Kristen by Lisi Harrison Read Free Book Online Page A

on her bike and pedal to the nearest Bebe. But she had no money, and even less time. Skye and the DSL Daters were all over Dune like SPF 50.
    Kristen hiked up her shorts and hurried over to greet them. They were in the juniors’ area, surrounded by young boys in helmets who were rolling down little asphalt hills with their tongues sticking out of their mouths. Despite the cramped course, no one dared complain. Because for the first time ever, GAS had been invaded by hawt blondes in bikinis. For the first time, they were getting a taste of what was missing in their lives.
    “Hey.” Kristen greeted Dune, Tyler, and Jax with a confident smile, ignoring the fact that they were in the middle of helping the wobbly-on-purpose DSL Daters balance on their new pink boards. Scooter, however, was zipping past the little skater guys with roller-derby determination. Ripple was there too, and she seemed particularly interested in tips from Jax, even though the pictures in her bedroom showed her charging the half-pipe without protective gear. No one stopped to say hi, except—
    “Hey, Kristen.” Dune turned to face her, and suddenly the unnerving rumble of wheels scraping along the pavement faded into the background. His navy T-shirt was off—stuffed down the back of his red checked surf trunks—and his feet were bare and golden brown.
    “What are you doing here?” He stepped away from his friends so he could welcome-touch her shoulder. It was either a flirty gesture or a subtle attempt to see if she was
really
wearing a sweatshirt in the middle of July.
    “Tutoring.” Kristen chin-pointed at Ripple, who was comparing tan lines with the short DSL Dater in the white string bikini and black mesh cover-up.
    “In what?” Dune rolled his eyes behind his sister’s back. “Selling out and acting like a different person to impress a guy?”
    Kristen felt herself blush. Was he accusing her of doing the same thing or just annoyed by his new and
un
-improved sister? Either way, Kristen didn’t have an answer for him. At least not one that didn’t make her seem like a skater-stalker. So she ignored his question and went to greet her “student.”
    “Ready to hit the books?” Kristen slapped Ripple on the butt, aware of how dorky her entrance was. It was the first time she’d ever butt-slapped anyone or said “hit the books.” But her heart was all aflutter and sending unreliable information to her brain.
    “No thanks,” Ripple muttered dismissively, as if Kristen was an annoying waitress, wondering if she’d like a sixth refill on her soda. Then she turned to Jax and rolled her eyes.
    “Laundry day?” Skye jumped off her pink board and stretched her hammy. She glared at the gray cargoes and lifted her blond brows. But Kristen was too consumed with Skye’s outfit to care.
    “Where did you get that?” Kristen asked the orange T-shirt dress with the daisies across the bottom.
    Skye tossed her hair over her shoulders. “Quiksilver/Roxy,” she said, like it was someplace she shopped all the time, even though everyone knew she only wore clothes from her parents’ boutique at the Body Alive Dance Studio.
    “Rasssssie.” Kristen pulled Ripple off Jax’s board and yanked her close so no one could hear. “Please tell me that the dress thing is a coincidence.” Her voice shook. She didn’t need an answer to know she had been betrayed.
    “It was the weirdest thing.” Ripple twirled the turquoise Roxy beaded bracelets around her wrists—the same ones Skye was wearing. Only Ripple had paired them with a bold green shift dress that had white blades of grass rising up from the hem. “Right after we said goodbye, Skye called and asked me to take her shopping. Turns out she has the same taste in boys as you do.”
    Kristen’s mouth went dry.
    “And you
took
her?” she managed.
    “At first I said no because I thought it might be unfair to you.” Ripple tightened her high, parched ponytail. “But then she offered to buy me