Getting Caught Read Online Free PDF Page B

You’ll get it in no time.”
    He beams. Skating is the biggest thing in his life. No matter what we do, he’s not having any luck with getting a job. It’s probably the economy, or whatever, but he also has this one teensy-weensy blemish on his record—thanks to some former best friend who shall remain nameless—which keeps popping up, destroying his chances of ever getting an adult life and moving out of our house.
    Jess wants to ruin my life, just like she ruined his. And that’s why this prank war will not end until she loses. Because that’s what she deserves after the shit she pulled.
    “Not quite, but thanks. And at least you can send in that Harvard app now.”
    I stop moving and just stare at him. The excitement deflates into pure angst. “Oh, crap.” How am I going to let go of the application? How will I ever get the nerve to put it into that big blue mailbox on the corner?
    He looks right at me, one side of his mouth lifted in a half smile . “Red alert,” he says in a fake walkie-talkie voice. “We have just moved to a level-three meltdown.”
    I smack him on the shoulder. “Shut up.” But I still grin back at him, because somehow he makes my neuroticism seem funny. Once he leaves, it’s just me and the crazy voices in my head that tell me nothing is ever perfect.
    “You’ve been working on it forever, right? And you already have your transcripts, and the essay, and the SAT people forward the scores for you. ”
    I nod.
    “Good. So print it out.”
    “Right now?”
    He crosses his arms across his chest, and it makes him look even bigger than he is. Did he start going to the gym? I really have no idea what my brother does with his days. “Yes. Print it out, and I’ll drop it at the post office.”
    “But I have to reread it!”
    “No, you don’t. There’s gotta be a point that you let it go. So it’s today. After today, it’s out of your hands and you can stop being such a freak about it.”
    “But what if I could make it a little better?”
    “You can’t make it better. Just different.”
    “But what if different is better?”
    He rolls his eyes. “Print. It. Out.” He pushes the chair in front of me and nearly puts me in it. I take a deep breath and open the file and click print before I can change my mind. Thirty seconds later, he’s taking the stack of paper off the printer and walking out of my room.
    I consider running after him and ripping the paper from his hands. Except I know he’s right. Now I have every last piece of the application, and it’s time to let it go. So I just listen as his footsteps descend the stairs, and then as he slams the front door. When his car starts up, I let out a long, slow breath and listen to the broken exhaust pipe as he drives away.
    Now my fate is in the hands of a complete stranger. And I’ve never been so scared in my life.
     

Chapter Six
    Jess
     
    In Hollywood, there’s something really cool and mysterious about being the loner. Just look at the Lone Ranger. Or James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause . Or Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke .
    Of course, in high school, the words “loner” and “freak” are interchangeable. If you don’t slide yourself into a clique by day two, life is more like navigating the wilderness with a broken leg and no food.
    In a blizzard.
    With a pack of wolves chasing after you.
    The leader of the pack today, meaning the greatest offender to all those who prefer to keep to themselves—Miss De Frisco, my gym teacher—has recently finished a badminton demonstration in which her fake boobs nearly spilled out of her Reebok sports bra just enough to hold every male student enraptured. Then she turned to us and uttered the words that have been the bane of my existence ever since I swore off friending anyone my age:
    “Pair up!”
    Everyone looks around. Some people, like Peyton and Bryn, just go on prattling about meaningless things like guys and nail polish and rehearsals for the school musical; they know