A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl Read Online Free PDF Page B

sure if
I should say anything,
because we’ve never
been introduced.
    â€œHi, Nicolette,” one guy says.
“Hey, Nic.” Another tosses his chin my way.
The girls look in the opposite direction.
    â€œHey, guys!” I say, probably a little too enthusiastically,
but c’mon, I’m trying to make an effort here.
    The boys grin at each other as they all keep walking.

NEW ENEMIES
    Before I get to our place
here come some more.
Just girls this time.
    These are the picture-perfect girls
who only go out with jocks,
they probably don’t like that I’m taking
one of their own.
As if they could get him.
They wouldn’t know what to do with him.
He’s probably already worked his way through them
and figured that out,
which is why
he’s
with
me.
    I’m thinking all of this when they walk by
and one of them says to the other, like I’m not
even there, like I can’t even hear them, like I’m not
even a person,
    â€œCan you believe he’s wasting his time with
her
?
She must be as trashy as she looks
to keep him coming back for more.”
    If she hadn’t already gotten a few yards down the hall
I’m not sure I could have stopped myself from
slapping her.
    I spin in their direction and yell.
“Trashy! I’m not trashy, I’m a
woman, unlike you little girls.
If you want a guy like him, you’ll have to get a clue.”
    They laugh to each other, all superior. One says,
“You’re the one who needs to get a clue.
I mean,
hello,
Red Light? Are you
that
stupid
you don’t even know when
someone’s calling you
a whore?”

ALL BETTER
    I make it to our closet and hope he got there first.
He did, he’s waiting.
“Nic.” He pulls me in and starts kissing my face, my
ears, my neck, my chest . . .
    I push him away.
“Stop it, LOOK at me, can’t you see I’m a mess!”
I’ve got to tell him how they hurt me, but
this is so not cool, and not sexy.
I’m blubbering like a baby.
    I repeat the whole nasty thing anyway, word for word,
leaving out the whore part.
He smooths my hair away from my face,
wipes my tears, so tender.
He really does care.
    â€œDon’t cry, baby. They’re just jealous. Don’t waste your time thinking about them. C’mere, baby, let me make you feel all better. . . .”

AVIVA
    â€œWHO the HELL is Aviva?”
I walk right up to his locker
parting the circle of jocks.
    â€œDon’t make a scene, Nic,” he says.
Some of his friends laugh.
“Are you laughing at ME?”
My words fly out like so much spit.
“Good luck, man.” And they walk.
    â€œWhat’s the big deal?” he says.
    â€œWhat’s the big DEAL?”
    â€œWe never said we couldn’t see other people.
I thought we were just having fun.”
    I’d be lying
if I said I couldn’t believe what I was hearing,
It’s not like I’d never heard it before,
but it still felt like someone just
knocked the wind out of me.
    â€œOh, we were having a lot more than FUN and you
KNOW it! I thought you cared about me. But you
were just playing me the whole time, WEREN’T
YOU?”
    â€œC’mon, Nic. You know you wanted it as much as I did.
You’re a blast, but let’s face it,
we were just messing around.
It’s not like we ever
really
went out.
I never even met your Mom.”
    â€œYOU WOULD NEVER COME IN!”
    â€œNic, I’m sorry, really, I am,
I didn’t mean for you to get hurt.
Of course I care about you. I just took her to a party,
it’s no big deal.”
    â€œIt IS a big deal. You never even THOUGHT
about taking me to a party, did you,
introducing me to your friends.
I wasn’t good enough, right?
But Aviva, you asked.
Aviva
, what kind of a stupid name is that, anyway?
Josie told me you were no good. She got that right.
I should have listened to her.”
    I turn to leave.
As soon as my back’s to him,
the tears slip out of