Spiraling Read Online Free PDF Page A

before I said hello.
    “What’s up, Tori?” Chad turned toward me.
    “Do you think you could give me a ride?” I asked. “Jason said practice was cancelled because of the rain.”
    He shook his head. “Andy and I are hitting the weight room.”
    “You could take me home and then come back.”
    “I don’t have time. Why don’t you see if your brother will give you a ride?”
    He shut his locker. Then he turned and started talking to Andy again as if I wasn’t there. I looked around, feeling uncomfortable. Thankfully, Joy walked down the hall a few feet away. She may not have been my first choice for an escape route, but she was better than nothing. Catching up with her, I put on my best smile.
    “Hey, Joy,” I said. “Missed you at lunch today.”
    “I sat with Tracy and Jenna,” she replied.
    “Oh.”
    I glanced at the crowd gathering in the commons area. Jeremiah Turley rocked the vending machine back and forth in order to dislodge a bag of potato chips. He was a gigantic boy—built like a linebacker with an overpowering personality and violent reputation. Of all the people in school, he was my least favorite. I generally went out of my way to avoid coming in contact with him.
    “There you go,” he said as he set the vending machine back on all four legs.
    “Thanks, Jer,” Becky Phillips replied.
    Becky was Kennedy’s older sister and my brother’s best friend. She had shoulder-length dark hair that she kept in a ponytail at the base of her neck and always dressed like she was about to go to a college football game. As soon as she retrieved her chips from the bin at the bottom of the vending machine, she sat down at the junior table with my brother.
    “You know, Becky might actually be pretty if she didn’t dress like a guy,” I said, turning back to Joy.
    “I think she’s pretty,” Joy replied.
    “Yeah, she is, but she could be really pretty, you know. If she just dressed a bit better and wore a little make-up. It’s like she just doesn’t care.”
    “Maybe she doesn’t. Some girls don’t.”
    “Like Louisa Wolfram?”
    Joy looked at me. “What’s wrong with Louisa Wolfram?”
    “Did you see what she was wearing today?”
    Joy shook her head. “I didn’t notice. What was wrong with it?”
    “Well, for starters, she didn’t match. Her pants were like baby poop green and her shirt was this terrible orange color. I would shoot myself if I ever even thought about walking out of the house like that.”
    “Like I said, some people aren’t concerned with appearances.”
    “Everyone is concerned about appearance,” I said. “I think she goes out of her way to look awful so people think she doesn’t care. You can’t look that hideous without trying.”
    “Maybe she just puts on the first thing she touches, like she says.”
    “That might be, but she has to get those clothes somewhere. She purposely buys the most revolting things she can find. She has to. Even a blind monkey could look nice if they had the right wardrobe.”
    “A blind monkey?” Joy laughed as we turned the corner into the side hall. I could hear her chuckling as I unsuccessfully tried my locker combination. Spinning it back to zero, I started again, sure I’d gotten the right numbers, but it wouldn’t open.
    “Dang it.” I kicked my locker. “Stupid thing.” With the day I’d had, it didn’t surprise me that my locker malfunctioned. At least once a week, it refused to open and I’d be late for class fighting with it.
    “Would you like some help?” an unfamiliar boy asked.
    Without looking up all I could see was a faded black t-shirt and tattered jeans. It was the typical apparel of the less-than-desirable portion of the student body. They weren’t people I liked being around and having one less than a foot away made me cringe.
    “I’m fine,” I said, hoping he would go away.
    I pulled the latch on my locker door and got it to open. As I put my books in my bag, I could see the scruffily-dressed boy