Six Steps to a Girl Read Online Free PDF Page A

I’m grounded.” I wasn’t sure whether I felt more relieved or disappointed.
    Ryan didn’t look surprised. “We’ll come to you, then,” he said.
    “We?” I said. “Who’s ‘we’?”
    But Ryan had already darted off into the crowds.
    I felt anxious for the rest of the day. What was Ryan planning? Who was he going to bring with him? I wished I’d told him to piss off, straight out, when I’d had the chance.
    He turned up about an hour after Chloe and I got home from school. My stomach twisted uncomfortably as I opened the door.
    Ryan was with two other boys from his class. A skinny, red-haired geek with glasses known – for some reason – as Numbers, and a lumbering, acne-ridden giant called Tony. They didn’t look like the sort of people Ryan usually hung out with.
    “Hi Luke,” Ryan said cheerily. “I brought a couple of mates with me. Hope that’s OK. These two already know about the Six Steps. Numbers is here to boast. Tones is here ’cause I asked him and he owes me.”
    I could feel my face reddening. He hadn’t said anything to them about me and Eve, had he? “I don’t—”
    “Don’t worry – they don’t know any details,” Ryan said. “So, can we come in?”
    Part of me wanted to shut the door in his face. But, though I hated to admit it, I was curious. I decided I’d listen to whatever Ryan’s six stupid steps were – then chuck him and his loser friends out.
    “OK,” I said. “But I haven’t got much time.”
    I led them into the living room. Ryan immediately sprawled across one of the sofas. “The first thing you should know,” he said, “is that I know what I’m talking about. I’ve had more hot girls than anyone else in our year.”
    “Except me,” Numbers said proudly.
    I stared at him. Numbers was, frankly, scrawny. And he looked about eleven. There was no way he’d ever even held hands with a girl.
    “I don’t think so.” Ryan turned to me. “Unlike Numbers here, I go for quality as well as quantity. Premiership babes only, like Kelly Simmonds and Jade Aziki.”
    My mouth fell open. Kelly and Jade were the best-looking girls in Ryan’s class. No one I knew had come close to even getting a snog off them.
    “Look.” Ryan produced a mobile from his pocket. He handed it to me. “Look at numbers six through to fifteen.”
    I clicked through the pictures. There was Ryan with his arms round a succession of girls. Not just Jade and Kelly, but all sorts of others too. Most of them not even at our school.
    “It’s sort of my business catalogue,” Ryan said, modestly.
    “This doesn’t prove anything,” I said, though privately I was impressed.
    “I’ve snogged seventy-six girls since November third,” Numbers smirked.
    “All thanks to the Six Steps,” Ryan added.
    “ ’S true,” grunted Tony from Dad’s armchair. “I done all the Steps except the last one. ’S changed my life.”
    I stared at him. Tony’s face was like a pizza, so covered in spots there was hardly any clear skin visible underneath. If Ryan’s stupid plan could help Tony get a girl, maybe there was something in it.
    “Numbers. Tones,” Ryan said briskly. “Give us a few minutes, would you?”
    They went out of the room. Ryan leaned forwards, all serious. “OK, those guys couldn’t pull Eve Ripley if they were the last males on earth. But you can, if you listen to me. Now, the first thing I need is a history,” he said. “Who’ve you been out with? How long did it last? How far did you get?”
    “I’m not telling you that.” I could feel myself going red. With anyone else I’d just have exaggerated my experiences. Enjoyed doing it, in fact. But something told me Ryan would know if I lied.
    Ryan sighed. “If you’re not prepared to be open with me, I can’t help you.”
    My temper rose. “Who says I want your help? Coming here with your freak-show friends. I’m doing fine by myself.”
    Ryan leaned back on the sofa. He looked neither upset nor angry at my outburst.