The New Guy Read Online Free PDF

pillow. “Alex Powell. Alex. Freaking. Powell.”
    “No,” I say, and it sounds wimpy, so I keep going. “No no no no nooooo.”
    That may have somehow sounded wimpier.
    “Jules. I know some things about boys. Not everything, but enough, and that is how boys act, trust me.”
    I manage to fit into the space between Daisy and Peanut. “What are you even saying? What is how boys act?”
    “Jules, you’re ranked first in our class. You’ll be our valedictorian and make a lovely and wise speech we’ll allremember throughout our whole lives. So don’t play dumb all of a sudden.”
    “I’m not playing!” I run my hand over Peanut’s soft tan fur. “I don’t want to talk about this either. I know he acted nice. I also know it doesn’t mean anything. And acting like it does feels… like I’m cheating, or something. Boys like Alex Powell don’t…”
    “To be fair we don’t have that much reference material on boys like Alex Powell,” Sadie says. “If I drop it, can I at least reserve the right to say
I told you so
later?”
    “If it makes you stop talking? Yes.”
    “I’ll take that as a victory.”

CHAPTER FOUR
    Natalie and I walk into cellular and molecular biology at the same time the next day, and while ignoring each other is pretty much how we normally work, I’m not sure I can today.
    “Hi,” I say.
    “Congratulations, Julia,” she says, even though
who calls me that?
“I hear Mr. Wheeler made you editor.”
    I still have the impulse to explain the whole technicality thing to her. But she’s the very last person who requires that explanation. “Yeah.”
    She walks past me and takes her seat. I try not to frown at how unilluminated I am over this situation, but considering how bad I am at controlling my face, I’m sure I frown.

    After fourth period, I stop off at my locker to put away my newspaper stuff on my way to the cafeteria. I do considerkeeping my red notebook with me to take some notes. Our table isn’t exactly quiet, but I’ve found it’s pretty easy to let the couples self-maintain and therefore get work done.
    “Hey, Jules.” Alex walks right up to me. “Big liaison business today?”
    “No liaison business at all today,” I say. “We only have meetings the first Monday of each month. Are you finding your way around all right? If you have any questions, any liaison or I could—”
    “I’m actually doing fine,” he says. Last night Sadie and I pulled up all the official Chaos 4 All music videos we could find on VidLook (there were only four, and three of those we’d never seen before). I feel a sense of guilt that we watched all of them (some of them up to six times), but they are just there out in the world for anyone to view.
    Also, right now, we’re just here out in the world—out in the hallways of Eagle Vista Academy, at least—for anyone to view. I don’t think it’s my imagination that everyone who walks past stares first at Alex, and then at me to figure out why he’d be talking to Jules McAllister-Morgan.
    Alex reaches mere centimeters past me and taps the photo of Daisy and Peanut taped up in my locker. “Who are those?”
    “Dogs,” I say. “My dogs, I mean, not just, like, random dogs. Ha-ha, why would I have pictures of random dogs?”
    “I don’t know, they seem cool, why not? We’ve moved a lot, so my parents’ official rule is no pets.” He’s so close to me right now, and it’s hard not to stare at his face. I’m talllike Darcy—we’re both five foot nine—but Alex is taller. His eyes are such a warm shade of brown, like if you could make a brown-colored gold. Which doesn’t make sense, I know, but that’s all I can think of as I look into them and—oh my god, I am standing near a boy and just flat-out looking into his eyes as if this is a thing I now do.
    “Juuuuuules!” Sadie dashes up and makes a sudden stop, and I can’t deny that at this very moment her suspicions or opinions about Alex Powell and his feelings toward me