Jenny Pox (The Paranormals, Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

Barrett stepped in front of her, blocking her way.  She slowly raised her eyes from the ground to meet his, and she gave him her coldest, most hateful stare, imagining her blue eyes were pieces of arctic ice.  He was handsome, of course—Ashleigh had very high standards—and his dazzling smile looked almost genuine.  Jenny had learned what that look meant, though, the smile that was so ready to become a mocking smirk.
    “ What?” Jenny snapped.  She imagined her voice cracking like a whip, slapping him out of her way.
    “ Vote Ashleigh Goodling for senior class president.” Seth’s smile didn’t waver.  He held out one of the flyers, and Jenny finally had a look.  Her upper lip curled.
    Along one side, it showed a full-length picture of Ashleigh in her cheerleader uniform, her leg kicked high as if the picture just happened to be snapped in mid-cheer, which just happened to reveal one long, tan leg, and just a peek of yellow bloomers under her khaki skirt.  Under this was a caption that said LEADERSHIP, referring to the fact that Ashleigh was already captain of the varsity cheer squad.
    Along the opposite side were three smaller pictures of Ashleigh.  One was black and white and showed Ashleigh in glasses and ponytail, pencil in hand, reading a textbook.  It was captioned: HARD WORKER.  The next showed Ashleigh coaching little kids at her church youth group, and was captioned: DEDICATED TO THE COMMUNITY.  The last one showed Ashleigh two years ago, giving a speech on the bandstand in the town square.  That had been part of her successful campaign to ban Harry Potter books from the Fallen Oak school library.  The caption for this: GETS RESULTS.
    Jenny looked from the flyer to Seth’s stupid wide smile.  She scowled.
    “Fuck you,” she told Seth.
    His smile twisted down into a hard scowl.  Jenny knew that move, too.  It was what Ashleigh did, right as she shifted gears from teasing to insulting.  Seth had probably learned it from her.
    “Hey, what’s your problem?” Seth snapped.
    This brought Everett Lawson’s attention around, and he slapped Seth’s shoulder.  Everett smirked at Jenny under his camouflage cap.
    “Oh, what’s the matter, Jenny Mittens?” Everett asked. “Wearing your gloves too tight today?”
    “ Shoot, it can’t be her bra,” said one of the JV players. He was a junior, a fat kid with an uneven flattop haircut. “She don’t hardly need one with them pancakes.” Then he lay his hands flat on his chest and swiveled from side to side, sticking out his tongue as if trying to lick his own nipples.  This had all the JV players dying with laughter, and Everett and Seth started laughing, too.
    Jenny stalked away down the science hall, where her locker was located.  Sheets of bright poster board were mounted on the walls above the lockers, with blown-up pictures of Ashleigh and words written in stenciled marker, outlined with glitter, urging VOTE FOR ASHLEIGH and ASHLEIGH FOR PRESIDENT.
    Jenny put her lunch in her locker, then closed the locker door and leaned her forehead against the cool metal, eyes closed.  There was no way she could survive another year.
     
    ***
     
    Jenny trudged through her classes, ignoring the overheard whispers asking why “Jenny Mittens” was there.  In previous years, the school had placed her in honors classes because of her high grades, but there were no honors classes for seniors.  Instead, seniors took Advanced Placement courses aimed at gaining early college credit.  Since Jenny had no plans to go to college, she was taking general studies level classes. 
    She just wanted the diploma to make her dad happy, to convince him he’d done a good job raising his daughter on his own.  If not for that, she’d have dropped out last year and gotten a full-time job.  Failing that, she could at least make and sell a lot more pottery without school getting in the way.  She was growing very skilled with clay, and had even treated herself to a