Chasing Boys Read Online Free PDF Page B

the circles is a long number that I assume is his cell phone number.
    As if!

16.
    I add another thing to my list for Leonard. What does it mean, Leonard, I would ask, if a boy, a boy you don’t like, gives you something—say a piece of paper with his cell phone number on it—and instead of shoving it into the garbage you hide it in your underwear drawer?
    That’d stump him.

17.
    F riday is movie night with Margot and Desi. It has been ever since I moved to Blair. But tonight I don’t feel like leaving my cramped bedroom. This is the fifth day since I found out about Eric and Angelique, but the pain is still raw. I want to keep poking at it, just to make sure the wound is real. I need to do this in my own space. I want to wallow. When Bella yells out that Margot is at the door, I consider hiding under my comforter. Instead, my feet walk out of my room, I give Mom a peck on the cheek, and close the door quietly behind me, just in case the cat lady from next door pokes her head out her door as I leave. She is always doing this.
    Cat Lady started talking to me a couple of months after we moved in.
    “Nice weather for ducks,” she said last week when it was raining.
    I doubted even the ducks would be interested in standing in the rain. It was hitting the entry hall window at a 45-degree angle and threatening to break the glass.
    Yesterday I caught her throwing tree branches over the fence.
    “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander,” she’d said.
    I started to think the woman was obsessed with poultry, so I just smiled politely.
    “They dropped their stuff over here yesterday,” she explained. “So how’s your mom?”
    She must have supersonic hearing. As soon as my door clicks shut she bustles outside with a watering can.
    “Going out, dear?” she says, pretending to be surprised to see me.
    “Yes,” I say.
    “Stay safe.”
    Actually, I’m just about to get abducted. I am just about to go on a drug-crazed rampage in a nearby abandoned warehouse. I am just about to steal lots of money so I can buy my family a new house and get the hell out of here. To get away from you.
    Of course, I don’t say this.
    I grunt something to be polite then get into the car with Margot. Her sister, Steph, is driving us tonight and she says hi as I grapple with the tight seat belt in the back. It’s only after I look up to see Margot staring at me that I realize I have missed something.
    “Excuse me?” I ask.
    “For the third time,” says Margot with exaggerated patience, “what do you feel like seeing tonight?”
    I shrug. I haven’t even checked out the options in the paper.
    We pick up Desi, who makes enough noise for the rest of us combined. She is wearing her new cream tank top, even though the chill air has me wearing a scarf.
    “Nice top,” says Margot, with a lift of her eyebrow. I don’t know if she is being sarcastic or just her normal bored self.
    Desi recounts our shopping expedition with a step-by-step description of my encounter with Eric. I’m sure she’s already discussed it with Margot, but Margot acts like this is the first time she’s heard about it.
    “You didn’t mention this to me,” she says, her eyes narrowing.
    I ignore her and look out the car window.
    Margot continues to stare at me, but Desi is on a roll and talks all the way to the theater. When we get there, I thank Steph for the lift. The other two join me in the line as we gaze up at the flashing movie board.
    “ Hearts Are ,” reads Desi.
    “No,” Margot and I snap.
    “ The Hidden Room , Black Water, Angelcake —”
    “ Angelcake ! That’s a documentary,” says Margot. “It’s been nominated—”
    “No,” says Desi as I shake my head.
    “ The Makeup Artist, Surfacing . . .”
    In the end we see Black Water . It’s a thriller with a nice twist at the end that I never saw coming.
    “Omigod, did you hear me scream when that guy popped up out of the water?” said Desi. “I mean, I thought it was the end,