Plastic Confidence (Good Bye Trilogy #1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

God help me, it just kept popping back into my head, like a bug was implanted into my ear. I squeezed my head. I screamed into my pillow. I shoved my head into my stuffed animals at the wall side of my bed. I did everything I could do to detach my brain from my head.
    The next morning I cancel ed on Emmy and Angie and stayed locked up in my room. I didn’t feel like seeing anyone. Would they know? Would they be able to see that I was losing my mind? The canceling continued the following day when Emmy called. The next day? Angie.
    It was my thirteenth birthday that hot August day. I had asked Emmy and Angie over for cake and ice cream but both of them said they couldn’t. No excuses. They just couldn’t. I was confused and lonely. Mom had made the obligatory call to my favorite bakery two towns over and reserved a Boston Crème Pie Cake for that night. Other than that, it was just me and the house. All day. All alone. Happy 13th birthday to me.
    It was the middle of the afternoon when I heard a knocking at the door. I lifted up on my tippy toes to peek through the view hole and there was Jason #2 with a wrapped gift in his hand. I immediately opened the door with a wide smile.
    “Hey Jay,” I welcomed him excitedly.
    He smiled at me and handed over the small present.
    “Do you want to come in? Kent isn’t home yet but you can wait for him,” I offered the idea, as I looked down at the gift. It poorly wrapped, but it was such an unexpected surprise. It felt like it was probably a tee shirt that was bunched together to not waste too much birthday wrapping paper. Either way, someone was thinking about me that day.
    “I know he is at work. I just swung by and he wanted me to tell you that it is going to be later than usual. He feels really bad about it, Jules, so he said maybe he would take you to Dairy Queen after he gets home,” he said solemnly.
    Jason was sixteen and going into the eleventh grade. Grade cut offs put us at a four year scholastic difference, but out of all three Jasons, he was the one I got along with the best. I was old for my grade and he was young for his. Kent and he were super good at sports, and since he lived right around the corner, their age difference didn’t matter to either of them.
    “Oh, well. I guess that is as good as it is going to get today,” I shrugged, still holding the package, and looking off into space.
    Jason stepped way too close in my personal space and my heart kicked up in speed, as I realized he was coming in to kiss me. Shocked, I didn’t move my lips like I had with Frank. I didn’t let him feel my tongue with his. I just stood there, like a statue, not understanding why he was kissing me.
    He pulled back and smiled at me innocently.
    “Jules. Julia,” he started. “I have noticed that you are growing into a woman now. When Kent told me it was your birthday, well... I found a little something that you might like. You know, since you are older now.”
    He nodded his head at the package , but I was still reeling from the kiss that my big brother’s friend, who was both seriously hot and seriously older than me, had given to me. Maybe it was just a fluke. Yes, my birthday! You know, it was like ‘Hey, let’s give Julia a fifteen second kiss to make her feel like a teenager!’ Okay, it was seventeen seconds because I was counting. And I was counting because it was the only way I could maintain some semblance of sanity. Jason had just kissed me and he had given me a gift. Did he? Did he like-like me? I mentally shrugged that preposterous idea off and looked at the package. I ripped it open to find an adorable outfit. I pulled out a cute pink tank top with small boy shorts that had less material than the tank top. Jason had purchased underwear for me? No, it wasn’t underwear, but certainly I would only wear this to bed. Bed. He had gotten me sleep wear. But, why?
    I looked up to him puzzled and that is when I saw it. He had the look that Frank had at camp when he