Confessions of an Almost-Girlfriend Read Online Free PDF Page A

off his skates
and putting on a tuxedo.
I wonder if Jamie will come to my defense if Anthony decides
to kill me here and now.
“Matt just passed out,” Tracy says as she comes around the
corner of the house with our bags. She takes one look at Conrad’s
now-pink pants and visibly cringes. “Were those Marc Jacobs?”
Then she looks up at his face. “Are you okay?”
I don’t realize I’m expecting Conrad to smile at Tracy gratefully and thank her for asking until he glares at her like she’s an
idiot. “Do I look like I’m okay?” he asks.
I want to tell him that I know how it feels to be targeted. But I
know it’s not the same thing. I kissed someone I shouldn’t have
kissed. Conrad, on the other hand, was just being himself at a
team party—a team that he’s supposedly a member of.
“Is somebody going to drive you home?” Tracy asks.
“Why does everyone keep asking me that?” he snaps.
“Probably because no one wants to fish you out of the pool
again,” she says.
“Well, I’m not getting in a car with either one of them,” he
replies, referring to Jamie and Anthony, who are still standing
face-to-face with about an inch of space between them.
It is simultaneously totally hot to see Jamie like this—is that
weird?—totally depressing to know that it’s not me he’s defending and totally awful to think that the school year hasn’t even
started and already Jamie is in a situation that could land him
in serious trouble.
“Fine. I’ll drive you home,” Tracy says. No one moves. Tracy
looks around at our cozy little group and then back at Jamie.
She raises her eyebrows in surprise and possibly approval of the
new-and-improved version—Jamie 2.0, I bet she’s going to say
later—that she didn’t notice by the pool because she was too
busy yelling. Without taking her eyes off him, she asks, “You
coming with me, Rose, or…?”
Jamie turns away from Anthony and makes eye contact with
me for the second time tonight—or rather, for the second time
since June. I can’t read anything in his expression to give me a
single clue about where I stand with him.
What else is new.
“Uh…” I eloquently begin.
Jamie looks at Regina and says, “You call me if you need me.”
He gives Anthony another long, hard stare, and Anthony bares
his teeth in what’s supposed to be a grin. Jamie heads down the
driveway. Regina watches Jamie go, a flicker of desperation in
her eyes as if she wants nothing more than to go with him. Anthony grabs the case of beer at his feet, slings his arm over her
shoulders and drags both the beer and Regina back to the party.
Jamie gets in his car, slams the door hard enough to set off
the alarm on the SUV he’s parked in front of, and takes off down
the street.
I watch his taillights get smaller and smaller.
The first time I rode in Jamie’s old, green car was when he
drove me home on the third day of school last year. He did it
only because Peter had asked him to look out for me, but I didn’t
know that at the time and I thought maybe, just maybe, Jamie
Forta might think I was cute or something. It was kind of a terrifying prospect. I babbled like an idiot the whole time.
When I realized Jamie knew where I lived without me having to tell him, my stomach dropped out like I was on a roller
coaster. Sitting close to him made me so nervous I couldn’t put
a sentence together, but I still managed to memorize every detail I could about that ride. The car smelled like rain. The hood
had been polished with something shiny and when the sun hit
it, the glare was so bright it hurt my eyes. The seats and the floor
were clean enough to eat off. It was clear that Jamie loved his car.
Now that I think about it, I bet Jamie cares more about that
car than most of the people in his life.
Possibly more than all of the people in his life.
But definitely more than me.
“I already said I’m not getting in a car with her.”
    Conrad, standing next to the