Crushing on the Bully by Sarah Adams Read Free Book Online Page B

happen? Skull had fooled her and she had been stupid not to see it coming. Just because he was semi-sweet when they were alone didn’t mean he was a nice guy nor a good person. She retrieved her cellphone and dialed Julie’s number.
    “Hello?” Julie answered.
    “Julie,” Clarissa cried into the phone.
    “OMG, Rissa are you okay?” she asked.
    “No!” Clarissa said and shook her head even though her friend couldn’t see her, “I’m so not okay.”
    “What happened?” Julie asked.
    Clarissa quickly brought her up to speed on what had happened since their fight at the mall.
    “I told you he wasn’t good for you,” Julie said.
    Clarissa bit her tongue, Julie had told her, but she hated that her bestie sounded so smug about the situation. She wanted to say something, but she didn’t want to get into another argument with Julie.
    “It’s going to be okay,” Julie said and Clarissa could hear her car keys jingling, “I’m going to stop and rent some romcoms and some ice cream. I’ll be there soon. It’s okay.”
    “Thanks, Julie, but I don't feel like watching anything and besides, I don't even own a television!” Clarissa sighed.
     
    “I'll bring my portal DVD player! No depressed girl in like, well, the history of girls has ever felt like watching romcoms, it's just what you do, because it helps,” Julie said, “You'll see.”
     
    “Fine, whatever,” Clarissa said, “I'll see you when you get here.”

 
     
    Chapter Five
     
     
    It had been a month since Clarissa had talked to Skull, but sometimes late at night she would catch herself thinking about him. This was particularly true if she heard a motorcycle drive by. She still hadn’t bought a new car and her old blue clunker had lost its battle. It now rested in peace at the junk yard, which paid Clarissa four hundred dollars for it.
    She had planned on saving the money to buy a new one, but she had to use it for taxi rides around town when Julie couldn’t take her somewhere. It was better to use that money, the car money, than to break into her savings account, where she had hoarded away money for school sometimes literally a dollar at a time.
    Fortunately, tonight Julie had been able to drop her off after work. Clarissa had just gotten out of the shower when someone knocked on the door. She glanced at the coffee table and saw Julie’s fashion magazine. Clarissa snatched it from the table thinking that her bestie had returned to retrieve it.
    “Here it is,” she said swinging the door open, holding tight to the blue towel that she had wrapped up in.
    “Thanks, but I think you have me confused with someone else, Bookworm,” Skull said.
    Clarissa blinked and slammed the door shut. Skull looked like he had come out on the bad side of a fight. His lip had been split and he had the start of a black eye. Clarissa raced into her bedroom and changed into her pajamas then sat down on the bed. No, she wasn’t going to talk him. She hadn’t missed him, not really. She had only missed his bike. At least that’s what she had told herself again and again, because she didn’t want to admit how much she had missed him.
    Clarissa did think it was possible to miss someone so much when you barely knew them. She lay down on the bed and hugged her favorite pillow close to her. He was most likely running from the police or something. Why else would he show up at her apartment after a month all beat up? Did he think she was going to hide him from the police? The jerk just wouldn’t take the hint, even after she had told him very bluntly that she wanted nothing more to do with him.
    Skull knocked on the door again and Clarissa startled. Her heart pounded against her rib cage fueling her racing pulse. With shaking hands she forced herself out of bed and back to the front door.
    “What do you want?” she snapped as she tore it open.
    “Can I come in?” Skull asked.
    “No, go away,” Clarissa said and crossed her arms, “I was there in the alley