The Diary of Lexi Ashford (Lexi Ashford: Part One) Read Online Free PDF Page A

know you’re not okay,” she said. “You’ve been lying on a bathroom floor that I’m pretty sure no one has ever cleaned, you smell like vomit, and you look like shit.”
    Her bluntness was like a slap across the face, but it did the job. I sucked it up, took a shower, sobered up, and mopped the floor for the first time since I moved in.
    “What am I going to do without you?” I say to Sophie with a heavyhearted sigh.
    “Lexi, you’re only moving a few hours away.” She picks up a garbage bag from off the kitchen floor. “And it’s only temporary. Besides, I think it might be good for you to get a little restart. Your life is so scattered all the time.”
    “It’s not that scattered,” I argue, a little offended. “I’m just going through some stuff. That’s all.”
    “I didn’t say it to upset you, but sometimes”—she pauses, wavering—“you don’t make the best choices, and I don’t think sugar-coating it is going to help you clean up your life.”
    “Hey, sometimes it’s not my fault,” I protest. “Sometimes, stuff just happens, like the rent thing. Not my fault.”
    “You could’ve checked your bank account more,” she says, setting the garbage bag by the front door. “And that thing with the guy and the birds; I told you not to give him money.”
    “But his birds were starving. I felt so bad for him. And he had that glass eye that wouldn’t focus on anything. It was so sad and confused the birds. They kept flying away from him.”
    “Honey, I don’t know what the eye thing has to do with this, but those birds were stray pigeons. He didn’t need the money to feed them. He played you.”
    “Okay … but that was one time. It’s not like I do stuff like that all the time.”
    Her brows elevate. “What about the woman you gave money to who was making the largest quilt with toilet paper?”
    I let my head fall back, grunting in frustration. “She seemed like a go-getter, and it sounded like a cool project. Plus, she was nice and picked up that candy bar I dropped.”
    She sighs. “You trust people too much, like Max. I knew that guy was using you, but you only saw what you wanted to.”
    “Okay, I’ll admit I knew Max was a douchebag, but the rest of the stuff…” I shrug. “I like helping people out, okay? I’ve been that weirdo with dreams before. Only, instead of a toilet paper quilt, mine was getting out of Hellville.” I sink down onto a barstool. “What if I move back there, and my soul is sucked lifeless, and I never leave? Because that’s what Hellville does to you. People who live there will always live there, and nothing exciting ever happens. I’ll probably die of boredom.”
    “That’s not true.” Amusement glimmers in her eyes. “What about all those contests they have? I mean, come on. The annual Making a Dress out of Ribbons contest? That sounds like potential excitement. And the Shining Unicorn Collecting Cult? You could always join that. Didn’t you say they had their meetings at your mom’s house?”
    “It’s the Shimmering Unicorn Collection Cult,” I correct her, biting back a grin. “And you know I’m too flaky to make a commitment to a cult.”
    “Well, I’m sure they’re not really a cult,” she says. “Just a bunch of women who like unicorns.”
    “I don’t know about that. They had these super exclusive meetings in my mom’s basement. They’d lock themselves down there for hours and come out with glitter all over their faces, smelling like frosting and looking high.”
    Her eyes widen. “What?”
    “True story.” I pull my behind off the barstool. “You can’t make this shit up, Soph. Weird stuff goes on in Fairville. And not weird, fun stuff, but unnaturally weird, what-the-hell-is-going-on, did-the-whole-town-get-high kind of stuff.”
    “Okay, but still  … Look at the bright side: you’ll only be there for a month, two months tops. That’s all.” She drapes her free arm around me. “And if you don’t come