Too Cool for This School Read Free Page A

never forget our friends.”
    Rachel was the best.
    Clink! Clink! Clink! Clink! Clink!
    After dinner, in my room, we tried to cram in as much gossiping as possible, because even though it was a Friday, my mom wasn’t letting my friends stay over.
    “Paulette is such a mopey freak. What’s wrong with her?” Ava asked. “Ooh! I think you should wear this.” She pulled out a knee-length denim skirt from my closet.
    “I like the buttons,” Rachel said. She wasn’t very interested in bashing Paulette or fashion planning. Rachel was my kindest friend. And every day she wore the same thing: T-shirt, jeans, and platform sneakers. Instead of combing through my closet with Lucia and Ava, she sat at my desk doodling marine life. Rachel was great at sketching squids.
    “Don’t you hate wearing skirts?” Lucia asked.
    “Yeah,” I said. But I thought I should dress up for my first class-captain meeting. Next week, in addition to discussing our (strictly confidential) disco theme, we were going to get our group photo taken. So if a skirt made me look better in the photo, I didn’t mind wearing one.
    “What about these?” Lucia asked, removing a cute pair of yellow jeans from my closet.
    Ava shielded her eyes and fell to the floor. “I’m going blind!”
    “They aren’t that bright,” I said.
    “I like them,” Rachel said, looking up from her latest squid. “They remind me of egg yolks.”
    Lucia put them back in my closet.
    “Maybe I need to go shopping,” I said. “Maybe I could buy something lavender at the mall to coordinate with Leslie.”
    “Gross,” Ava said. “Don’t do that. The mall sucks right now. All those extra security guards. If you’re not twenty, they follow you around like you’re already a felon.”
    “She’s right,” Lucia said. “After that last skateboarding incident, they’re totally profiling tweens.”
    “Tuma ruins everything,” Ava said.
    Before I had a chance to agree with Ava about Tuma or defend the mall, my phone buzzed. It was a text from Todd! Ava knew that I had a secret boyfriend, but I didn’t want to share the news with Lucia and Rachel until I was sure my relationship was totally solid.
    “Who is that?” Lucia asked.
    I read his text.
    Todd: Are you around tonight? Want to talk?
    This was exciting. I really wanted to send my friends home right away so I could call Todd. We didn’t really talk that much on the phone. I mean, everybody knew we liked each other. We just weren’t ready to be official.
    “Is it something about class captain?” Rachel asked. “Is it something you can’t talk about?”
    My friends had been really awesome about helping me keep my class-captain things confidential by not asking me questions they knew I couldn’t answer.
    “Is it Todd?” Lucia asked.
    She was so direct. And I didn’t want to lie. I could feel myself blush.
    “It was,” Lucia said. “What did he say?”
    For some reason this question made me feel very shy. My phone buzzed again. I looked and saw that he’d sent me a photo.
    “He sent me a picture,” I said.
    “Of what?” Rachel squealed, sounding way too excited. She stopped scribbling squids and raced to my side.
    I showed them the picture of Todd’s dog, Ruby.
    “Cute husky,” Lucia said.
    “It’s a malamute,” I corrected.
    “Does it shed?” Rachel asked.
    “It’s a fur bomb,” I said.
    “Too bad,” Ava said.
    “Does Jagger have a dog?” Lucia asked.
    Touché! I liked how Lucia was brave enough to fling Ava’s own crush right in her face.
    “Absolutely not,” Ava said. “Mrs. Evenson is allergic to everything.”
    Ava’s crush on Jagger Evenson wasn’t nearly as far along as my relationship with Todd. But she was very hopeful. And with good reason. If those two could get it together, they’d make a great couple. They were both so cool. Plus, they were the same height.
    “We need to figure out a way to make them eat lunch with us,” Ava said.
    “Who?” Rachel asked.
    Rachel