Best Kept Secret Read Online Free PDF

press further.
    â€œI’m ready to work, but will you please take my question, the one about the backstabbing friend? I really need an answer.”
    â€œUgh,” she said, rolling her eyes and looking at Kate for advice.
    Kate shifted in her seat on the couch, pulled an apple out of her backpack, and took a bite.
    â€œJem, here’s the thing,” Piper finally said, chewing on her manicured thumbnail for a moment. “I gave you a whole week after Forrest broke up with Taylor. ‘Go for him,’ I said. Kate told you, too. And you didn’t do anything.”
    I just glared at her and I could feel a lump in my throat, but I refused to cry.
    I did do something. I left the note, and Forrest still has three days to answer me.
    I wondered what he’d say now. Would he just ignore me entirely, figuring that I’d know Piper is his date?
    Kate, reading my mind, answered for me.
    â€œShe did do something, Piper. Remember the note?”
    â€œYeah, I know you said that, but I’m not sure she really did it, because Forrest never said anything about getting any note.”
    â€œLike he tells you everything now Piper?” I asked angrily. “And Kate, I never said you could tell her about the note.”
    Kate looked hurt. I hadn’t ever talked to her like that before.
    â€œI thought we were all friends,” Kate said.
    â€œNot anymore,” I said. “Piper, don’t talk about me to Forrest, not ever, okay? I don’t want to be laughed at like I’m some dork. Please, can you do me that little favor, since you’ve ruined everything else?”
    I took her silence as a yes and wondered if it was the last friendlike thing she would ever do for me.
    â€œUmm, not to change the subject on purpose, I swear, but we just got another one of those weird e-mails,” Piper said, spinning the pink laptop toward Kate and me.
    Dear girls,
    You must really stop now. I know you mean well, but you don’t know what you are getting yourselves into. Take my plea seriously this time!
    A Pink Friend

Ten
    By Thursday, I was a wreck. Forrest hadn’t responded to my note, and I now knew there was no reason for him to respond since he already had a date. Piper started avoiding me entirely. The only person who seemed to be paying me any attention was Forrest’s younger brother, Trevor. Every morning that week, he showed up at my locker with some silly remark.
    How had he suddenly come into the picture? I didn’t even realize he went to this school. He must have just started as a sixth-grader. He looked a little like Forrest, but he was even shorter than me. And he looked like he still let his mom pick out his clothes.
    The dance was almost a week away, and I had no date and no plan. Add to that, the dance itself was in question because of the Sadie Hawkins backlash. Part of me wished that it would be canceled entirely. I wanted it all to go away. Bet was hot on the story, as I found out that day at lunch. She brought her shiny black lunchbox to our table and took a seat.
    â€œHey Jemma, would you be willing to do an on-camera interview about the Backward Dance?”
    â€œI don’t really have an opinion.”
    Piper looked like she wanted to crawl under the table, so tired was she of this subject.
    â€œEveryone has an opinion,” Bet said, smiling like she does, making herself so hard to dislike. “You’re one person I know who hasn’t asked anyone yet. Are you holding out because you object on feminist grounds?”
    â€œNo—not that I understand what feminist grounds are.”
    â€œShe’s up in the air about who to ask,” Kate said, trying to save me.
    â€œI am?”
    â€œSee, this is perfect,” Bet said. “Pleeeease consider being interviewed?”
    I wanted to say no, yell it even, stand on the cafeteria table and holler in the direction of Forrest McCann’s lunch table. But instead, because she’s