Catching Fireflies by Sherryl Woods Read Free Book Online Page B

social-networking site that Annabelle used to post her latest slurs against Misty. Sure enough, there were more, and they were just as ugly as the ones she’d posted two nights ago and a week before that. Tears stung Misty’s eyes as she read them.
    How on earth was she supposed to show her face at school at all? She knew that’s exactly what Annabelle was hoping, that she’d be so humiliated she’d drop out. She also wanted to tarnish Misty’s reputation so badly that it would make Greg look like an idiot if he kept asking her out.
    What Annabelle didn’t get was that Greg apparently got turned on by the idea of dating the school’s biggest slut. These posts just made him more determined. He’d left half a dozen messages on her cell phone in the past week. She’d stopped answering and stopped listening to the messages. She just deleted them. She didn’t even tell Katie about Greg’s calls because she was afraid Katie would insist she keep them as some kind of evidence in case things got even nastier.
    When she got to Wharton’s Friday night, she could tell from the sympathetic expression on Katie’s face that she’d seen the online posts.
    “You looked, didn’t you?” Katie asked.
    “So did you,” Misty accused, slipping into the booth.
    She glanced around Wharton’s and breathed a sigh of relief. There was no one in here except a couple of older ladies—Frances Wingate, a retired teacher, and Liz Johnson, who was practically a legend in town—eating ice cream. She doubted they paid any attention to the social-networking sites online.
    “What did your mom say when you told her you weren’t going to the game?” Misty asked Katie after they’d given their order for burgers and fries to the waitress.
    “She was fine with it. I told her I was meeting you here and that I’d be home way before curfew.” She rolled her eyes. “These days that’s nine o’clock, if you can believe it. She probably would have made me leave the stupid game at halftime. She’s still punishing me for skipping school. The grounding ended last week, but I’m pretty sure I’m going to have a curfew till I leave for college.” She gave Misty a warning look. “Let that be a lesson to you.”
    “You don’t get it,” Misty responded. “I’d love to be grounded. Suspension would be great, too.”
    “You don’t mean that,” Katie protested. “Did you talk to Ms. Reed?”
    Misty nodded. “It didn’t help. She just asked a bunch of questions I wouldn’t answer. If I’m not in class Monday morning, it’s all over. She made that pretty clear. She’ll tell Mrs. Donovan.”
    “So, you’re coming to class, right?” Katie pressed.
    Misty felt tears welling up in her eyes. “How can I?”
    Katie looked alarmed. “Misty, you don’t have a choice. You’re probably out of second chances.”
    “You saw those new posts online. I don’t want to show my face at school ever again. Maybe I should just drop out, maybe even run away.”
    “No!” Katie said, looking shocked. “You can’t do that. You’d be letting Annabelle win.”
    “She’s already won. She’s making my life miserable, which is exactly what she wants to do.”
    “You could fight back,” Katie suggested. “She’s not the only one who can post online. Turn the tables on her.”
    “A part of me would love to do that,” Misty admitted. “Payback sounds great, but you know I’d be the one who’d wind up in trouble. Annabelle would claim I started it.”
    “But there’s proof that she did,” Katie insisted. “The posts are dated.”
    Misty shook her head. “I can’t do it,” she repeated. “It would all come out. It would kill my mom and dad. I don’t want them to ever have to read that filth.”
    Silence fell as the waitress returned with their food and their diet colas. Thankfully, Grace Wharton, who seemed to be everywhere at once and heard everything, was at the game tonight. This waitress was fairly new to town and barely said two