Addison Blakely: Confessions of A PK Read Online Free PDF Page A

leaned forward, as if truly interested.
    I shrugged, hating that my hesitation pretty much answered for me. I tried to backpedal at the knowing look in Marta’s eyes. “We’ve grown up together, but lately things are different.” I didn’t want to spill my entire life story there on the library table, but who do you vent to about your only friend? “We’re going in opposite directions, it seems.”
    “Friendships are hard,” Marta agreed. “I know. My sister and I struggled recently, and you can’t escape your family.” She snorted.
    “Do you have a big family?” I uncapped my pen and scribbled some thoughts about the different candies I could use for our cell while I waited for her answer. “I’m an only child.”
    “Two sisters and a brother.”
    Wow. What would it be like to have so many siblings? I’d have to quiz her on that later. “So are you the first toparticipate in an exchange program?”
    Marta shook her head, and her hair brushed back to reveal a beautiful pearl earring. Pearls … at school? She really was different.
    “My brother did the program a few years back. He loved it and taught me a little about the American culture before I came overseas. But some things were still, shall we say, surprising.” She laughed. “I learn something new every day.”
    I could only imagine. I’d heard before that the English language was the most confusing to learn out of all others, with our tendencies for slang—which I’d already proven. Looked like I’d have to watch what I said for a while—that is, if Marta stuck around long enough to become a friend.
    And from the smile she offered as she rattled on about her family and home country, entertaining me as I worked on my project, it seemed like she might.

Chapter Four
    T hose are too sour, PK.”
    I jumped at the voice that suddenly spoke over my shoulder, dropping the bag of dollar candy I held in my hand. Wes smirked behind me, and my heart lurched before I could control it.
    “What do you mean?” I prided myself on keeping my voice steady, despite his effect on me, and stooped to grab the candy from the floor. Somehow I knew he wouldn’t have picked it up for me. If chivalry is dead, then it’s flat-out extinct in Crooked Hollow.
    “I didn’t stutter. I meant just what I said—it’s sour.” He reached around me, snagging a discounted bag of gummi bears and my heart in one fluid motion. The subtle aroma of leather wafted around me, and I steeled my emotions against it. “You’d like this better. Nice and sweet.” He smirked before tossing the bag into the red basket on the floor at my feet.
    Something about that smirk told me we weren’t talking about just gummi bears anymore. “What if I like sour?” I grabbed the candy and threw it back on the shelf. I didn’t, much. Actually, gummi bears
were
my favorite. But that wasn’t the battle I apparently fought here.
    He crossed his arms over his chest and shrugged as if he couldn’t care less. And he probably didn’t. But then why was he here, discussing the pros and cons of candy in aisle three of Crooked Hollow General Grocery?
    I made a show of looking behind him. “Speaking of sour, where’s your girlfriend?” I swallowed the bitterness rising in my throat and tried to match his nonchalant expression. How did he do that? Years of actually not caring about anything? Or had he simply perfected the mask? “She trying to calculate how much it will cost if mascara is half off?”
    Amusement danced in his eyes. “I’m not her keeper.”
    “Careful. You know what happened to the last guy who said that.”
    A flicker of confusion replaced the humor in his expression. I started to explain my reference to Cain and Abel from the Bible but decided not to waste my breath. As surely as I knew Wes couldn’t care less about Poodle Girl, I knew he hadn’t exactly grown up in church.
    “Forget it. I’m sure Poodle—”—I swallowed the rest of her secret nickname before I