The Gossip Web Read Online Free PDF

direction, only to find him staring at me. Blushing, I moved my eyes away and started fixing my hair to distract my concentration off of my pounding heart. I debated with the idea of glancing back over at him, but I decided against it. I didn’t want to seem like a stalker or anything.
    The minutes passed by agonizingly slow, and when the bell for the next class rang, I quickly hurried out into the hall with the rest of the class. Heidi walked next to me, blabbing about Jason’s relationship with some girl in her drama class, but I wasn’t really hearing what she was saying. My thoughts were occupied by the news of the winter formal, and by Trace as he walked in front of me down the hall. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t look away. Even his backside was lovely.
    I watched him hang his bag nonchalantly over one shoulder as he talked with Freddie. Then, suddenly, as if he could feel my eyes on him, he turned his head around and stared in my direction. I bit my lip as we locked eyes, and I could feel tiny butterflies tickle the inside of my stomach. It seemed as if time stopped as we stared at each other, but then he smiled suddenly and turned back around, and our moment was over. I frowned and wished he would’ve came over to say hello.
    “I’ll catch you later, Jade,” Heidi said before walking off in the direction of the auditorium, where the drama class usually met. I stumbled to history, forgetting about what Ms. Heller had said the day before when she discussed the lesson plan for today. All I could concentrate on was Trace and why he had looked at me the way he did earlier. It was a long shot but maybe, hopefully, he was thinking the same thing I was. Which was simply this: how much I wanted him to ask me to the dance.
    Of course, it was just a stupid fantasy. He was never going to ask me to that dance. He was Trace Gibson and I was Jade Cannon. I knew my status and where I stood. No matter how much I wanted him, it was never going to happen.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    5
     
     
    LATER THAT AFTERNOON , Trace approached me before third period. I was at my locker, checking my reflection in the mirror that hung on the inside of the metal door. It was never my idea to put a mirror in there because I could really care less how I looked, but since Heidi and I shared it, she insisted that we get one. Knowing how Heidi operates, I agreed. If she couldn’t check to see if her face was perfect 24/7, she would go completely insane and her whole world would end. Besides, letting Heidi decorate it proved to be beneficial. Not only was it clean, neat, and didn’t reek of gym socks, but the people who passed by always gave us props for its dazzling appeal.    
    While I applied a small amount of cherry Chap Stick to my lips, I watched as he strolled towards me, looking hotter than humanly possible. I almost swooned on the spot. After making eye contact with him through the mirror, I panicked and closed the door swiftly, overlooking the hand that was rested on the inside near the bottom.
    “Ouch!” I yelled loudly, pulling my throbbing hand out of the locker. I tried my best not to cry as I rubbed it, but I couldn’t stop the few tears that had slyly slipped out of the corner of my eye and down my cheek. It hurt like hell and I cursed myself for being such a klutz.
    “Are you okay?” I heard Trace ask, his tone sounding concerned.
    Trying to ignore the pain from my crippled left hand, I mumbled, “Yeah. I just slammed my hand with the locker door.”
    He grinned at me and chuckled, “You really know how to grab people’s attention, don‘t you, Jade?”
    Distracted by the aching from my hand, and his manly appeal, I barely heard what he had said. “What are you talking about?” I asked him.
    Trace’s eyes shifted left and right, and I too looked in both directions, finding people staring at me, pointing and laughing. I felt like déjà vu had just slapped me in the face, and I was forced to re-encounter