The Secret Life of a Dream Girl (Creative HeArts) Read Free Page B

He’s okay. He’s fine. He’s…fine.” He didn’t know who he was trying to convince with his babbling non-answer—Jacen or himself. Ever since they found out a few months ago that his dad had stage-three lung cancer despite never having been a smoker, things had been all screwed up at home. He was undergoing chemotherapy for it right now, but things weren’t looking that great.
    Not that his parents had told him that. No, they were all sunshine and optimism. But he knew how to Google, and once he fed in the terms his dad’s doctor had used to describe his cancer, it didn’t take an oncologist to figure out that things were bad. Really bad.
    He must have sounded like as big an idiot as he thought, because Jacen didn’t say anything else. Just kind of clapped him on the back in silent solidarity. It was pretty stupid, but it did make him feel better.
    “I could probably make it to the party,” he said after a minute. “At least for a little while.”
    Jacen let out a whoop. “Now that’s what I’m talking about! Nothing like hanging out with your friends and hooking up with someone to make everything look a little better.”
    Keegan shot him a glance. “Because it worked so well for you at Cabot’s party.”
    Jacen flushed a little—but that could have been the alcohol as much as embarrassment. “Hey. It turned out okay.”
    “After you nearly gave your girlfriend a stroke—and you pretty much got outed in front of the whole school… But yeah, I saw you dancing with Himesh earlier. How’s that going?”
    Jacen shrugged, and this time it was obvious he really was blushing. “Good, I guess. I mean, yeah. It’s good.”
    “Awesome.” Keegan held up his hand for a fist bump. He’d always suspected his best friend was gay, so it hadn’t shocked him when he finally came out. He was just glad that things were going smoothly for him and Himesh, despite how different they were.
    “We should probably—”
    “How about you? Any particular girl you’re thinking of tonight?”
    And just like that, his mind was back on Dahlia. Dammit.
    “Oh, hey!” Jacen’s face lit up. “There is one. Who is she?”
    “No one. Just…yeah. Uhh—” This time he was the one blushing—he could actually feel the heat creeping up his neck.
    “Wow. It must be serious. You never get tongue-tied.”
    He shot Jacen an insulted look. He was captain of the school’s debate team. “I don’t get tongue-tied.”
    “Yeah, that’s what I would have said two minutes ago, too, until you did your best impression of The King’s Speech .” Jacen grinned. “So, who is she?”
    “I told you. There’s nobody.”
    “Yeah, because it makes perfect sense that ‘nobody’ has the great Keegan Matthews in a tizzy.”
    “Seriously? First I’m tongue-tied, then I’m in a tizzy? What is with you tonight?”
    “Ummm, I’m pretty sure you should be asking yourself that. I just call them like I see them.” He waited a few seconds. “And the way I see it, it sounds like you’re interested in more than a hookup. Most girls like that, so what’s the problem?”
    “There’s no problem.” Unless you counted the multimillion-dollar son of a movie star who seemed really friendly with Dahlia. And the fact that she’d never said more than two words to him, no matter how many times he’d tried to get her attention. Then maybe there might be a problem. “It’s just, I barely know her. We’ve got a couple classes together, but we’ve hardly said more than five words to each other all year.”
    “So?” Jacen looked at him like he’d lost his mind. “Why don’t you change that?”
    “You make it sound so easy. This girl isn’t the casual conversation type. She’s so serious, so focused, that I doubt she even knows my name.”
    “Umm, you’re Keegan fucking Matthews. You’ve got, like, the whole school eating out of the palm of your hand. I think you can bring one girl around, no matter who she is.” He paused, thought it