Golden by Jessi Kirby Read Free Book Online Page A

hurrah before graduation. It came to me in a dream.”
    It’s my turn for blatant sarcasm. “Really?”
    â€œNo. But it may as well have. It’s that good. So just meet me over there in a half hour, okay?”
    â€œFine. I’ll see you in a few.” I hang up. Look around the room. So much for curling up with the journal and reading all day. Maybe it’s better this way, though. I can make it last, stretch out the story instead of reading it all in one sitting. I’ll go to the coffee shop and hear Kat’s plan, which, just like all her others, will involve ten things I would never be allowed to do.
    The trick will be talking without mentioning Julianna’s journal. It’s the kind of thing that Kat would die over, and the thought of her reaction alone is a huge temptation to say something. She wouldn’t believe I’d found it. And she definitely wouldn’t believe I’d actually taken it and read it. I almost don’t believe I did either. I give it one last look, then slide it back into the envelope and put it under my bed, safe for later.

    â€œAre you even listening to me?” Kat asks. We’re sitting at the same table we did yesterday, drinking the same drinks, but this time the café is full of kids from school who have nothing better to do with the snow day. Between the hiss of the espresso machine, the voices of everyone all around me, and Julianna Farnetti’s words in my head, I haven’t really heard a thing Kat’s said since we sat down.
    â€œI was listening,” I say. “Your plan has something to do with ditching school, lying to our moms, and me somehow avoiding being grounded for the rest of my life, right?” It’s a guess, but those are usually the core elements of her schemes. I don’t need to listen to know that. Instead, I’d been thinking about Julianna and Shane, and what it must’ve been like to be that wrapped up in each other.
    â€œYou were not listening,” Kat says, taking a sip of her mocha and scanning for Lane. “If you were, you wouldn’t have missed the part about this being the best plan I’ve ever come up with and you not being allowed to say no. Which means you’re in by default now.”
    â€œFine,” I say, “whatever.” I stir the contents of my mug into a spiral of whipped cream and chai. We’ve never actually carried out one of her plans, anyway. It’s just talk.
    â€œReally? You’re in? What’s wrong with you?”
    â€œNothing,” I say. And it’s true. Nothing’s wrong, I just know she won’t take no for an answer, so the best way to get back to my house and Julianna’s journal is to go along with it. “So wait—what did I just agree to?”
    A mischievous smile spreads across her face. “To ditching Senior Ditch Day next week, telling your mom you’restaying at my house for the night, and then taking a little road trip with me instead.” I nod, and she pauses before adding, “And possibly bringing Trevor Collins and Lane with us.” Now she sits back, arms crossed over her chest, beaming at the genius of her plan.
    I laugh. “Sure, yeah. That’ll totally work. Nothing wrong with that plan at all.”
    â€œThere’s not.” She shrugs. “Just depends on you having enough guts to actually do it. We won’t get caught, but if we do, what’s your mom gonna do at that point? Ground you from college?”
    â€œWhere would we go on this road trip?” I ask, just for fun.
    â€œAnywhere.” She leans forward on her elbows and grabs my hands. “That’s the point , Parker. It’d be a couple days of freedom to get out of here and go wherever we want. Personally, I vote for the beach.”
    â€œWhat beach?”
    â€œOh my God. Any beach that we could drive to. Use your imagination.” She drops my hands and sits back in her chair