Phone Calls From a Rock Star Read Online Free PDF Page B

hoping Jake would be proud. I was trying.
    Alicia flipped her chestnut hair over her
shoulder, fixing me with a haughty gaze. “We have a summer home on
the lake so we spent a lot of time there.”
    “ Sounds lovely,” I said,
refraining from uttering the scathing words on the tip of my
tongue. I scanned the crowd for signs of Annie when I spotted Lance
and Dean making their way toward us. My heartbeat tripled and I
shoved my trembling hands in the front pocket of Jake’s
hoodie.
    “ Good evening, ladies,”
Dean said as he plopped down next to Alicia. She smiled her million
watt smile and batted her eyelashes. I turned my head, hoping to
stop the nausea rolling in my stomach. Lance took that moment to
squeeze in between me and Karen. That didn’t settle my stomach at
all. I prayed I wouldn’t say anything stupid.
    “ Hey, Karen. Bella,” he
said, leaning back on the bleacher behind him. He stretched his
arms out, and it took every ounce of strength I had not to snuggle
into him. Well, only for a moment. I wasn’t that brave. “Did you
girls have a nice summer?”
    Before I could utter a word, his face fell.
I followed his line of sight and saw Krysti standing in a group of
girls engaging in a very animated conversation. Karen patted his
leg. “Don’t worry about her. She’s not worth it.”
    His face relaxed into a huge smile. My heart
dipped. He dropped an arm around both my shoulders and Karen’s.
“I’m not. I have two beautiful ladies with me; why would I need
her?”
    He had to be able to feel the tremble
rumbling throughout my body. I just hoped he didn’t realize it was
because of his proximity. He plucked at the material of my
sweatshirt—I mean Jake’s sweatshirt—and grinned.
    “ I like the hoodie, Bella.
Where’d you get it?”
    I glanced down at the hoodie, wondering what
the big fuss was about. I mean, it was just a black, hooded
sweatshirt with some sort of silver logo on the top left corner
where a pocket might be had it been a collared shirt. No matter the
reason for Lance’s admiration, I made a mental note to thank Jake,
then immediately scratched out that mental note. He might remember
I have the hoodie and ask for it back. I’d grown rather attached to
it and didn’t want to return it. “It actually belongs to a friend
of mine. I forgot to give it back.”
    “ You mean your brother,
Seth,” Alicia said with an exaggerated eye roll. Dean snorted
beside her and earned a flirtatious smile.
    “ No,” I said slowly,
reining in my anger. “It belongs to my friend, Jake.”
    “ Does Jake go to school
here?” Karen asked, trying to diffuse a situation.
    “ No. He…um…graduated. And
not from here, either.” My explanation sounded weak to my ears, and
I just knew they all thought I was making Jake up. What did I care,
anyway?
    “ Whatever you say, Bella,”
Alicia scoffed.
    “ Why would she lie?” Lance
asked.
    My heart thundered in my chest. I couldn’t
believe Lance was actually sticking up for me. Me! I had a strange
urge to jump off the bleachers and dance a victory dance, but I
didn’t. Not only would that be totally embarrassing, but I was
quite comfortable sitting this close to Lance. Besides, one of the
jealous girls who kept throwing nasty looks at me might swoop in
and steal my spot.
    Luckily for me, my phone rang. I checked the
number and frowned when “The Man” came up on the screen. What the
heck? I opened the phone hesitantly. “Hello?”
    “ Hey, Iz, I forgot to tell
you something.”
    “ Jake?” His voice sounded
strange. I hoped he wasn’t drinking, too. There were enough idiots
in my vicinity engaging in inappropriate, not to mention underage,
drinking. “Are you okay?”
    “ Sure, angel,” he said, but
I didn’t believe him at all. “I told you I’m just tired. Why are
you so concerned anyway? Aren’t you supposed to be at a
party?”
    “ I am,” I muttered weakly.
“I just worry about you.”
    The line was silent for a few