17 First Kisses Read Online Free PDF Page A

hair. Ugh. We’ll have to work out a compromise. No matter how much she pushes, I draw the line at pearls and Lilly Pulitzer.
    Â Â Â Â Â Â 
Lilly Pulitzer (proper noun)
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A designer who makes perfectly lovely print dresses forperfectly lovely southern ladies . . . like my mom. Or Sarah. Not like me.

UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE
    HarperCollins Publishers
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Chapter
3
    L uke Dawson. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about him since yesterday. I glide from class to class to the hot-lunch line. I have been transported to a world where only Luke and I exist. The sound of mystery meat and gravy splattering from an ice-cream scoop to my tray can’t touch me.
    I remain in my Luke-filled fog as I grab a skim milk, pay for my food, and slip into a chair at our table. I always feel like people are watching me while I eat lunch. It’s because Megan is a cheerleader and blond and waiflike and the most popular girl in school. Our friends Amberly and Britney cheer too, which means every girl at this table except me is in a cheer uniform. Amberly’s wearing the regulation uniform like everyone else, but it just looks different on her. Like it’s a stripper costume. She can’t help howcurvy she is.
    And Britney, well, it’s not like we’ve ever had a fight or anything, but I’m just not as close with her. Maybe it’s because she’s my best friend’s other best friend, or maybe it’s because she’s always so quick to take Megan’s side. Maybe I’m not okay with that.
    â€œI don’t see how you can eat that,” says Megan, poking at my Jell-O. “Oh! But that reminds me. We’re doing an eight-tier wedding cake today at the bakery. Eight!”
    She gets to leave school early to go to her internship with a local cake designer. Her college-professor parents grudgingly allowed it because they’re hoping she’ll “get it out of her system.” They don’t get that food is more than just a hobby for her. It’s everything.
    She and Amberly and Britney talk about the bakery, about clothes, about boys, but I’m too busy scanning the lunchroom to pay attention.
    â€œ. . . so hot.”
    Megan rattles on about whatever guy she currently likes. I drink my milk and daydream about Luke and forget to make my usual comments about how the school meat is made from roadkill.
    â€œ. . . and he has the most adorable dimples.”
    â€œWhat’s his name?” asks Britney.
    â€œLuke Dawson,” Megan says dreamily.
    My eyes bulge, and a chunk of whatever animal I’m eating becomes lodged in my throat. I have to force it down before I can ask, “What did you say?”
    The bell rings, but nobody moves.
    â€œLuke Dawson. Why?”
    I’m dying to scream,
Back off. I saw him first!
but before I can say anything, Amberly points across the cafeteria.
    â€œIsn’t that him?”
    Megan’s eyes follow her hand.
    â€œOh, there he is. He must have second lunch. Luke! Luke, over here.” She waves him over to our table even though the bell already rang. “This is the guy I was telling you about. This is Britney and Amberly. And Claire,” she says, almost as an afterthought.
    â€œHey.” Luke gives an awkward little wave. He’s wearing a shirt that says “Optimus Prime says stay in school,” and I’m relieved to note his nose is only the tiniest bit swollen.
    â€œYou should come to the football game this Friday. I’m cheering,” says Megan.
    â€œUm, yeah. Maybe I’ll check it out.”
    â€œCool. See you later.” She smiles at him with the tip of her tongue tucked between her teeth, radiating one million kilowatts of mesmerizing Megan energy.
    And so it begins. She already likes him, and it’s only a matter of time before he likes her