Beauty Read Online Free PDF Page B

locked our bikes to the bike rack. Josh was smiling as he joined a group of guys from our grade, clustered by the bushes at the edge of the parking lot. “He was just trying to make me feel better, and I completely snapped at him. You think I should go apologize?” I cringed. The idea of walking over to that group of guys made me feel as queasy as if I’d just finished a burgnut-eating race.
    Kemper didn’t say anything. Her eyes were fixed on Josh as he talked to his friends, his hands moving animatedly through the air. “Kemp?”
    Kemper turned to me with a start. “Sorry, what?”
    “I was just … never mind.” I turned my back on Josh and his friends. I would apologize later, without an audience. “Let’s go in.”
    We had just gotten through the doors when Kemper glanced over her shoulder. “You know what?” she said suddenly. “I completely forgot I have to ask Josh something. You go ahead. I’ll see you in Mr. G’s.”
    I raised my eyebrows at her. Did Kemper have a thing for Josh ? “Oh, yeah? What do you need to ask him?” I teased. But she was already gone, slipping back out through the doors, a determined look on her face.
    I craned my neck to look after her—and walked right into Zach Martin. His binder went flying to the floor, papers scattering everywhere. Typical , I thought, my face immediately flushing red. Of all the people I could bump into, of course I’d have to choose the captain of the basketball team. There were only two sports that really mattered in Miracle: football and basketball. If you were a starter on either one, you were at the top of Miracle High’s food chain. Which put Zach Martin squarely up there. Right next to the running back of the football team, Hudson Taylor.
    “I’m so sorry,” I said breathlessly, bending down to scoop up the fallen papers. I waited for him to groan or grumble or make any of the other usual responses, but he just smiled.
    “No biggie,” he said, squatting down next to me. “I’m always up for a run-in with a beautiful girl.” He laughed, and I joined in cautiously. He kept looking up at me from beneath his dark lashes as we gathered up the papers, like he couldn’t seem to get enough. Wait. Was he … flirting with me? I stood up, passing him the pile I’d collected. No. There was no possible way that Zach Martin—I-could-have-any-girl-in-school Zach Martin—was flirting with me. I wasn’t about to make that mistake again.
    “Thanks,” Zach said. He adjusted the Ohio State baseball cap on his head. “Do I know you?” he added. “You look really familiar.”
    I opened my mouth to say that we’d only gone to the same school for the past two years, when Ashley and Blair stopped next to us. “Hey, Zach,” Ashley said. She glanced over at me. “Aren’t you going to introduce us to your frien—?” She stopped mid-sentence, her jaw dropping so wide she reminded me of one of those baby birds begging for a worm. A blonde, beautiful, popular baby bird, of course. “Wait— Molly? Molly Davis? ”
    My hand flew instinctively to my chin, in an attempt to cover up my pimple. I knew I couldn’t look good , but did I really look so bad that Ashley didn’t even recognize me? Next to her, Blair’s jaw dropped just as wide. “ Molly? ” she repeated. Blair had always reminded me of a parrot—mimicking everything Ashley said and did—and now, with her mouth opened like that, she even kind of looked like one.
    I cleared my throat. “Yeah? What is it?”
    Ashley took a few steps back, snapping her jaw shut. “Nothing …” she said slowly. She shook her head. “See you later, Zach,” she added, never taking her eyes off me. “Later, Molly.”
    “Later, Molly,” Blair repeated.
    “I better get to class too,” Zach said. “But thanks for helping with this.” He waved toward his binder, beaming at me as if I’d just done him some huge favor.
    “Uh, sure,” I said, oh-so-eloquently.
    He started to leave, but at the last