Burn for Burn by Jenny Han, Siobhan Vivian Read Free Book Online

it too. When the bandages came off and the scars healed, she was the one who decided we had to be cool in high school. Kat said it was dumb, and Rennie got pissed, and they had one of their blowups. I expected it to be over within a few days, the way their fights usually were, but a week later Rennie was still pissed. She said Kat was immature, she didn’t get it. She’d hold us back.
    We didn’t drop Kat right away. We did our back-to-school shopping together off island, like we’d planned. We went to the movies for Kat’s birthday, but Rennie made a big deal about sitting next to me so we could share Sno-Caps, and that was awkward. Afterward we were supposed to spend the night at Kat’s house. But as we were walking out of the movie theater, Rennie announced that she didn’t feel good, that she wasn’t going to sleep over. It was obvious she was faking; Rennie’s a horrible actress. I pulled Kat aside and asked, “Do you still want me to come over?” and she said, “Forget it.”
    I went home and mulled the whole thing over, first by myself, then with my mom. I told her how Rennie and Kat had been fighting, how Rennie didn’t want to be friends with Kat anymore, and how I felt caught in the middle. “I mean, if I have to take sides, I guess I’d probably take Rennie’s,” I said.
    My mom said, “Why do you have to take sides? Why not be the one to bring them back together?”
    “I doubt Rennie would listen,” I said.
    “You could at least try,” she urged me. “Kat’s been through a lot. She needs her friends.”
    I felt a pang of guilt. Kat’s mom had died the year before. Her mom had been sick for a long time. Kat didn’t want to talk about it, not to me at least. She talked to my mom sometimes, though, when Rennie and I were hanging out in my room.
    “I’ll try,” I told my mom.
    Then I had this great idea. For the first day of school, I would give Rennie and Kat friendship necklaces. It would bind us together again, smooth out the bad feelings.
    My mom and I picked them out from the nice jewelry store in White Haven, the place where my dad always gets my mom something for their anniversary. Identical gold necklaces, with a special charm for each of us. I was really excited to give them the black velvet boxes; I knew that Rennie especially would love it.
    That first day of school Rennie’s mom came to pick me up, and I expected to see both Kat and Rennie in the backseat. They lived on the same side of the island, and I lived farthest away.
    But Kat wasn’t there, just Rennie in her new jean mini, with the decorative stitching on the back pockets. I climbed into the car, and asked, “Is Kat sick?”
    Rennie shook her head.
    When she saw her mom eyeing us in the rearview mirror, Rennie leaned in and whispered, “I didn’t want to pick her up. I’m over her.”
    “Did you tell her you weren’t coming to get her?” I whispered back. What if Kat was outside waiting for us? What if she was late on the first day of high school?
    “She’ll figure it out,” Rennie said. She touched her nose and asked, worried, “Does it look swollen?”
    Even though I’d planned on giving Rennie and Kat their necklaces at the same time, I went ahead and gave Rennie hers right then. She seemed grumpy, and I wanted to start our day off on a nice note. She squealed so loudly, her mom slammed on the breaks. Her charm was a heart. Mine was a tiny gold cupcake. We both put our necklaces on right away.
    I put Kat’s in her locker. She didn’t buy a lock when we went back-to-school shopping. She said she’d just forget the combination anyway. Besides, nobody stole on the island; it was totally safe.
    When I saw Kat come down the hallway later that day, her eyes were red, and she wasn’t wearing the necklace. Her charm was a gold key. I liked how the key was pretty, but there was also something tough and practical about it. Just like Kat.
    She walked right by me.
    I tried to bring it up to Rennie later, to see