Alexis Gets Frosted Read Online Free PDF

announced we’d be merging with the other two sections to form teams for the school’s math rally. He said we’ve move around classrooms for the next couple of days, and then he read the list of who was on which team.
    See if you can guess who was on mine.
    The good news was I got to stay in my classroom. The bad news was that Olivia came in and sat one row away from me. When Mr. Donnelly handed out the sheets of practice problems for us to work on, he broke us into groups of four or five kids and had us all move our desks into little circles, so we could talk. That left me staring right at Olivia Allen. Ugh.
    Kids were chatting about their weekend plans when Olivia asked loudly, “Alexis, do you do anything besides math homework and baking on the weekends?”
    All the other kids turned to listen, because they could tell by her tone of voice that something was brewing. Kids love a good drama. But I didn’t want to be the star of it.
    I took a deep breath and then I looked her in the eyes and replied, “It depends on what my boyfriend is doing. He’s in high school.” I had no idea how I came up with that! I felt my face turn red with the lie, but I also had to hide my grin. It was the first time I’d had any sort of comeback for her, and I was thrilled, even if it was a fib. Maybe if you practice enough, you can get kind of good at comebacks, I thought.
    I looked down at Mr. Donnelly’s practice sheet as if to say, This conversation is finished. I could feel the other kids watching Olivia to see what she would come up with next, but seconds passed, and she didn’t say anything. I was so proud of myself, I wanted to burst!
    Finally, she said, “Good luck with that. I think it’s illegal.”
    I shrugged without looking up, like, Who cares what you think? I turned to this kid, Aubrey Peterson, next to me and asked if he wanted to quiz me. I felt light-headed, like I was floating. It must’ve been the adrenaline from my fear, but I was pleased with myself. By the end of class she hadn’t said another word to me and I had come back down to Earth.
    Maybe I’d made things worse in the long runby winning the battle but not the war. I mean, how was I going to come up with a boyfriend in high school? But it didn’t matter. It had felt great. And even if she threw worse stuff at me now, thinking I was tougher than I looked, it didn’t matter. I’d always savor my first victory.
    At home in bed that night, I mentally replayed the whole scene in math class. I was proud of myself for my bravery and my cleverness. But as the minutes ticked by in the dark, my pride shrank and my fear grew. I was ashamed of myself for lying and being mean, and I knew my fighting back had only fanned the flames of Olivia’s anger. I dreaded the wildfire I was sure to face from her soon.

    On Thursday I snuck around school like a hunted animal, peering around corners and slinking down halls. I skipped lunch with my friends again and ate alone, then at dismissal, I raced out of there and literally ran home. I was relieved I’d avoided Olivia again, but it was no way to live.
    By dinner I was exhausted. I guess I didn’t say much, or maybe it was obvious I was tired and stressed, because my mom came into my room after she did the dishes and sat on my bed.
    â€œWhat’s up?” she asked.
    I wasn’t sure I wanted to get into it with her. As I said, she can get a little too intense about problem-solving sometimes. I sighed.
    Then I spilled the beans. All of them.
    â€œWow,” said my mom. “I’m sorry you’ve been going through all this. I wish you’d told me.”
    â€œYes, but it’s just been kind of snowballing, getting bigger and bigger. I didn’t realize it was my new way of life.”
    My mom was looking thoughtful. “You know, there was a mean girl in my class when I was your age. . . . ”
    â€œI know.