Because I'm Disposable by Rosie Somers Read Free Book Online Page A

Mona didn’t seem to notice.
    “Science,” she informed me without looking up from her mirror or the mascara she was now applying. “What grade are you in? You’re not in any of my classes.”
    “Tenth. You?” Another pretend drag.
    “Eleventh. You know Jason Williams?”
    I knew of him. He was the stereotypical bad boy, and we didn’t really run in the same crowd. Until now, apparently. “Sure, I think we had drama together last semester.”
    “You going to his party next Saturday?”
    “I wasn’t invited.” I shrugged and pressed the cigarette to my lips again, sucked. This time I tried to inhale a little. My throat was collapsing, but I managed to hold a straight face and keep from coughing.
    “Well, I’m inviting you now. You need a ride?” Mona slipped her compact back into her backpack and shrugged the bag onto her shoulders. She adjusted her clothing in the mirror, pushing her breasts up in her bra and pulling the neckline of her shirt down to reveal ample cleavage.
    “Okay, yeah.” I’d never actually been to a party before.
    She pulled her phone out of her pocket. “Let me get your number. I’ll text you about it.”
    I recited my number, and when she was finished entering it into her phone, she headed toward the exit.
    “Cool. Catch you at lunch. I gotta go meet my boy.” She opened the door enough to peek around it. Then she was gone.
    Apparently, I had a new friend. And I was going to a party next weekend. I took another real pull from my cigarette and collapsed into yet another coughing fit.
    * * * * *
    I wasn’t sure I’d actually show up to the ‘big oak in the quad’ at lunch until I was already there. I used to eat lunch with Carmen and Marsha, but seeing as I was off the team, I probably wasn’t welcome at the JV table anymore. Searching out Mona certainly seemed preferable to eating alone.
    She must be really popular, I realized as I approached. A handful of boys formed a half-circle around her, while she sat like a queen on a stone bench, basking in the shade from the giant tree towering behind her. Her smile was bright, and her laugh was loud, even from twenty feet away. When she saw me, her smile widened, if that was even possible. She jumped up. Her gauzy, black skirt flowed out behind her like the train on a gown.
    “Callie, you made it!” She practically danced to me and wrapped her arms around me like we were old friends. When was the last time someone had hugged me?
    The tall, blonde kid behind her was really cute, in a Disney Channel kind of way. So was the skinny, dark-haired one with the cheeky dimples and the labret piercing. And there was Jason Williams, with his cobalt-blue eyes, spiked black hair, and his long wallet chains which were so against the school dress code. His bicep tattoos peeked out from under both sleeves of his Raging Puppets shirt. Heck, all of Mona’s boys were good-looking, but Jason looked hot and dangerous. And I was a nervous wreck around safe boys I’d known my whole life. I needed to play this cool. “Yeah, I uh, figured I’d stop by and say hello.”
    “I’m glad you did.” She grabbed me by the arm and led me to her bench, like an honored guest. “Guys, this is Callie. She’s totally cool.”
    She didn’t even know me, and she was vouching for me. Was I cool? Right at that moment, I felt more like a fraud.
    “Hey, Callie.” Jason crouched next to me. He looked me up and down, then said, “Do I know you from somewhere?”
    “Yeah,” I nodded, “We had drama together.”
    Recognition brightened his eyes, and his eyelids fluttered open, dusting his cheeks with lashes far too thick and beautiful for a boy. “Wow.” He whistled and looked me over again, this time slower and more thoroughly, waggling his eyebrows in a way that made me feel practically naked.
    I crossed my arms over my chest.
    “Boy, have you changed. I like the new look!” He winked at me and rose. “I gotta get going, but I’ll get with you after