How To Be A Perfect Girl by Mary Williams Read Free Book Online Page A

and not give you an F. You can’t always get by on
looks alone, you know.”
    “That doesn’t even make sense,” Val
protested, “In what situation would I not be able to get by on
looks but have to be able to throw a football perfectly?”
    “This one.” Val’s partner, a sophomore boy,
laughed at the coach’s joke. Val glared at him; “What? It’s funny,”
he said.
    “No it’s not!” she tried to catch the ball
as her partner tossed it, but it fell to the ground after she
bobbled it twice.
    Young laughed loudly, “Can we cut people
from the class, coach?” Val glared at him.
    “Unfortunately not,” Mr. Sharp replied, “But
sometimes I wish—“
    The rest of the period was filled with jokes
about Val’s inability to throw a football—it was as if no one in
the class had anything better to do than watch her try to throw
passes. Each time the ball fell, it was accompanied by another
remark, with the result that by the time Mr. Sharp told them they
could head for the locker room, Val was quite sure she hated every
single one of her classmates.
    Young was waiting in the
hall outside the girls’ locker room; Val gave him a confused look
before shaking her head and turning to head for her next
class. What’s he doing in this section of
the hall? she wondered; it led only to the
girls’ locker room and bathroom. He had no reason to be
there.
    “Hold up!” Young called; Val paused, and
then realized he must be talking to someone else. She kept walking
until a hand grabbed her shoulder.
    “What?” she asked as she turned to find
Porter holding her.
    “I wanted to apologize for making fun of
you,” Porter said, “I think I—“ he smiled, “—I mean, we, as a
class—may have been a bit too harsh.”
    “Really?” Val folded her arms and stared up
at Young.
    “Ok, I know we were pretty harsh. But you
have to understand—“
    “Understand what?” Val cut him off.
    “You are pretty easy to make fun of.”
    “Am not!”
    Young imitated Val throwing a pass, “It’s no
wonder why your passes always miss.”
    “Look, if you just waited for me to make fun
of me some more, this conversation’s over,” Val started to walk
away.
    “I really am sorry. I feel like I kinda
instigated the whole thing, and so I’m a little responsible. Maybe
I could make up for it by taking you out to lunch?”
    Val scoffed, “As if. I’m not allowed to date
until I’m old enough to drive, and even if I was—“
    “This wouldn’t be a date,” Young cut in,
“We’d just be hanging out. I have a girlfriend already, so I’m not
looking.”
    “Alright, Young,” Val wasn’t going to turn
down a free meal, or a chance to get away from Palm Lake for even
an hour.
    “Great! When do you have off today?”
    “Fifth.”
    Young frowned, “That’s no good. I have
physics fifth, and I’m already falling behind. How about tomorrow?
I don’t have physics on Fridays.”
    “Tomorrow would work just fine,” Valentina
nodded and started to walk away again.
    “Young isn’t my actual name, you know,”
Young said, “It’s just my last name. My first name’s Porter.”
    Val turned around, “Oh, cool. Well, see you
tomorrow, Porter.”
    “See you tomorrow.”
    Val’s next class was Homeroom. Thursday was
the first “normal schedule” day to include Homeroom; Val wasn’t
exactly excited for it, but supposed the extra half-period could be
useful. She had some Geography homework to get started on.
    Val didn’t get to work on her homework,
however, as her Homeroom teacher announced they were headed to the
theater as soon as everyone arrived. Val waited for the rest of the
class to arrive; she tried pulling out a notebook to doodle in to
pass the time, but quickly got bored with it. Instead, she watched
the door, searching for familiar faces. Carrie walked into the
room, looking just as shy as ever. Val waved at the girl; they’d
become friends, owing to the fact that they shared two periods with
each other every