Warped Read Online Free PDF Page B

Tessa. It figured. The one day Opal wasn’t running late and dashing in just as their English lit class started. Look busy , Tessa told herself. She hunched forward and kept her pencil moving diligently even as she stole a glance up at her friend. Opal wore a long, swirling paisley skirt and a lace-trimmed peasant blouse. A wide leather belt with a huge Harley-Davidson buckle cinched her tiny waist and complemented the black leather bolero. The combo wouldn’t have worked on anyone in the world except Opal.
    Along with being fashion fearless, Opal Kandinsky was also Tessa’s best friend, had been since second grade. Unfortunately she was also an information junkie of the worst kind, and she knew Tessa had been out with Hunter the night before. Tessa looked around, fuming. Where was Mr. Lawner? Whatever happened to teacher punctuality? Academic integrity? Early dismissal? Maybe if she was very quiet and really lucky, Opal wouldn’t even—
    “Well?” Opal was digging through the canvas messenger bag on her lap but shot the question over one shoulder. She stopped rummaging and cocked her head. Tessa could just picture the expression—one sharply curved eyebrow raised and a gleam of curiosity in her tilted green cat’s eyes. Like a gossip-hungry pixie.
    “Well what?” Tessa hissed. The pencil tip snapped under the pressure she was putting on it. She glanced down at the paper and frowned. She’d drawn only a series of wavy, crisscrossing lines. It wasn’t even a decent doodle.
    “Your date , dummy.” Opal half turned and shot Tessa a questioning look. “How’d it go? I tried your cell last night but it was off.”
    “It went fine.” Tessa folded the paper before her into a neat square, then got up to toss the scrap in the recycling bin.
    “C’mon,” Opal grumbled when Tessa got back. “You gotta give me something.”
    “Well, if you have to know . . . ”
    “And I do.”
    “It was a disaster.”
    At this Opal turned around fully. Concern clouded her small, heart-shaped face, and she pushed back her pale blond bangs as she looked at Tessa. She seemed relieved by what she saw, because she relaxed and smiled crookedly. “Disaster, huh? How bad?”
    Tessa let out a deep breath. “The truth? All I needed was CNN and the Red Cross. Maybe a helicopter with one of those grappling hook thingies.”
    Opal brought up a hand heavily beringed with silver and smothered a laugh.
    “It couldn’t have been that bad. I mean, Hunter Scoville?”
    “He’s nice,” Tessa said. “But we have nothing in common. Nothing to talk about. Let’s just leave it at that.”
    “Did you ever think,” Opal said, her eyebrows tented together, “that the guy is nervous and not up to great conversation?” She looked away. “Maybe he’s smitten.”
    “I don’t think so.” Tessa smiled to herself at the word. Smitten . So struck with love you couldn’t function? She didn’t think it applied to Hunter Scoville. Certainly not to his tongue. “That sounds so old-fashioned,” she said softly. “I wonder if people even get smitten anymore.”
    “Fine. Tell me the rest later,” Opal whispered as Mr. Lawner walked in the door.
    “There is no rest,” Tessa hissed back.
    Opal gave a “yeah, sure” smirk and turned around but whipped back. “I just remembered,” she said. “I’ve got a chemistry test next period.”
    “Right. Good luck,” Tessa said.
    Opal put out a hand. “Ahem?”
    “Ahem?”
    “The pig?” Opal gave an impatient huff.
    Tessa’s eyes widened. “Oh my gosh. Sorry.” She slipped the pig off her wrist.
    It was a bracelet of green jade beads knotted together on a black cord. The central, largest bead was carved into a fat, happy-looking pig. As a good-luck charm, the pig had been through math tests, piano recitals, even dentist appointments. When Tessa was wearing it, Opal kept her in her thoughts, and vice versa. Sometimes Tessa thought that was the real luck of the pig—having a friend who