The Tragedy of Loving Jamie Clarke Read Online Free PDF

wanted to go otherwise I would not have been able to,” Amber raises her hands to use air quotes, “talk you into this.”
    “Fine. Give me that,” I say swiping from her hands the cream lace dress that she had just pulled out of the closet. Amber folds her arms and taps her foot on the ground impatiently. “Unless you plan on throwing dollar bills at me, turn around so I can change.” She does.
    I slide into the dress, which surprisingly goes on easily, I really thought the lace would get stuck on the brace and tear apart. Lucky break I guess. I flip my hair so none of the stragglers get caught between my skin, the brace and the dress. Amber is still standing with her arms folded and tapping her foot impatiently but she has her eyes closed tightly as if loosening them will reveal her naked friend. Since she talked me into going tonight, sort of, it’s time for a little payback. I’m not going to tell her it’s okay to look, not yet. I wonder how long she’ll stand like that until she realizes I’m messing with her. I tiptoe over to the floor length mirror that my father nailed to the back of my closet door.
    “Leave it down,” Amber says as I pull my hair up then let it down and pull it up again.
    Damn, she figured out that I was messing with her.
    “Yeah, but I look so young with it down. I feel like I’d be on a play date rather than a date, date.”
    I have the type of face that makes me look at least three, sometimes, five years younger than I really am. I complain about it a lot but everyone over thirty always tells me, “You’re going to be grateful for it when you get to be my age.” Well that might be true but I am not grateful for it now. I’m 17-years-old but still get carded at R-rated movies. Talk about embarrassing. Who gets carded at movies anymore?
    “You’re impossible,” Amber says grabbing a butterfly clip off of the dresser. She pads toward me with annoyed determination and slaps my hands away from my hair as she ties it up in a messy ponytail using the clip to hold it in place. “There, better?”
    Sort of, now if I could do something about the plainness of my face and the metallic rods that shout, “Look at us!” I slip into the white flats that Amber has already pulled off of the shoe rack hanging on my bedroom door and physically I am ready.  
    “You’re acting as if you’ve never been on a date before, Ape.”
    She’s right, this isn’t my first date. When Charlie and I were together we had many dates and we even had a first date but I was never this nervous with him. He was a fine enough boyfriend and not a bad looking guy but that relationship was forced; two friends who thought dating might be fun. And it was...for Charlie. To me he was and will always be the boy who used to pick his nose and then eat whatever came out.
    Jamie is different. I get those butterflies in my stomach when I think about him and I was immediately picturing what it would be like to kiss him as soon as I saw him walk into Mrs. Honor’s class yesterday. Everyone waits for that moment in their lives when they know everything is about to change. Whether it be good or bad they know that after that moment nothing they knew will ever be the same again. And yesterday I had that moment.
    Amber’s voice comes back like a radio being turned louder. Apparently she has been talking to me but I haven’t been listening.
    “Are you even hearing me?” Amber says as her voice regains its full and obnoxious volume.
    “What?” I say, realizing that I’ve been staring at my reflection this entire time. “Sorry I didn’t hear you.”
    “Good grief, April, take a picture it lasts longer.”
    I flatten my dress and head out of the room. Amber follow me down the stairs and into the kitchen where my parents have left out last night’s dinner; turkey meatloaf. There’s a note attached to the plate that reads:
    April,
    This is just in case you’re hungry after your big date. Dad and I will be home tomorrow