Under My Skin Read Online Free PDF Page A

like Melody, Eleanor and Keira, along with their uniformly hot boyfriends, sat on the cafeteria steps. Hot jocks were allowed to join them, but ugly jocks (such as the plain-Janes on the lacrosse team) hung out by the tennis courts. Band and choir members mostly loitered in the courtyard by the fountain, stoners behind the toilets. That just left their little area for waifs and strays – they weren’t some inspirational band of misfit outsiders, however, they were just disparate individuals who tolerated each other because there’s safety in numbers.
    Sally was aware that, although SVHS was a daily nightmare, she didn’t get nearly as much grief as some of her periphery friends. She was lucky in that a lot of the A-Listers didn’t know she existed. Poor Grace Doulton with her acne, or overweight Dora Petrowski, or effeminate Joshua Parnell – they really got it bad.
    Sally and Stan sat with a few of their lesson friends on the benches. Stan had devised the term ‘lesson friend’ as someone who you sit with for social protection purposes, but make no plans to see outside of school. As Sally didn’t have Jennie or Stan in all of her classes, these B-List friends were important to her.
    â€˜What’s your day like?’ Stan asked.
    â€˜Pretty sucky. Double maths first.’
    â€˜But I’ll see you third period, right?’
    â€˜Yeah. You can carry on your story.’ In the margins of her French notepad, Stan was writing some
Satanville
fanfic. It was actually pretty good – another little thing to look forward to, another breadcrumb to lead her through the day.
    Stan was about to reply when they saw Jennie and Kyle hurrying across the lawn towards the library. Sometimes Kyle hung out with them, sometimes he loitered by the fountain. He carried his guitar on his back, dyed jet black hair blowing over his face. Sally swallowed back a bitter taste as he approached. He really did think he was the reincarnated spirit of Kurt Cobain and it made her sick.
    He and Jennie were clearly having some sort of spat. He wasn’t so much holding her hand as dragging her across the grass. Out of earshot, Kyle whispered something in Jennie’s ear before releasing her from his grasp. After a pause they walked the rest of the way side by side. Jennie nodded at whatever it was he was saying before smiling broadly and almost skipping the rest of the way to the table, as if he’d commanded her to cheer up. ‘Hey, guys!’
    Sparkle, Jennie, sparkle.
    Stan frowned. ‘You OK?’
    â€˜Yeah, I’m fine!’ Jenny said with a rictus grin.
    Sally decided not to let it drop. ‘What was that about?’
    â€˜Nothing. Everything’s fine.’ Kyle answered on her behalf. ‘Right, babe?’
    â€˜Right.’ Jennie fiddled with the hem of her nautical baby-doll dress. ‘I made us late. Kyle was supposed to drop some sheet music off but —’
    â€˜It’s no biggy.’ Kyle wrapped an arm around her shoulder. ‘I’ll do it at break.’ He looked directly at Stan. ‘You know what girls are like. She was getting all stressed out and I was, like, dude, chill.’
    â€˜Right,’ Stan said, apparently uncomfortable at being dragged into it.
    â€˜We made the bell, so it’s all fine.’ Jennie smiled but her shoulders were rigid. Sally longed to know exactly what words he’d whispered in her ear. Standard Jennie and Kyle: they were tactile and smiley but a weird vibe seemed to follow them around.
    Jennie looked right at her. ‘Hey, Sal, did you see the cast list yet?’
    â€˜What? No. Is it up already?’
    â€˜According to Becca it is. She ran off to see if her name was on the list a minute ago.’
    Sally sprang off the bench, her palms suddenly sweaty. ‘Oh, OK. I guess I should go check, then.’
    â€˜Want us to come with you?’ Stan asked, swinging his rucksack onto his