Bethany Caleb Read Online Free PDF Page A

friend. Genn was so much like Emily, attracting everyone to her happiness. Bethany suddenly felt like her depression repelled everyone, not only James.
    “ I mean, can you believe that guy?” James said, looking at her with an expectant smile.
    “ Funny,” Bethany said. She was looking at an empty sidewalk. Genn, Emily, and Chester burst into the McDonald’s like a gust of wind.
    “ Oh, hey guys!” James said.
    Bethany turned to greet them, noting the disgusted glares of Alison and Lea. “I don’t know why they let freaks like that in here,” Lea said, looking toward the group now dragging up chairs around Bethany’s table. No one but Bethany seemed to hear her. Genn didn’t bother with a chair. She sat in James’s lap and gave him a long kiss.
    “ Get a room,” Bethany muttered.
    She hadn ’t said it loudly, but Emily and Chester stared at her. “Why do you always have to be so bitchy,” Chester said, opening a ketchup packet and squeezing it out onto a napkin for no apparent reason. “Jesus, crack a smile every now and then.”
    Now James and Genn were staring at her. Emily giggled nervously.
    “ Sorry,” Bethany said sarcastically, looking out the window.
    “ You can leave, you know,” Genn said. “If you’re so unhappy being here, you can leave.”
    Bethany looked at her. She grabbed her bag and scraped back her chair, shoved her way past Emily and Chester, blindly heading for the door. She could barely see, because she was crying.
    “ What’s her problem?” she heard Chester say, then the cold air hit her like a slap to the face.
    Her house was about five miles away, but she had started walking quickly down Main Street. Maybe James will drive by, looking for me, checking on me, give me a ride home, she thought. Almost immediately she erased the thought with a swipe of her hand to her wet eyes. He hadn’t done anything when Genn told her to leave. He wouldn’t do anything as long as Genn was around. He was faithful like that.
    Back in Geometry class, Bethany blinked away tears. It didn’t matter that her friends had avoided her. In the end, she had walked out on them. She had walked out on James. She had no one blame but herself.
    The bell rang, and Bethany left quickly, wanting to escape before anyone could see the unshed tears.
     

Chapter Eight
     
    Last year Bethany had looked forward to art class. She was good at art. Talented. All of her friends last year were in her art class. It was a fun break from the rest of her day.
    This year she dreaded art class. James was in her art class.
    Last year, Jon Whitaker might have greeted her on his way into class. Today, Jon walked past, his eyes skimming over her. She was part of the corridor, part of the gray lockers. Jon’s friends, who were once Bethany’s friends too, continued walking down the hall. Chris Smith even brushed up against her. She wasn’t even part of the lockers. She was air. Invisible air.
    Her black combat boots dragged along the gray and blue tiled floor, all the way across to the far side of the classroom. The bell rang a moment later. Even though the class period had begun, James was not in the classroom.
    She dropped her backpack on the ground, relishing the heavy thump it made. She dropped herself into a chair at a desk in the corner. For a moment she just sat in the chair and stared at the graffiti on the desk. She felt no desire to get out the painting she was supposed to be working on. She wished she could spend her art class drawing in her sketchbook.
    A group of seniors walked into the classroom and sat at the middle row of desks. They always sat there, taking up the entire row. Last year Bethany had hung out with a few of them at her friend Emily Soeul’s house. Emily was a senior too.
    But that was last year. She wasn’t invited to hang out at Emily’s house anymore. The seniors in the middle row seemed so cool and popular and self-absorbed. They didn’t need her.
    And she didn’t need them. She pulled out