Boy Shopping Read Online Free PDF Page B

fled.
    â€œKiki—” Mark began as soon as they left the office.
    â€œDon’t talk to me,” she said. She wouldn’t even turn to face him as she fast-walked down the corridor. “I don’t want to hear it.”
    â€œOkay,” he said slowly. “But after school—”
    â€œI’ll get a ride with someone else,” she snapped.
    â€œOh. Well—”
    â€œLeave. Me. Alone.” Each word was punctuated with the sharp click of high heels on tile.
    When lunchtime rolled around, Sasha, Jasmine, and Camille were waiting for Kiki at her locker, concerned expressions on their faces. No one said a word as Kiki spun the combination on her lock.
    â€œYou heard?” Kiki asked, pulling a vintage Pink Floyd lunch box full of leftovers out of her locker.
    â€œI think everyone heard,” Jasmine said, patting Kiki awkwardly on her shoulder. Jasmine was never as comfortable trying to make someone feel good as she was making people feel bad. “So I guess you’re not going to practice tonight, huh?”
    Kiki didn’t say anything, just felt her cheeks warm. She might not have screamed her last words to Mark, but she hadn’t whispered them either. She had no doubt that the whole school knew about their fight by now.
    â€œWe’re going to get our nails done after school,” Sasha interjected, giving Jasmine a dark look. “Want to come with us?”
    â€œNope.” Kiki fanned her fingers for the girls, displaying her super-short nails. They had to be, otherwise she broke them hefting her drum kit in and out of the van. Of course Sasha knew this—she’d only invited Kiki to be kind.
    â€œI’ll get a ride home with my dad.” Kiki sighed, and Sasha took the hint to change the subject. Sasha told a long story about talking on the phone with her dad on Sunday morning, pretending everything was under control at the house, while scraping vomit off the kitchen floor with a bag of ice tied to her head all after Kiki had gone home. It was a funny story, but Kiki didn’t feel like laughing.
    What was Mark thinking? Did he really think that Kiki dressed like a slut? How could he, when he knew that she had gotten into a fight with the style consultant over her refusal to wear any skirt short enough to flash the audience, any top cut so low that she couldn’t wear a bra, and anything that showed her navel? There was a fine line between sexy and slutty, but Kiki knew which side of the line she was on—didn’t Mark?
    And how did that make any sense, considering his other comment that nobody was interested in drummers? She’d heard drummer jokes since her very first show, usually some variation on, “What do you call someone who wants to hang out with musicians? A groupie? No, a drummer!” Was it that hard to believe that guys liked her, just because she didn’t play an instrument with strings? Did he think that any guy who liked her was a crazy stalker? For the first time since they were five, Kiki had no idea what Mark was thinking.

Chapter 3
    Boy Shopping
    â€œ Y ou don’t look so good, baby girl,” Kiki’s dad said when he pulled up in front of Wentworth, staring at her over the top of his new black-rimmed bifocals. Kiki thought they made him look like Denzel Washington as Malcom X, which Dr. Kelvin considered one of the nicest compliments he had ever received.
    â€œThanks, Dad. How was work?”
    â€œFine. What’s up with you? Aren’t you supposed to be going to Franklin’s for practice?”
    â€œPractice was cancelled.” Of course, she didn’t know if Franklin and Mark felt up to playing music, but she was definitely not in the mood. If they didn’t appreciate her, they could find a drum machine somewhere.
    â€œThose boys getting on your nerves?”
    Kiki raised an eyebrow. Rumors spread fast at a school as small as Wentworth, but she didn’t think they