A Match Made in High School Read Online Free PDF

b-day. we ate at this restaurant, and I got stuck sitting next to uncle Tommy. I tried to make polite small talk, but he started snapping at me, saying that one of his two cats was sick. Some kidney problem or something. he asked me if I had any pets. I said no, and he said, “Good. They’re heartache. I bought Sarsaparil a and knee hi this year for my fortieth birthday. They just remind me of how old I am. And now, knee hi’s sick. I don’t know what Sarsaparil a would do without her sister.”
    I said I was sorry to hear that, and he said, “wel , it’s par for the course for my life. God forbid I have one small thing that isn’t a disappointment.”
    ooooohhhhkaaaay.
    what the freak could I say to that? Luckily, the appetizers came out, and I could suddenly develop an al -consuming interest in the construction of shrimp puffs.
    32 Kristin Walker
    That was uncle Tommy three years ago. I can only guess how bitter and frightening he is by now. I hope to hell the cat didn’t die. I have no idea what any of that has to do with marriage education, but at least it took up a couple journal pages.
    FRIdAy MoRNING. FIRST pERIod. ThE SENIoRS wERE
    gathered in the auditorium. Up onstage stood this crappy white archway left over from last year’s production of Much Ado About Nothing covered in fake pink flowers and lit up with a spotlight.
    Principal Miller’s fingers fluttered at her hair and neck as she walked to the podium next to the arch. “All right, seniors. Settle down, now. Let’s get through this ceremony and you can go to class. I’d like the young women to line up on the right side of the auditorium according to the alphabetical order of your last names. Young men, you will line up on the left side of the auditorium across from your partner.”
    This took several minutes, as many of the senior girls had not yet mastered the intricacies of the English alphabet. Plus, none of us was in too much of a hurry to get to the actual wedding part. Principal Miller tried to help out as best she could.
    “No, Maja, Bjorkman comes before Bloomberg. Catherine, is it McHenry or MacHenry? Okay, that means you’re after Juliana. Rhiannon, I know you and Joscelin have the same last name. Line up according to first name, then. No, that 34 Kristin Walker
    means you’re behind Joscelin, not in front. There you go. No, Elizabeth, you do not have to kiss. In fact, you should not. No kissing! Do you hear me, everyone? No kissing! Rashmi Kapoor, get back here! Well, too bad, you’ll have to hold it.”
    There’s a saying about herding cats. Like how impossible it is. But that would have been a piece of cake compared to this. Finally, we slid into place, and so did the guys. I looked across the expanse of green vinyl seats to the line of them huddled against the wall. They looked like game animals that had been shipped in for a controlled hunt. Some oblivious to their fate. Some bucking and kicking against the enclosure. Some resigned to their impending demise. But all trapped. I scanned the line. Johnny Mercer was toward the front, leaning up against the wall with his arms folded above his stomach. He was completely motionless except for his right black boot, which kept tapping and tapping furiously on the floor.
    Gabe stood about halfway down the line. His tangerine shirt made his skin look like burnished bronze. He chatted with the guy next to him and laughed casually, showing his perfect white teeth. It reminded me of how he’d tried to make me laugh on the way to the nurse’s office in third grade so I wouldn’t think about the pain in my ankle. His smile was still the same.
    All of a sudden, Gabe turned and looked across the auditorium toward the girls. I could see his eyes passing down the line. In a second he’d be looking right at me. Should I let him see me watching him? Would it surprise him? Or should

CHAPTER 5
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    I look away and appear coy and delicious? Should I wave?
    Try to hold his stare? Try to send him