Dating Sarah Cooper Read Online Free PDF Page B

to tell the world.”
    I grit my teeth and stayed quiet. In that moment, I honestly think I was angrier at Sarah than I’d ever been. She did a lot of stupid, impulsive things, but this took the cake. And while she was smooth-talking her way into the hearts of these people, I was thinking ahead. While we were sitting down in two empty chairs and she was beginning to tell some bullshit story about how she’d known since she was thirteen that she liked girls, I was realizing why she’d wanted to do this. And while she was telling them how she’d been in denial for a while about her feelings for me, I was realizing how irrevocably big this lie truly was.
    And right around the time everyone was watching me expectantly, waiting for my story, I realized how much it was already going to hurt these people if we told them we were making it all up.
    So as they stared at me in that circle, waiting for me to explain when I’d realized that I, too, liked girls, I swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and then began, “I guess I didn’t know until recently…”
     
     
    The meeting went on for a while, with almost everyone in noticeably higher spirits. They talked about what’d happened to Jake and how I’d stopped it, and he shared how he’d realized from the way I was talking and the way Sarah and I interacted that I was gay and that we were a couple. I obviously didn’t have the heart to tell him he’d mistaken an eating disorder for homosexuality and close friendship for romance. 
    And when the hour was finally up and people were finally beginning to file out of the room, a girl named Violet who hadn’t spoken much came up to us and told us, “You guys were really brave for coming here. I hope things really can change,” and I had to bite my lip to keep from groaning because how in the hell were we going to go back on this now ?
    The girl named Jessa, meanwhile, brushed past Sarah close enough to give her a rather hard shoulder-check, and then turned back to roll her eyes in our direction even as she left the room. That was more than enough to tell us she wasn’t buying it. She seemed to be the only one who felt that way, though.
    We walked back with Jake to the parking lot, holding hands all the while even as he rambled on about how exciting it’d be to have openly gay popular kids and how we could do so much to help end gay bullying and maybe we could even win Prom Queens in April or at least Queens at the Winter Formal, and I felt sick by the time he left us. We got into Sarah’s car so that she could give me a ride home, and I sat there in complete silence for what felt like hours. In reality, it was less than a minute before I finally said, “I think that was the shittiest thing I’ve ever done.”
    Beside me, she let out a sigh. “Oh, c’mon, Katie. Did you hear them in there? They were freaking out. And did you hear that one gay guy say we were adorable together?” She shot me a wink and I glared back at her. “Lighten up! I have a plan.”
    “What, to completely destroy the hopes and dreams of every gay kid at our school?” I countered. “That was sick. That was so mean, Sarah. We just lied!”
    “But they don’t have to know that,” she explained. “Yes, it was a little rash, but I figured something out. Guys like lesbians, right? And they also like challenges.”
    “You-” I cut myself off to gape at her, fuming, and then shook my head. “I can’t believe you.”
    “Look, I need to stand out to Sam somehow, and this puts the both of us on the map. You need to get back out there, Katie! I know seeing Austin moping around all the time is probably making you feel bad about dating again, but you both should move on, and this’ll help you do that. And while we’re at it, we’ll be majorly boosting the confidence of the kids in that LGBT club. We’re doing them a favor.”
    “And what happens when they find out the truth? Or are you just never expecting that to happen?”
    “How will they