junior high school together, at King. Yes.
    Maybe this year Rikki would even study harder and get switched into honors classes with me. Life would be
perfect
if she did.
    “Oh.” Rikki had another thought. “I also heard that they make you take a bunch of boring poetry classes. Now you know a school like that has
got
to be stupid.”
    Then again, who was I kidding? Rikki hates school. And that has nothing to do with whether it’s public
or
private. She thinks it’s stupid the way I go to the library in the summer when we don’t even have book reports to turn in.
    So no, things would never be quite perfect, but going to King together would be close enough. I’d settle for that.
    “Cassidy,” she said through clenched teeth, “do you promise not to tell Uncle Ray that I told you?”
    My parents are divorced, and my mother is in Africa. Thanks to a stupid girl named Lane Benson, everybody at school hates me. On top of that, my father is trying to ruin my life. Does Rikki honestly think that I would do anything to make my life even more miserable? I would never be stupid enough to betray my cousin. Nobody wants to lose her best friend, even if they haven’t been getting along so well. Best friends are supposed to be forever.
    “I won’t tell,” I pledged.
    “Promise?”
    “Promise,” I said.
    “Cool.” A look of relief covered her face.
    Rikki and I don’t cross our hearts and hope to die when we agree to keep something a secret. We don’t do any of that extra stuff, silly pinky swears and all that, like some girls do. It’s just not necessary for us. A promise is enough.

three
    “Where are they? What could they be doing?” I wondered aloud. Mary still wasn’t back yet, and it was getting pretty late.
    Rikki yawned. “I bet Archie has his tongue in her mouth right now.”
    Yuuuuuck.
    Rikki continued, “All she talks about is how Archie is so different, how he orders his burgers with extra pickles and no cheese. Mary claims that it’s the sign of a good man, when he knows exactly what he wants.”
    Mary has been taking Archie Fuller’s order at the Dairy Queen ever since she’d started working there last year. She said that, next to learning Spanish, seeing Archie was the best thing about her job.
    “He drinks Orange Crush, no ice,” Rikki said, rolling her eyes. “Like
that’s
such a big deal.”
    I punched a couch pillow and tried to situate my neck into a comfortable position. “Why no ice?” I asked. But the truth was, I didn’t really care how Archie liked his drinks. How could Daddy consider such a horrible plan for my life without even consulting me? What did I ever do to deserve such a punishment?
    I never get in any real trouble. Rikki does. I never say curse words. Rikki does. I never get bad grades. Rikki does. I never get in fights. Rikki does. Plenty. But was anybody talking about sending
her
to Clara Ellis? No. It’s not like I do everything right all the time, not like I’m perfect or anything gross like that, but the point is that I’m pretty sure I’ve never done anything bad enough for a punishment like this!
    “I don’t know. Probably because it’s already chilled when it comes out of the fountain.” Rikki was still talking about Archie and his iceless sodas. “Or he doesn’t want his teeth to hurt from the cold. You know they’re probably already sore from that thing they wear on their teeth. I guess. I don’t know. Stupid if you ask me.”
    “What thing on his teeth?” I asked.
    “You know, they shove it in their mouths right before they put on their