Too Good to Be True Read Online Free PDF Page B

away.
    â€œHe lives next door to me,” I said, like it was no big deal. But I could tell Emily thought it was.
    â€œHe called you California!” she said, and I could tell I wasn’t the only one who thought my nickname was cute. While we were putting on our dance clothes, Emily kept going on about the fact that Matt was definitely flirting with me. Some of the older girls wanted to know who we were talking about, but I gave Emily a look to keep her mouth shut.
    â€œIt was nothing,” I whispered.
    But Emily just laughed and said it didn’t seem like nothing to her.
    I’m not sure what it seemed like.

Dance is the hidden language of the soul.
    â€”Martha Graham
Wednesday, September 11, 7:52 P.M .
In my bathtub
    I’m getting good at writing while I’m in the bathtub. I don’t have a choice. My body is so sore from dancing. I’ve been spending a lot of time here lately, soaking in Epsom salts. Ms. Baumann said they help alleviate muscle ache. I don’t even get what they are, but I don’t care as long as they work. Every muscle in my body aches.
    It’s crazy how hard Ms. Baumann makes us work. She’s a drill sergeant. Today she reminded us our first competition is in two and a half weeks. “I want the Faraway team ready!” she said. Then she made a long speech about putting our all into our dance. She made us do every step over and over again until everyone got it right.
    Still, I feel like I could look a lot better. It’s not that I’m not improving. I can tell I am, a little bit, and I think other people can tell too. Today, Mady told me she and Bree think I’m getting better, and one of the ninth graders, Chloe, was really encouraging. “Keep up the good work, April!” she said like she could tell how hard I’ve been trying to learn the steps.
    The problem is I still don’t look as good as I’d like to when I dance. Some girls (Emily) seem to have natural dance ability. Some girls (me) have to work hard to get better, but no matter how hard I work, I think I still look like the little girl who used to dance around our living room like a spaz, putting on shows for my parents.
    Today, after practice, I actually prayed, “Dear God, could you please make me look naturally graceful and coordinated when I move?” But for some reason, when I said it, I thought about Brynn and instead decided to ask for things to just be normal again between us.
    They’re still not. We talk if we’re both in the same place, like at a table in the cafeteria where it would be totally weird if we didn’t talk. But it’sonly about stuff like school and homework, and I’m the one who does most of the talking. I can tell Brynn wants to say as little to me as possible, and she never says anything about dance. I keep waiting for Brynn to “come around” like Billy said she would, but I’m not so sure it’s going to happen.
    What I am sure about is that I have to get out of this bathtub soon or May and June are going to get in here with me. They just banged on the door and threatened to do it.
Thursday, September 12, 10:32 P.M .
In bed
    I just got off the phone with Billy. I was telling him how hard we’ve been working on our dances for the competition. I told him there’s a hip-hop dance and a jazz dance and the jazz dance is super hard because there are three leaps in it and I suck at doing them. But we hung up because Billy wasn’t getting it and I was practically falling asleep (from too much sucky leaping).
Friday, September 13, 5:57 P.M .
In a chair on my patio
    Today on the way home from dance I told Emily, “When I leap, my feet leave the ground, but I don’t go anywhere. I get no height.”
    Emily said, “Leaps are really hard.” Then she smiled at me like she had a great idea. “Why don’t you come to my house tomorrow? I’ll show you some tricks that will