Hollywood High Read Online Free PDF Page B

school. We were partners in crime. Damn her! Not getting close to her was definitely going to be harder than I had anticipated. She had my back. And now I was going to have to have hers.

6
    Rich
    I sa t in the office lounge, closed my eyes, and did all I could to meditate my way into a painful vision. Something that grieved me worse than the thought of being banished to the mall and made to shop amongst the tourists and the commoners. Something that made my eyes swollen with tears. So that once Mr. Westwick, the headmaster, and Mr. Sharp, his assistant by day and drag queen mistress by night, switched their way in here I’d be able to freak out and transform into an overloaded panic attack; accompanied by Academy Award–winning tears and Oscar-worthy snot ooze and lip drool.
    My plan was to have my glossless bottom lip hang and in between a series of incoherent “Why me’s?” convince them that although Co-Co Ming had to be carted out of here by way of EMTs, that London and I were really the ones who’d been under siege. And that Co-Co Ming had simply gotten the beat-down that he’d asked for.
    But the tears wouldn’t fall. All that would fall were the pink diamonds in my tennis bracelet, my earrings, and the right sleeve of my Burberry blazer that had hung on by an unraveling thread.
    I shook my head, opened my eyes, and jumped. “Ahh!!!! Clutching my pearls!” I blinked, blinked, and blinked again. Who was that creature sitting next to me? For a moment I wondered if this was Lauryn Hill. This creature’s clothes were tattered, it had a pair of broken heels in its lap, wore one earring, had red lipstick that sailed its way from its lips to its cheeks. Its false eyelashes were crooked and one had just fallen off and almost touched me. “Ugg!” I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and that’s when it hit me that this was London.
    OMG!
    I didn’t know whether to laugh or stand and give a eulogy.
    But one thing I did know was that Co-Co Ming was lucky I didn’t really believe in violence or else I’d run into one of his parents’ five-star sushi restaurants and kill him. DEAD.
    London flipped her hair behind her ears and sniffed. “I don’t believe this,” she said more to herself than to me.
    â€œBelieve what?” I took my Chanel handkerchief and dabbed the sweat from her forehead and then balled up the cloth and placed it in her hand. “You can keep that.”
    â€œIf this is only the first day of school, my God.” She blinked and her remaining lash fell into her lap. “What the hell is tomorrow going to look like?!”
    â€œCalm down,” I said as I popped open my ruby compact and realized that my mascara was streaked across my face like war marks. “Today was highly unusual. Maybe this is how you sling it in New York, but we don’t usually drop down low enough to have a physical slugfest. We usually let the blogs, and the TMZs, Popsugars, and the Perez Hiltons of the world do our dirty work.”
    â€œWhat?” She looked half baffled and half disturbed. “What are you talking about? This place has been popping off since I walked in the door. I’m not used to this.” She wiped her face with the handkerchief. “This is too much for me! I can’t do this!” She tossed her head back. “I’m not really religious, but one thing I know for sure is that you all need Jesus.” She started to fall apart. “I have to get out of here!” she screamed. “I have to get out of here! Ohmygod! My blouse is ruined!”
    I gasped. Here I thought Miss International had it together and yet, here she was acting like new money. I hobbled over to the door, one heel on, one heel broken, and closed it. “London!” I said tight-lipped. “Get it together. Right now.” I shook her by the shoulders. “Get it together.”
    â€œI’m not used to