Don't Kiss Girls and Other Silly Stories by Pat Flynn Read Free Book Online Page B

Fox!’
    â€˜You mean he’s got an A?’ I ask.
    â€˜I’m as amazed as you are, Ross. He’s got everything right except for the challenge question. If he’d got that one he would’ve got an A plus.’
    Now I’m glad I mucked up the cheating. An A plus would’ve looked way too suspicious.
    â€˜Let’s see if miracles happen in pairs, shall we?’ Mr Relf takes out the test with my name on it.
    â€˜Leave mine till later, sir,’ I say. ‘I don’t want you working too hard.’
    He holds up his hand, signalling for us to wait.
    â€˜Errrr,’ he says, putting a cross beside question one. ‘Errrrrr.’ He crosses question two.
    A minute later he looks up. ‘Funny, but I thought if one of you were to spring a surprise it’d be you, Ross. But I guess I was wrong.’ He holds up my mark: D minus.
    â€˜He’ll just have to study as hard as me next time, won’t he, sir?’ says Gavin.
    I throw Gavin a dirty look but he doesn’t seem to notice; he’s high as a kite when we get outside.
    â€˜Did you see that? I got an A!’
    â€˜No, I got an A. You got a D minus.’
    He ignores me. ‘I’m gonna be rich!’
    I start to wonder if I’ve done the right thing, but then Cathy skips up. I squeeze Gavin’s bicep. ‘Remember,’ I say.
    â€˜Hey, Gavin. Hey, nosy,’ she says.
    â€˜Hey.’
    â€˜Ashleigh really needs to know right now if you like her,’ she says to Gavin.
    Gavin looks into Cathy’s eyes. ‘Tell her I was just trying to make someone jealous. Someone I really like.’
    â€˜Who is it?’ asks Cathy.
    â€˜Are you sure you wanna know?’
    She nods.
    He takes her hand and writes ‘ME’ on the back of her wrist.
    Cathy looks at it, confused. ‘You really like … yourself?’ Then she starts blushing. ‘Oh, I get it. I really like me, I mean, you, too. Oh, I’m so embarrassed!’
    She runs off.
    â€˜Hey!’ I yell.
    Cathy turns around.
    â€˜Tell Ashleigh that the other guy is still available. And that he likes her heaps. He’ll be at the handball court if she wants to talk to him.’
    She gives me a smile. ‘She’ll be there. I promise.’
    *
    Pretty soon I’ll be going out with the coolest girl in school. All the suffering – the D minus, being called nosy – is going to be worth it. And there’s one person I want to tell. The one person who beats me at everything, and always rubs it in.
    Kane.
    He’s in the King square, as usual, and I’m the Queen. We’re not playing chess, though. We’re playing a much harder game: handball.
    â€˜Guess what?’ I say to Kane. ‘I’ve got a girlfriend.’
    He smacks a backhander. ‘When’s she gettin’ outta jail?’
    I see Cathy and my new girlfriend walking towards me. Well, she will be my new girlfriend. I just need to make it official.
    â€˜She’s coming my way right now,’ I say. ‘Try not to get jealous.’
    He takes a look. ‘Savage?’
    â€˜No. Ashleigh.’
    â€˜You’re going out with Ashleigh Simpkin?’
    â€˜Yep.’
    â€˜She likes you ?’
    â€˜Yeah.’
    â€˜Geez. She’s not half bad.’
    This is the moment I’ve been waiting for my whole life. The moment when Kane Steele finally realises I’m as good as him, maybe even better.
    â€˜You sure?’ he asks.
    â€˜Sure as I am that the angles of a triangle add up to 180 degrees.’
    â€˜Gee. You’ve changed.’ He looks at me and, for the first time ever, I see respect.
    â€˜Hey, Tony. Hey, Kane,’ says Cathy.
    Notice how she didn’t call me nosy? That has to be a good sign.
    â€˜Ashleigh’s got something to tell you, don’t you?’ Cathy gives Ashleigh a nudge.
    Ashleigh brushes her beautiful brown hair out of her eyes and gives us a nervous