Odd Girl In by Jo Whittemore

Author:Jo Whittemore
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin
Published: 2011-07-26T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

Saturday night Dad drove me and my cake to Chloe’s. Even before I got out of the car, we could hear squeals and laughter accompanied by bad, bad singing.

Dad cleared his throat. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Oh, yeah!” I said with way more enthusiasm than either of us found believable. “I mean, it’ll be fine. I should really try this socializing thing.”

He kissed my forehead. “I’m proud of you. Have fun.”

Like a soldier heading into battle, I slung my duffle bag over my shoulder and steeled myself for an assault of perfume and powder puffs. For protection, I held the carrot cake straight out in front of me.

I hadn’t even knocked before the door was thrown open by two girls in bathing suits and towels. They giggled and pulled me into the house.

“Get changed, Alex! Everyone’s out by the pool,” said Claire from hockey boosters.

“But it’s almost October,” I said.

“It’s a heated pool,” Claire said.

“Ooh, cake!” said the other girl, taking it from me. “Who wants a sugar rush?” she called, hurrying toward the back door with Claire.

Chloe wandered in from another room. “Hey, Alex! I’m so glad you could make it!” She took my duffle bag and motioned for me to follow her downstairs.

“Thanks again for what you did in Champs the other day,” I said. “Ms. Success didn’t even make me do a leadership task.”

The expressions on my brothers’ faces had been priceless when I told them.

Chloe waved my thanks away. “That’s what friends are for. We look out for one another.”

A twinge of guilt rumbled through my stomach and I tried to shake it off. Technically, I hadn’t done anything wrong. I just hadn’t told Chloe about one little get-together with Trevor. And since Emily was involved, Chloe probably wouldn’t have even wanted to go.

I distracted myself from the feeling by taking in all the plaques and ribbons decorating the wall of the stairwell. At the base of the stairs stood a trophy case half-filled with gold and silver cups.

“Wow. You have a lot of awards,” I said.

“I like to win,” she said simply. “And soon I’ll have another trophy to add to my collection when we take the Champs championship.” She nudged me. “Right?”

“Huh? Oh, right!” I’d forgotten our agreement to compete together. “We’ll show those other ‘Champs.’” I put the word in air quotes.

“Come on. We can put your stuff in the rec room,” Chloe said, leading me inside. “Everyone’s in the pool. It’s heated, you know.”

“So I’ve heard. And everyone’s there?” I asked, ducking to avoid a row of balloons taped above the archway.

“Well almost …” Chloe smirked and dropped my bag in an empty corner beside a cot. The cot was covered with a pastel quilt, neatly tucked in at the corners, and a ruffled pillow embroidered with a gigantic, gold E.

Even without the monogrammed clue, I would have been able to guess who it belonged to. The rest of the room was wall-to-wall sleeping bags decorated with movie stars, pop stars, and Japanese cartoons.

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