Bound Together Read Online Free PDF Page A

underwear, you do it this way.” I stood up and turned , s uddenly face to face with Matt Parker . Awesome . “What are you doing here?” I straightened my shoulders and pushed my hair out of my face.
    “You mean other than blushing at your total lack of a filter ?” I narrowed my eyes. “Picking up a quilt my mom had cleaned.” He moved past me to the service c ounter. But not before glancing back at me in a way that made me shudder. He was picturing me in my bikini bottoms . Weirdo .
    “Come on, Cora, we have twenty - three minutes to enjoy ourselves in the lovely confines of the Laundromat waiting room .” She followed behind me and picked up an old coloring book from the kid’s table.
    “ Got any crayons, Zoey ?” she asked , looking up at me.
    “I think I have a pen in my purse. ” I offered it to her while watching Matt collect the white fluffy down comforter from the counter. He tipped his hea d at me before walking out into the sunshine.
    I flipped open my Calculus book to look at next week’s assignment. Just because some of us would be missing school for the class trip, didn’t mean we didn’t have to keep up on the homework assignments while we were gone . I hoped to get ahead before I left, rather than trying to cram it all in when I was jetlagged. My phone buzzed in my bag, and Cora handed it to me. I fished the phone out from the bottom of my purse.
    “Hello?”
    “Hey, Zoey . ” It was Morgan. I hadn’t even bothered to check the caller ID, she was pretty much the only person who called me.
    “Hey, Morgan. How was Brandon’s last night?”
    “Ah — mazing. Everyone was there. That sucked you couldn’t come . Is Pete okay?” she asked.
    “Oh, yeah. We got him through it. That reminds me though, his inhaler’s still at school ,” I said to myself more than to her. “Oh, guess what? Jordan came by last night.”
    “What? After the party? He did disappear early .”
    I turned away from Cora. “Yeah, he was looking for some sweet, sweet lovin ’.”
    “Yeah, and how’d that work out for him?” I could tell she was smirking.
    “I let him down gently, Morgan, you know me.” I glanced back to check on Cora. She was still coloring with my black pen.
    “I do know you — too well, Zoey . Anytime a guy gets interested in you, you find a way to back out of it.”
    “Not true.”
    “Umm, true and you know it. What’s wrong with Jordan? You seemed to like him just fine last weekend — that is before he started liking you. You always have to be in control, Zoey . I’m not saying it’s bad, it’s just how you are. You never let anyone get close.”
    I was silent on the other end.
    “I mean look at me and you — we’re best friends, but I’ve never even been inside your house.”
    I guess she had noticed that. I sighed. “Are we done?”
    “We’re done. Next topic ,” she said. “What are you doin ’ later ?”
    “At the Laundromat right now . I have a meeting in a Mr. Rhinehart’s classroom little bit. Ugh, and get this — I’m paired with Matt Parker for the assignment in Paris .”
    “Yeah, that sounds horrible,” she mocked. “He’s a hottie . ”
    I c ouldn’t believe what I was hearing. Sure Morgan easily floated between the social circles at school a nd didn’t really belong in any one group over another , but even she should realize that goody - two - shoes jock - boy and I had nothing in common.
    “Morgan,” I sighed, shaking my head. My voice sounded tired.
    “ You need to loosen up. Have fun — hook up with the star football player in Paris , whatever, Zoey . Just stop being all dramatic. This is all good stuff — you’re fre akin going to Paris for a week and you got paired with a hot guy. Who’d you want, Albert Price?” s he joked.
    A lb ie was the lau ghing stock of the school. He was ninety - eight pounds tops, and insisted on wearing sweatpants to school and talked incessantly about bacon to anyone who would listen. I didn’t mean to ,