Home Sweet Drama by Jessica Burkhart Read Free Book Online Page B

fantastic job.”
    Paige beamed. “See? Told you there was nothing to worry about.”
    â€œI was sooo nervous, but we got through it. And atleast I’m so busy that I don’t have much time to worry about what Mr. Nicholson is going to say about how I rode.”
    â€œFrom what you just told me,” Paige said. “I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”
    I grabbed a clean T-shirt and yoga pants, heading to the shower.
    â€œI’m going to meet Ryan at the Sweet Shoppe as soon as I finish my homework,” Paige said. “You want to come? It’s going to be
awesome.
I heard that all of the treats are green and gold!”
    Siiigh.
Talking to Paige wasn’t going to happen now.
    â€œThat sounds like so much fun,” I said. “But I’ve got homework.”
    I left out the part that I couldn’t stand one more second of Homecoming.
    â€œOkay,” Paige said. “Totally get it. I’ll bring you back something fun. I heard they have cookies with green and specially made gold M&M’s.”
    â€œCool. Have fun with Ryan.”
    â€œI will. I can’t wait.”
    Paige went back to her homework and I headed to the shower. I took extra time shampooing my hair—I wanted to make sure Paige was gone before I came out. I dressed,dried my hair, and took longer than usual to flatiron it. I eased open the bathroom door, afraid Paige was still here. But our room was empty.
    I hated that things were off between Paige and me, but I just couldn’t deal with the Homecoming talk. I didn’t want to take anything away from Paige’s excitement, but it just annoyed me.
    I unpacked my books from my bag got ready to do homework. It was surprisingly light for tonight. I settled on my bed and started on my math homework. Right now, it was one of the few times I wished I could go back home for the night—or the week. Canterwood was the last place I wanted to be right now. I knew exactly how tonight would go: Paige would come back and gush about her date with Ryan and that
was
something I wanted to hear about. I loved seeing her excited about a guy and it was fun to analyze every minute of her dates. But the topic of conversation would eventually switch over to Homecoming. And it was wearing on me. Fast.

8
    YOU IN?
    AN HOUR LATER, I WAS ABOUT TO TAKE A break when my phone beeped. I flipped it open and found a text from Heather.
Come over 4 a sec.
    What’s up?
I texted back.
    OMG, if ur gonna ask 20 ?s 4get it.
    Sry, jeez. B rite over.
    I was too intrigued to pass up a visit to the Trio’s suite. Heather never asked me over just because. There was always a reason.
    I slid on silver flip-flops, applied a quick coat of orange-strawberry gloss, and grabbed my purse.
    When I got to Orchard, I hurried to their room—eager to get inside and minimize any chance of seeing Callie. I knocked on the door and Julia let me in. Sheactually smiled at me. It was a nice change from the usual look of disgust on her face when she saw me. But I wondered how long she’d be nice to me before she went back to Old Julia.
    â€œHey,” Alison said, walking out of her room. She looked cozy-chic in a white cotton sundress with a half dozen plastic bangles on her wrist.
    â€œHeather’s got something to show you in her room,” Julia said.
    I followed them into Heather’s room and she turned to look at us, shaking her head at me. “It took you, like, forever to get here, Silver. Don’t get lost next time.”
    â€œI didn’t get lost,” I said. “And I got here in five minutes.”
    Heather dismissed me with a wave of her hand. “Whatever. Anyway, since you’re finally here, we can talk about tomorrow’s Homecoming sitch. It’s,
gag
, Crazy Dress Day.”
    I nodded, but was totally unsure what this had to do with anything. Julia and Alison sat at the edge of Heather’s bed and I leaned against the