Real As It Gets Read Free

was even on my radar.
    â€œSo that’s how he’s going to play it?” Sheridan asked, turning her nose up at Bryce. He and Callie had stopped at the end of the hallway and were kissing all over each other. How tacky!
    â€œHe can play it however he wants,” I replied, not looking over his way even though I could see out of the corner of my eye the way Callie was eyeballing me. “Bryce can have that D-list chick.” Bryce had been my boo. I’d thought he was my soul mate, but we broke up because he let people fill his head with a bunch of lies about me—twice. He tried to apologize, but I didn’t get down like that. If a guy was going to be with me, he was going to be ride-or-die and nobody would be able to tell him something about me to make him just dump me (although I would never admit to anyone that Bryce had actually dumped me and not the other way around).
    â€œYeah, he needs to know you’ve moved on anyway,” Sheridan said, raising her voice so that Bryce could hear.
    He didn’t look up, but I could tell by the way his body tensed up that he’d heard her.
    Moved on? Not quite. J. Love, the R & B singer who had just dropped yet another chart-topping hit, was still going after me hard. And I had been tempted to give him some play, but he’d dissed me, too. And although I may eventually give him a second chance, he was going to have to work hard for it, something he’d definitely been doing.
    I glanced down at my diamond tennis bracelet, which Sheridan quickly noticed. “Is that another gift from J. Love?” she asked.
    â€œYep.” I held up my wrist, revealing my ruby watch. “And this is a gift from Alvin.”
    Sheridan was definitely impressed, but still she shook her head. “Nice. But I don’t know why you’re wasting your time with that nerd.”
    â€œAlvin is cool,” I said. Alvin had helped me do some computer stuff when I had been trying to track down this crazed fan who was stalking me a few weeks before. And although he’d ended up being a great guy, he was still too geeky for my taste. And Maya Morgan doesn’t do nerds. Yes, I’d taken him to our winter dance, but that was about the extent of it. We talked on the phone almost every day and joked all the time. I really liked having him as a friend, but I didn’t see it going any further than that.
    â€œMust be hard being you.” Sheridan laughed.
    I didn’t. “It is.”
    â€œWell, you can have your pick of guys. Alvin, J. Love, and I’m sure you could get Bryce back if you wanted.”
    â€œI don’t,” I said without hesitation. “That hoochie can have him.”
    â€œWell, I’m just saying. If you did want him, you could get him. J. Love wants you. Alvin wants you. Must be nice.” I knew Sheridan was stressing because her boyfriend, Reginald, had moved away, and although lots of guys tried to holler at her (since she was almost as cute as me), none of them were on her level, so she was single and hating it.
    â€œNah, right now I’m just doing me,” I said.
    The show was keeping me busy. Digging up dirt and gossip on celebrities wasn’t easy, and since I no longer ratted out my friends, I had to work even harder to get the scoop.
    We stopped in front of my third-period classroom. “Well, let me get in this class and get ready for this stupid test. I’ll talk to you later.”
    Sheridan waved, then bounced on to her class down the hall.
    I walked in and slid in a desk near the back, where I usually sat. I looked at the empty seat in front of me, then leaned over to the girl who sat on the side of me.
    â€œHey, where’s Lin?” I made it a point to sit behind Lin Vo because he was the smartest boy in the class and I might need to borrow some answers from him for today’s test.
    The girl—I didn’t even know her name because she was a scholarship student and