Bookishly Ever After by Isabel Bandeira Read Free Book Online

silhouette entering my line of sight.
    Kris passed, his hair catching the light streaming in from the cafeteria skylights. I forgot about all kinds of zombies and just stared. The world went into slow motion and I couldn’t help but watch as he maneuvered himself and his tray around the tables and out the side door. What I wouldn’t give to be one of the lucky few allowed at the student council tables, even if it did mean freezing outside. Almost like he lived in one world and I lived in another. Which was kind of true. Except what divided us were lunch tables. There weren’t any fae gates keeping me from the Otherland and he wasn’t a warrior sworn to defend it. Butit was still a great analogy. Or was that a simile?
    “Earth to Phoebe.” Dev actually waved a hand in front of my face.
    “Having an Aedan moment?” Grace asked wickedly.
    Dev looked from Grace to me back to Grace. “Who’s Aedan?”
    I blew air through my lips and contemplated kicking Grace in the shin. Before I could say anything, Alec answered for me.
    “It’s an in-joke.” He took a bite of hoagie and didn’t bother to finish chewing before continuing. “The girls are all kinds of screwed up.” He swallowed and looked around me at Dev. “Anyway, that zombie Phantom sounds like something I’d watch. Does he try to eat the girl?”
    “Gaston Leroux is rolling over in his grave right now over what you’re doing to his story,” I muttered, even though I was just happy Alec had changed the subject.
    Em steepled and twiddled her fingers, evil-style. “Just like a zombie would. Perfect.”
    As soon as Dev left the table, Em moved back over and nudged me with her elbow. “See, I told you. He likes you.” Thank God he probably didn’t hear her over the din of the emptying lunchroom.
    I looked at her with narrowed eyes. “No. He came to the table because you dragged him here, just like you told him to borrow the book from me. You’re so dying for me to get a boyfriend that you think everyone likes me.”
    “I’m not in love with you,” Alec threw over his shoulder before disappearing into the crowd.
    “And you’re not my type,” Grace added to me in amusement as she walked around the table to join us.
    I shot her a sour glare. “Shut up.”
    Grace stuck her perfectly manicured nails into my arm to keep both me and Em from leaving. When I tried to pull free, she fixed me with a death glare that I swear must be handed out to cheerleaders with their pom-poms. “So, what haven’t you both been telling me? This whole lunch period was like a bad teen drama.”
    “Nothing—”
    Em cut me off while deftly extracting herself from Grace’s clutches. “Dev totally has the hots for Feebs, Feebs refuses to believe it because she’s completely oblivious, and Kris is a tool who doesn’t even know you exist,” —that last part was directed at me— “so you have to give up on him.”
    “Well, that explains why you looked like someone put cat litter in your sandwich. You’re so Snow White innocent, it’s actually kinda cute.” Grace said with a laugh. “Em’s probably right. The social mirroring, the unnecessary touching you…”
    “Social what?”
    “Mirroring. It’s where someone unconsciously copies what you do. But don’t change the subject.”
    “I’m not changing the subject—” I started to protest.
    “Why are you complaining?”
    I groaned and yanked my arm free. “I’m going to be late to history.” Since Grace was in the same class that period, Iadded, “And I need to stop at my locker.” Before they could say anything else, I made myself disappear into the flood of people still trying to get through the lunchroom doors. Tomorrow, I promised myself, I was eating in the band room.
    Grace slid into the desk next to mine. “I have practice all week, and a game on Saturday, but you’re coming to my house on Sunday and you’re getting a makeover. Em enlisted me and my unquestionably awesome skills.”
    I scrunched