Lying Out Loud by Kody Keplinger Read Free Book Online

her bestie. I got two weeks in detention for that, but he never bothered Amy again, so it was worth it.
    Amy and I needed each other. Neither of us really had other close friends. We were the type who were friendly with everyone — excluding Ryder Cross, of course — but I think most people felt sort of left out when they spent time with Amy and me. There was too much history, too many inside jokes, and, yeah, maybe our closeness was a little bit weird to some.
    But we were okay with that. It was just us. Sonny and Amy. Amy and Sonny. Where she went, I went.
    Which was why I got a little panicked when I saw the stack of college applications sitting on her desk.
    “Is it already time for these?” I asked, picking up a Cornell application.
    “Yep. I got those from the guidance office today.” She’d just let me into the house after her parents had gone off to bed, so we had to keep our voices low.
    “Wow.” I flipped through the stack. “Dartmouth, Stanford, Columbia … Very ambitious, Ms. Rush.”
    “There are a few safety schools in there,” she said as she changed into her pajamas. “Have you thought about where you’re applying?”
    “Not really,” I admitted. “I figured I’d follow you wherever you were accepted and live under your bed in your dorm room.”
    She laughed.
    But I hadn’t exactly been kidding.
    “You better start thinking about it,” she said. “These next few months are going to go fast. I know you get overwhelmed with paperwork —”
    “False.”
    She rolled her eyes. “You take three days to fill out a one-page job application.”
    “I … like to be thorough.”
    “Anyway,” she said. “I’d be glad to help you fill them out.”
    “Thanks,” I said. “We’ll see.”
    The truth was, I was sort of deliberately avoiding thoughts of college. Sure, I had decent grades (I was an AP student, after all), but I wasn’t going to be able to afford tuition. Especially not to the schools Amy was applying to. In just a few months, we’d be separated.
    She’d be off at some Ivy League university, and I’d be stuck here.
    And that terrified me.
    I’d been avoiding it, pretending college was a long way away and I had no reason to worry about it yet, but we were seniors now, which meant it was time to start figuring my shit out.
    I wasn’t ready to deal with it yet, though.
    Maybe that’s why I got so enraged when Ryder hated on Hamilton, because I knew this place was going to be my home for a very, very long time. Whether I liked it or not.
    Amy finished running a comb through her hair. “Okay. You ready for bed?”
    I shook my head. All the college talk had gotten me too worked up to sleep. “I need to work on a paper. Mind if I use your computer?”
    “Of course not. It’s all yours.”
    “Thanks.” I picked up the laptop and stepped out into the hallway. “Sleep tight.”
    “See you in the morning.”
    I’d barely gotten the laptop set up in the rec room when I heard a ping from the e-mail tab. I rolled my eyes, knowing before I even looked who was messaging me. Or Amy, rather.
    “Not now, Ryder,” I mumbled. “Not in the mood.”
    A minute later, there was another ping .
    RYDER: How was your day?
    RYDER: Are you done with that English paper yet?
    I was determined to ignore him. After the way he’d talked to me in class that morning, he didn’t deserve my time. But five minutes later, there was another ping , and this time, I couldn’t ignore his message.
    RYDER: So Pearl Jam is going to have a concert in Oak Hill.
    ME: WHAT?!?! When? Where? Link????
    RYDER: Ha. I knew that would get your attention.
    I sighed, disappointed.
    ME: Not cool.
    RYDER: Sorry. I had to try.
    ME: How did you know I like Pearl Jam?
    RYDER: You love grunge, so I just thought of the most cliché grunge band I could. Other than Nirvana, of course.
    ME: Wow. So now you’re calling me a cliché. Nice.
    RYDER: You call me a hipster. It only seems fair.
    He signed that one off with a smiley