Smart Girl Read Online Free PDF Page B

skateboard long enough to hold a family of three. After two months of working here, neither of us pay him or his hipster transportation any attention. We’ve learned to live with the super nerd testosterone that constantly permeates the air and the forty or so computer guys who are ever starstruck by any sort of uterus among them. Casidee, with her kind of alien beauty, her adorkable glasses, and the fact that she understands a lot of their esoteric geek humor, has become a sort of deity here. It was because of that understanding of geek and nerd culture that she’s sitting in front of me now.
    I’m ready to move forward with the plan I’ve concocted for Liam, and since it’s extensive, I need a partner in crime. After all, a proper heroine needs a sidekick, and neither Max nor Landon would approve of my idea. Max would have a heart attack for obvious reasons; Landon would worry that I was going about it the wrong way. Neither of them would appreciate the pageantry of the whole thing.
    Cas sets a notepad in her lap and pulls a pen out of the knot in her hair. The whole mass of dark-brown locks falls down past her shoulders like a shampoo commercial.
    Gods, why can’t I ever pull off anything so graceful?
    She looks across the desk at me expectantly as I hand over the Word doc I created. Her expression remains bland while she reads through it. At this point she’s used to oddball event themes or weird directives from me, so there’s no shock—yet.
    I wait a minute longer, wondering if my hair looks as excited as I feel, because I’m seriously fighting the urge to fidget. My outfit today says energized, focused, determined , which translates to a neon-pink, way-too-big sweater, black cigarette pants, and some kicky boots. I slide on my oversize tortoiseshell reading glasses mostly for dramatic affect.
    “Can you tell me what all of those have in common?” I ask.
    She looks at the list again.
    “They’re all famous literary romances.” Her Oklahoma twang makes the entire sentence more charming than it has a right to be. “The scenes you highlighted are”—she checks the list again—“something iconic the heroine did to garner the hero’s affection.”
    I smile happily. I knew she’d be the perfect accomplice.
    “Exactly.”
    “Are we recreating these for an upcoming event? The scene from Gone with the Wind might be difficult, but if we—” She waves the paper at me. “Can I write on this?”
    When I nod, she starts making notes in the margin. I heart her enthusiasm.
    “It might be hard to recreate the antebellum South but not impossible—”
    I pop my knuckles. It’s my office, after all, and nobody is allowed to stop me.
    “It’s not for an event.”
    She frowns in confusion.
    “Is it just some inspiration for a mood then? That seems easy enough—”
    “Not per se. It’s for me.”
    Seeing that she is still confused, I lay it all out: from the first interaction with Liam to the list in her hands and how I plan to use it to get what I want.
    “I’ve put a lot of time into this, Cas. The books are listed out in order of—I think—the most effective moments. Well, some of them got bumped to the top of the list, because I loved them regardless of how well they worked for the character in the book, but still. It’ll be a sort of punch list for things to try. What do you think?”
    She’s slowly shaking her head in denial.
    “I think this is a really, really bad idea, Miko.”
    I deny her denial by stuffing a piece of gum into my mouth.
    “This is an excellent idea,” I say around a bubble. “The best I’ve ever had.”
    “I don’t think I can—”
    “What did you say to me, Casidee Taylor? When you applied to be our part-time, sadly underpaid assistant and I told you I was concerned that you didn’t have enough experience, what did you say?”
    “But this is—”
    “‘I’ll do anything,’ you said. ‘I’m a hard worker and I want to learn everything you have to teach me and