What Are Friends For? by Rachel Vail

Author:Rachel Vail
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin Group, USA
Published: 2014-08-28T16:00:00+00:00

ten

As we set the dinner table, Dex made the mistake of asking, “How’s Lou?”

I slammed the stack of plates onto the table, which startled me for a second, long enough to gasp, but when I saw nothing had chipped I returned immediately to being furious. “Not everybody needs a boyfriend.”

“What?” Dex asked. “What’s wrong with you?”

I took one of the plates and set it down hard in front of Mom’s place. “Nothing! Why does it always have to be something wrong with me? Maybe there’s something wrong with you!”

I slammed a plate down in front of my place.

“Are you crying?” Dex asked.

I wasn’t, but that started me. I ran to my room and slammed the door shut. I was feeling persecuted and overwhelmed—why would CJ fix up Zoe with my—whatever—my crush? Obviously, she didn’t know, but I still felt like, I wouldn’t do that to her. I’m such a good friend to CJ, I defend her all the time, I am so there for her and happy for her successes—I made her a flip book for being in The Nutcracker last year, a ballerina doing a leap and a pirouette, and it took me a solid month, and she barely even thanked me for it. Even though she’s the first to act annoyed with me when I use words she thinks are fancy, or make fun of me in a group of friends when I do or say something she thinks is less than cutting-edge cool, even with all that, I have always been totally loyal to her, my first friend. But enough is enough. She has no right to stab me in the back. I have plenty of dirt I could tell Morgan, and CJ would deserve all of it. I wouldn’t, of course, but it’s totally unfair that she can be mean and callous about my feelings without the slightest thought that, you know what? I could do damage to you, too.

I lay down on my bed with my feet up on the wall. I wasn’t crying anymore. I forced myself to imagine Lou and Zoe walking down the hall together, holding hands. That got the tears going again, until I reminded myself, That won’t happen, because he can’t go out with anybody, and Zoe doesn’t even like him. Why doesn’t Zoe like him? What’s so wrong with him? He’s smart and kind and screw her, the Grand One—she doesn’t deserve somebody so good. Was I missing some horrible fact about him? Maybe he really is a loser. Why haven’t I told anybody I like him? Am I really just private? Or is it shame, because of other people’s opinions? Am I turning into someone who does only what the crowd allows?

I tumbled off my bed, sat down at my desk, picked up my phone, and dialed Lou’s number. I hung up before it rang. Do I need a boyfriend? I asked myself. Am I such a weak girl that I need a boyfriend to feel like I have value as a person? Yuck.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.