No Such Thing as Perfect Read Free Page B

dress and skipping past the tree by the church buildings. Her dress was still clean, because it could hide any dirt or grass stains. I wished I’d worn something darker.
    She leaned down and dug in the grass for a minute, before lifting the golden egg. “I got it!” she yelled and everyone stopped. Everyone except Jon and the other boy, because they were still rolling around in the grass. “I win! I win!”
    Mrs. Hallomeyer, the CCD teacher, brought Kayla and the golden egg over towards the benches, where the adults – and I – were sitting. The rest of the kids followed, each disappointed about not winning, although the supply of conciliatory candy seemed to appease most of them. Eventually, even Jon and his foe joined us all while Mrs. Hallomeyer talked about Jesus and gratitude and something that was somehow connected to the egg. The whole time, I just stared at Kayla. She gripped the egg close to her and grinned at me. I knew what she was thinking, because I was thinking it, too.
    Only a week earlier, our reading teacher, Miss Stephens, had announced the winner of the book contest. Each of us had been asked to read and write reports on as many books as we could during the previous quarter. For each book we finished, we received a star on a chart. It had been me and Kayla down to the end, but I beat her by two books. When Miss Stephens had announced it, Kayla started to cry and said I was a cheater and a liar and that I’d never read those books. She said I only cared about winning and that I read easy books. She said a lot of things, but Miss Stephens knew they were lies. Unfortunately, most of my classmates didn’t care, because Kayla had a pool and she brought cookies every Friday because her mom didn’t work and everyone else started calling me a liar, too.
    I really wished I had gotten my dress dirty and beaten her to that stupid egg.

5.
    “T hat’s good, right?” Derek asks. He’s been talking about rugby, which is apparently his new hobby. It’s been a day and a half and he’s on the rugby team, while I still don’t know where the health center is.
    “It is. I mean, yeah, of course it is.”
    “What’s wrong? You sound... different.”
    I shake my head, sighing. “It’s nothing. It’s stupid. I don’t know.” I lie back on my bed, staring at the ceiling. Kristen talked me into putting up glow-in-the-dark stars since I didn’t even bring a poster. My side is basically a wall, except for the few photos I have of Derek and me. All my other photos are framed or pressed in albums in my parents’ living room.
    “Well, it’s not nothing. Talk to me, sweetie.”
    “It’s just... I mean, how do you...” I pause, reaching for the words. “You just always seem to know what to do. What to say. Who to talk to. You’ve only been back at school for a day, but you have a whole team. The people I sat with at dinner didn’t even notice when I left.”
    “I’ve had a whole year, Lily, remember?”
    “I know, but it’s not like it was ever hard for you,” I argue.
    “What do you mean?”
    “You had friends in high school,” I say.
    “So did you.”
    I want to tell him. I want to explain everything, but even after a year, there’s still so much ground to cover between us. While he was playing sports and making friends and dating half the girls in our high school, I was planning a canned food drive and taking five AP classes. He didn’t even really notice me at all, although he says he did, until last year when we started dating. And by then, he was already at school and he didn’t see what it was like every day.
    “I guess. I should just be social. I’m sorry. I told you it was stupid.”
    “It’s fine. Go to a party or something. Join a club,” he suggests.
    “Maybe. I was invited to a party tonight, but I have to write an essay.”
    Derek sighs. “Don’t do this, Lily. Don’t be that girl.”
    “Be what girl?”
    “Never mind. Just lighten up, okay? It’s okay to have fun