Golden Girl Read Online Free PDF Page A

imagine.” Then she looked up at me, with the biggest, blandest, most pitying smile known to humankind. “You poor, poor dear. I do hope you’ll be back on your feet soon.”
    I squeezed my hands into fists, anger burning through me like a fire. I mean, how dare she? How dare she stand there, looking so sympathetic and sweet when she was the one who had done this to me in the first place? It was all I could do not to scream out loud—to let everyone in the entire cafeteria know what a cheater she was. How she’d gone out of her way to ruin my life. How she didn’t deserve to even be walking through these halls.
    But I couldn’t do that, of course. I couldn’t say a single, solitary thing. Because if the truth came out, it would destroy Becca’s life. And any self-satisfaction I might get in the short term would be dwarfed by the lifelong damage I would do to my best friend.
    I forced myself to unclench my fists.
    Because, you see, though it was Olivia who made me fall, it was Becca who crossed the finish line first that fateful morning, winning the race and earning a coveted spot on the school snowboard cross team. She even scored two sponsors out of the deal who hooked her up with some pretty sweet new gear. In short, my nightmare was Becca’s dream come true. And the last thing I wanted to do was to wake her up. I knew full well if I told the powers that be that Olivia had cheated, the race would be invalidated, and my best friend would lose everything she’d gained.
    No revenge was worth that.
    So I’d bitten my tongue when Olivia pranced into my hospital room the day after the accident, offering sickening sweet condolences with wide innocent eyes. And I’d said nothing when the school’s safety committee grilled me about the incident two days later. I’d kept my mouth shut during my endless physical therapy sessions, and I knew I’d have to continue to stay quiet now that I was back in school.
    But Caitlin didn’t.
    â€œOh, don’t you worry, Slow -livia!” my roommate butted in, stepping between us like a protective pit bull. Her eyes flashed with challenge. “I’m sure you’ll be eating Lexi’s snowy dust in no time at all.”
    â€œCaitlin . . . ,” I tried. The last thing I wanted was to start this all up again. I turned to Olivia. “Look, Olivia, I—”
    But Olivia just waved me off, glaring at Caitlin, the revulsion back in her eyes. “I guess we’ll just have to see,” she growled in a low voice. Then she turned to her friends. “Come on,” she commanded. “The reek of desperation has made me lose my appetite.”
    The three girls, none of who appeared to have been stricken by the same appetite loss, glanced longingly at the steaming cauldrons of soup and piles of French bread at the head of the line before reluctantly following their foodless leader back to their table. I gave Caitlin an exasperated look. Her face fell.
    â€œSorry,” she blurted out. “She just makes me so mad. I can’t help myself!”
    I gave her a rueful smile and put my arm around her shoulder. “I know,” I assured her. “I know. And I appreciate it. Just—let’s not feed the trolls, okay? She’s already nasty enough without you poking her on purpose.”
    Ugh. I so needed to find Becca. She was the only one who would truly understand. But where was she? As we headed back to our table, I realized she was still MIA.
    â€œWhere on earth is Becca?” I asked Caitlin. “Why isn’t she at our table?”
    A shadow crossed Caitlin’s face. “Um,” she said, gnawing at her lower lip. “There’s something you should know about Becca. . . .” She trailed off, looking unhappy.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œWell, it’s just that . . . I mean you weren’t here and . . .”
    My heart thudded in