The New Guy Read Online Free PDF Page A

hint that it would be good to take a break and go outside or to hang out at Sadie’s, but I know that Darcy always understands that I don’t have time for breaks.
    “Boys are actually pretty easy to fit in a schedule,” Mom continues. “When I was in high school—”
    “Mom. I don’t want to hear about fitting in boys. I shouldn’t have brought this up at all. I really just want to make meatballs, okay?”
    Mom mimes zipping her lips before getting the pan ready on the stove. Now that everything’s mixed, we roll the meatballs and put them into the oven. Then I fill a pot with tomato sauce we canned last summer with tomatoes from our garden. As I’m pulling vegetables out of the refrigerator to make a salad, the front door opens and Darcy walks in carrying a bakery box from the Alcove.
    “Congratulations,” she says before presenting the box to me. I can feel it coming, but I still look inside. More cupcakes!
Four
cupcakes! Darcy barely even believes in processed sugar, but here they are, staring at me.
    “We’re so proud of you,” Mom says, taking a break from meatball business and walking over from the counter to stand next to Darcy. Then they just
stare at me
in the glowing way they do sometimes, and I’m not sure what to do, so I just take the box from Darcy and stand there.
    “It was a technicality,” I say to Darcy. “Did Mom explain that?”
    Darcy frowns. “What do you mean?”
    I repeat the information for her, and I wait for her face to reflect what’s in my heart. But before long she’s back to glowing again.
    “It’s not a technicality,” she says. “Be proud of yourself.”
    Be proud of yourself
sounds nice, but not necessarily when Darcy commands it.
    Darcy takes over for me on salad duty, and I decide to check my phone. Sadie has messaged me twice more: I’m serious about Alex you know!! with a kissy-face emoji I’ve never seen before, and WHY ARE YOU IGNORING ME??? I’m coming over! I’m worried!
    “Oh no,” I say aloud. “I’m afraid Sadie might be coming over.”
    “That’s great,” Mom says.
    “She can have the fourth cupcake,” Darcy says. “I was going to give it to Joe otherwise.”
    I don’t want Sadie interrupting my evening, but it’s a much better prospect than walking a lone cupcake over to Mr. Wheeler’s and pretending like we don’t hear his gloomy indie rock mourning over the speakers.
    The doorbell rings while we’re taking the broccoli off the stove, and the meatballs are nearly ready. I’m currently managing the broccoli, so Mom lets Sadie in.
    “Oh my god, it smells amazing in here,” Sadie says as she walks into the kitchen. “Do you know what my family is having for dinner tonight? Turkey sandwiches. Sandwiches! A sandwich can’t be dinner!”
    “Your mother makes very good sandwiches,” Darcy tells her. “You’ll find no sympathy here.”
    Sadie opens the utensil drawer and starts pulling out forks, spoons, and knives to set the table. “Soooo… how did it go? Can we talk about it?”
    I open my mouth to speak, but I’m still figuring out the first word when of course I don’t have to.
    “She got it,” Mom says. “Not that any of us should be surprised.”
    “Not at all!” Sadie flings the silverware onto the table and throws her arms around me. “Yay! You did it! I told you you’d get it over Natalie.”
    “I didn’t, okay? Can we just all acknowledge that?” I explain for the billionth time. Why doesn’t anyone understand the full scope of the situation like I do?

    After dinner, Sadie and I walk up to my room. Peanut and Daisy follow and take their favorite spots on my bed before we can sit down. I accept where I fall on the chain of command compared to dogs in this house.
    “I seriously don’t want to talk any more about it,” I say. “It’s all been sullied.”
    “Seriously, Jules, I didn’t come up here to talk about the paper. Wait, did you just say
sullied
?” She laughs and leans over to use Daisy as a