Andrea and the 5-Day Challenge Read Online Free PDF Page A

around. I only hoped he didn’t think I was snubbing him, but I just couldn’t talk to him. Not now…possibly not ever.
    In class, I spied Alisha in the back row next to Mike McCutcheon. After taking the seat on the other side of her, I laid my head down on the desk and let them continue on with whatever they were discussing.
    “Hey, Andrea,” Alisha said. “Is anything wrong?”
    “Fine, just tired, I guess.” The desk felt cool against my feverish skin, but I suppose I did look like a fruit with my cheek plastered against the faux wood finish of the desktop. I raised my head, slumped lower in the seat and crossed my arms at my waist. “It’s been a long day.”
    “So, I’ve heard.”
    I should have known Amy had figured out why I’d taken off like an Olympic sprinter before English. She or Angie must have filled Alisha in on another moment of my life I wish I could expunge from my memory bank. Not that I didn’t want Alisha to know. I mean, the four of us never really kept anything from each other. It just meant one more person was in on my undying humiliation.
    Alisha gave me a smile. “You stress too much. Just relax. Things will work out.”
    Relax! How could I relax after…I didn’t even want to think about it anymore. “Sure. I know it will…eventually, but what am I supposed to do in the meantime?”
    “I know it sounds hard, but you just have to go on like nothing happened.”
    Wrinkles formed on my forehead as I stared at my friend. Seriously, I could feel them.
    Alisha laughed. “Deep breaths, Andi. Deep breaths.”
    She was one to talk. Like she even knew what I was going through. Deep breaths. Whatever.
    The bell rang and Miss Morales faced the class with her fresh as always complexion and warm smile. “ Buenos tardes, clase .”
    The rest of the class responded back. For some reason, I couldn’t. My jaw felt tight and sore. Had I been clenching it ever since meeting Luke in the hallway? Possibly.
    “Hey, Dion’s having a bonfire at the lake Friday night. Wanna go?”
    It was Mike asking Alisha out to some A-lister party. A party I wouldn’t be invited to and wouldn’t be allowed to go to, anyway, so what did it matter? Wasn’t it enough that they already made the perfect blonde couple? I mean, did he really have to do this right in front of me? Not that I would ever wish for Mike to ask me out. The guy was a flagrant player. He broke more hearts than Cupid on extra-strength espresso.
    Why had Alisha even agreed to go to homecoming with him? Who knows? She never took any of her dates seriously since the break-up with her boyfriend over the summer.
    I examined the clock as the conversation between Miss Morales and the rest of the class continued. Only thirty-nine more minutes to go. That clock had slowed down to half speed.
    ¿Dόnde esta mi zapatos ? My jaw loosened up, and I joined in with the class. ¿ Dόnde esta? Had my mind gone? I thoroughly believed I’d left it home today.
     
    ~*~
     
    With school finally out, I knew I had like only a minute if I intended to avoid seeing Luke before catching the bus home. I started packing my backpack with a million pounds of homework. I sure hoped our school would switch over to electronic textbooks soon because my body couldn’t take the strain much longer. I glanced down the hallway knowing that it was the direction of Luke’s locker, but it was like I had no control. And there he stood, busily packing up to go home, too.
    He didn’t appear to have the weight of the world on his shoulders as I did. Thankfully, Stephanie was nowhere to be seen. I promise; the first time I see her hanging on Luke’s arm is the last time I speak to him. Oh, right, I already vowed never to speak to him again on account of the way I embarrassed myself horribly in his presence today.
    One of Luke’s jock buddies walked past him and they laughed and did that male bonding, knuckle-bumping thing they do.
    Sighing, I studied the contents of my locker and tried