Flower Feud Read Online Free PDF Page A

anyone, who would it be?” Jessica asked Amy.
    Amy was silent for a while, but finally confessed that she thought Brian Kilpatrick was cute. “He’s got blond hair and blue eyes and he’s really funny,” she said. “I think he’d be the perfect date. What about you, Heather?” she asked.
    Heather lowered her voice and leaned forward conspiratorially. “I’ve been thinking about this all weekend. I’ve decided I want to go with Billy Walters,” she said. “I hope he asks me.”
    Billy Walters?
He may have been the captain of the soccer team now, but I would always remember him as the boy who, in third grade, asked the school librarian where to find books on World War Three. She had been completely aghast.
    “Heather, I had no idea you were so old-fashioned,” I joked. “That’s very traditional of you. You could ask him yourself, you know.”
    Heather looked embarrassed. “I know. But I just can’t.”
    Becky finally looked up from her notebook and we smiled at each other. Thank goodness for Becky. She was my port in the storm of girly girls gone boy crazy.
    Jessica, in a surprisingly practical way, announced that she was going to ask Jackson Bates. Their moms had gone to college together so Jessica and Jackson had been friends since they were in diapers. “I don’t
like
him like him,” she said. “And he doesn’t
like
me like me. But we’ll have so much fun!”
    “So what about you, Becky?” asked Amy. “Are you crushing on anyone?”
    I snorted. “No way!” I said. “Becky doesn’t have time for crushes! And neither do I.”
    “Wait a minute,” said Heather, scrunching up her face in disbelief. The table went silent. Then I realized that everyone was looking at me.
    “What?” I said, feeling uncomfortable.
    “Well, what about Hamilton?” Heather asked.
    My cheeks reddened.
Hamilton.
He’d been on my mind all weekend, too — but not in an asking-him-to-the-dance way.
    “There’s something I have to tell you guys,” I said, myvoice low. I hadn’t yet told Jessica, Amy, and Heather about the Hamilton–Fleur connection. (I had already shared the news with Becky, of course.)
    They all leaned in, their eyes wide.
    I took a deep breath and blew it out before I spoke. “You’re never going to believe this,” I said. “Hamilton’s mom is the owner of Fleur.”
    Three pairs of shocked eyes looked back at me.
    “You mean the new flower store in the mall?” Amy gasped.
    “Well, it’s no wonder he knew that a delphinium was a flower!” said Heather.
    I nodded.
    “Does he know your family owns Flowers on Fairfield?” Jessica asked.
    “Petal Pushers,” Becky and I corrected her at the same time, then grinned at each other.
    “Whatever,” Jessica said impatiently. “Does he?”
    “I don’t think so,” I said slowly. “I certainly didn’t tell him.”
    “I don’t see why it’s such a big deal,” said Heather. “Ask him!”
    I looked at her in shock. “Even if I wanted to, I can’t,” Isaid. “He’s the competition. Did you see the ad Fleur took out in Saturday’s paper? They might as well have said ‘Don’t go to Petal Pushers, we’re so much cooler.’” I shook my head. “I’m not even sure I should be friends with him anymore.”
    Everyone stared at me worriedly.
    “Hey, who died?” asked a snotty-sounding girl behind us. We all spun around.
    Ashley Edwards stood there, her long, blonde hair gleaming, her plaid, drop-waist dress adorable and wrinkle-free. She looked, as usual, like she had stepped right off a runway and had somehow ended up in a New Hampshire middle school.
    “Why the long faces?” she went on. “Aren’t you all totally psyched for my middle school prom?” She turned to her two best friends who stood slightly behind her like bodyguards. “It’ll be just like a real prom, only better. Totally brill if I do say so myself.”
    “Right,” Sabrina and Rachel said in unison. I blinked at them. They were so interchangeable it wasn’t