One Trick Pony by Daniella Brodsky

Author:Daniella Brodsky
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780375890628
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2007-11-13T00:00:00+00:00

16

As she padded down the stairs for school the next day, in a new pair of gray skinny jeans and a black sweater vest over a slim white satin blouse, Kate was sluggish and annoyed and went so far as to ask Selma to feel her head to see whether she had a fever.

“You crazy?” Selma asked. “Ice cold. You’re a frozen margarita!” She shook her head—her tight black bun didn’t move a centimeter—and walked toward the kitchen, her generous silhouette shrinking with each soundless step. But she didn’t walk away without offering a bit of insight. “Look inside, Kate, inside you’ll find the problem.” Her dark eyes were serious.

Selma was always saying that kind of hokey greeting-card crap, so why did it bother Kate so much today? She turned to the mirror mosaic to watch herself shrug her coat over her shoulders. The hundreds of triangular shards around the border of the mirror distorted her beyond belief. Kate was practically unrecognizable to herself—her nose off to the side, just one eye, wavy lines in place of her perfectly straight ones—but then right in the middle, where the mirror was an ordinary mirror, Kate was as she’d always been.

It was around third period, in English class, when Justin Singleton made that asinine comment about Jay Gatsby, calling him a disgusting criminal and such, that Kate realized why Selma’s comment bothered her so much and why she raised her hand and said, “When you find someone you love, any means of attaining him can be justified.” Because she wasn’t the problem! She had looked inside. She had ended relationship after relationship because she could see that down the road it would never work out. Kate had done all that, and still she found herself stuck in the same loop—with no one to call her own. She wanted to risk everything for someone and see what that felt like.

Normally this pathetic pattern of hers didn’t bother her so much. But seeing Jesse transform so dramatically had done something to her. It made her doubt herself. She couldn’t help wondering what was it about Caroline that Jesse liked so damn much that he could change his ways—and why hadn’t Jesse seen that in her? The thing was, there had been one time when she hadn’t called things off…and that time was with Jesse. It was Jesse who’d glossed over the whole thing a few days later. He’d been the one to say, “I’m so glad we’re not the kind of people to let this ruin our friendship. I’m so glad we’re so much alike, Kate.”

Sure, she’d agreed and got herself to the point where she barely thought about it anymore. But what other choice did she have? He’d made his point, and she knew what kind of guy he’d been all along.

Still, Kate decided to mend fences and stopped by Jesse’s locker before fifth period. He had one ear bud in; the other hung down his navy T-shirt, which he’d worn over a long-sleeved white shirt.

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