The Heartbreakers Read Online Free PDF Page A

seat in the breakfast nook with Kelly. “Tell them,” she said to Sydney, then took a spoonful of ice cream.
    Sydney sat down, too, and Alexia took the seat next to her.
    â€œDrew and I got into a fight.”
    â€œA fatal fight,” Raven said.
    Kelly gasped. “He broke up with you?”
    â€œNot really,” Sydney argued. “I mean, we’ll make up tomorrow and everything will be fine.”
    Raven shrugged, cleaning her spoon off. “Well, Caleb did break up with me.”
    Alexia frowned. “What?”
    She got another scoop of ice cream. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
    â€œThis is really weird,” Kelly said, heaping her spoon with ice cream. “Will sort of broke up with me, too. Not that we were together in the first place. It’s just…it’s over.”
    Alexia looked around the table. Sydney’s eyes and nose were red from crying. Kelly shoveled more Chunky Monkey in her mouth than Ben & Jerry could have ever hoped for. Raven avoided eye contact, probably hoping that her stoic expression masked the real heartbreak she felt at being dumped.
    Their boyfriends had broken up with them all on the same night.
    â€œMaybe lightning did strike,” Alexia muttered.
    An hour later, the Chunky Monkey was gone and all four girls were in the living room. The TV played a commercial for a Hallmark Valentine’s Day teddy bear. Raven groaned and flipped the channel to Fuse. “It’s a dumb holiday,” she muttered as she settled back into the crook of the couch.
    Sydney sat at the other end of the couch hugging an Asian throw pillow to her chest. Her knees were drawn close as if she was trying to fold into herself. She sucked in several sharp breaths, almost choking herself with them. Fat tears rolled down her flushed cheeks. “I just can’t believe he went to the party without me.”
    Raven pulled the rubber band from her ponytail and shook her hair out. Long, ink-black waves covered her shoulders. Alexia had always been jealous of Raven’s hair.
    â€œIf it makes you feel better,” Raven said, “he didn’t appear to be with anyone.”
    But Sydney just cried more and Alexia reached over to the end table to grab another wad of tissue.
    â€œI shouldn’t have let him leave.”
    Alexia crossed her legs beneath her as she sat on the couch. “Begging for him to reconsider would have been bad. You would have regretted giving him that much power over you.”
    While Alexia sympathized with Sydney—with all three girls—she couldn’t relate because she’d never had a boyfriend. Let alone one that stuck around for two years. It wasn’t for a lack of good looks. She had a heart-shaped face, wide, caramel-colored eyes, and vivid red hair.
    All three of her best friends said she was a rare beauty. She was just too shy to show it off. Maybe they were right, but while physical attributes were easy to change, introverted tendencies were not.
    Having no boyfriend was like getting picked last in gym class. She felt like such a loser. And feeling like a loser only made her shier.
    Sydney grabbed a tissue and blew her nose, which was red and raw from too much wiping. “I wish there was some quick fix to all of this. We’ve been fighting so much lately. I just want the feeling I had when we first got together. You know? That good feeling?”
    Alexia shook her head. She had no clue what Sydney was talking about, but she could take a guess at what the answer should be. “Your relationship will never be the same way it was when you guys were a new couple.”
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œIt just won’t.”
    Raven picked at some split ends. “You could get a new guy.”
    Sydney shook her head. “I don’t need a new guy.”
    Kelly said, “I think Will has a new girl already. That really skinny girl, Brittany?”
    Raven groaned. “She’s taking AP