First Date by Krista McGee Read Free Book Online

your enemies.”
    “Who are you talking to?”
    “Sorry, Kara.” She had thought her roommate was asleep.
    Kara sat up and stretched her long arms. She even stretches gracefully , Addy mused.
    “So what do you think about this Top Thirty?” Kara said.
    “What do you mean?”
    “Do you really think Jonathon chose us? Or were we chosen for him?”
    Addy hadn’t mentioned her conversations with Hank to Kara. It seemed pointless. But Addy knew there was much more going on behind the scenes than just a teenage boy choosing his prom date.
    “Addy, hello. Did you hear me?”
    “Yes. Sorry, Kara. I was thinking.”
    “And . . . ?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “Want to know what I think?”
    “That’s rhetorical, right?” Addy smiled.
    “Ah, my friend, you’re learning.” Kara laughed and pulled her long legs up to her chest. “None of us are from the same state. All ethnicities are represented. All sizes. All hair colors.” She flipped her auburn mane. “Coincidence? I don’t think so. It’s way too politically correct for a seventeen-year-old boy. It’s all about audience. If the producers want all of America to watch The Book of Love , then all of America has to be represented.”
    “So we’re just pawns in the hands of the producers, then?”
    “Exactly,” Kara said, a triumphant look filling her face.
    “And this is the life you have chosen for yourself?” Addy grinned.
    Kara stood, clutching her heart. “Oh, you got me. But,” she began in a pseudo-Shakespearean accent, “I, my de-ah, am a true act-trees. Thy silly words may prick, but they do not pierce.” She walked around the trailer, long arms filling the space. “Nay, I say, nay. I wilt not succumb to thine attacks on my profession. I act, therefore I am.” With that, Kara made a deep bow, sending Addy into a standing ovation. Both girls were laughing when they heard a knock on the door.
    “Let’s go, girls.”
    “Seriously, though, Addy. This is like a game. There are rules, strategies. All we have to do is figure out what those are, and we’ll make it all the way to the Top Five.”
    “Hold on there, Juliet,” Addy said as she changed into shorts and a T-shirt. “I have no interest in staying that long, remember?”
    “Addy, you can’t leave me here.”
    “And what makes you so sure you’re staying?”
    Kara replied with a swat from a pillow to Addy’s head.
    The girls were still laughing as they walked around The Mansion to the spacious backyard. Hank was sitting on a director’s chair, sipping a huge iced coffee from a green straw.
    Addy looked around and realized Kara was exactly right. There were brunettes, blondes, redheads, African Americans, Latinas, Asians, an American Indian, a Pacific Islander, three who looked like plus-sized models, and two who looked like negative-sized models. From their voices, she could tell they were a mixture of southern girls, New Englanders, at least three from the Midwest, and a sprinkling of others from around the country. They all had one thing in common, though. They were stunningly beautiful.
    Addy suddenly felt like a weed in a rose garden.
    “Addy, what’s wrong? Are you sick?” Kara asked.
    “No.” She tried to smile. “I’m just feeling out of place.”
    “Why?”
    “Remember that song from Sesame Street —‘One of these things is not like the others’?”
    “Yeah, so?”
    “I’m the thing that’s not like the others.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “Kara, look around. All of you are beautiful. Then there’s me.”
    “Addy Davidson.” Kara placed her hands on her hips. “You’re prettier than any of these girls. I’d give anything for that body. Not to mention your hair . . .”
    “You don’t have to say that. I really don’t care what I look like—”
    Addy was interrupted by Hank yelling for the girls to come closer. He must have been full from his iced coffee—it was too much for him to go to the girls. And his eyes looked more tired than