Monster High 4: Back and Deader Than Ever by Lisi Harrison Read Free Book Online Page B

was just the eighty-five-degree sun warming her shoulders. Or the leisurely way Brett’s ripped jeans crinkled as he strolled, as if he had nowhere else to be but exactly where he was.It could have been the window displays popping with bright summer separates like an all-you-can-afford buffet. But it was probably just the continued thrill of being in public in her birthday skin, without that pore-clogging makeup she used to wear. No bolt-hiding turtlenecks. No fear. Even though it was her twenty-seventh trip to this particular mall since she came out of hiding, it still felt too mint to be true.
    A couple of college girls sharing an extra-large fro-yo dripping Cocoa Puffs and gummy bears smile-nodded as Frankie passed.
    “Cute shoes,” one of them said.
    “Thanks!” Beaming, Frankie grinned down at her cork wedges. She always got compliments when she wore them with her periwinkle floral romper. They made her legs look extra long.
    “How crazy is that?” Brett tossed the waxed paper from his pretzel into the trash.
    “Why? My shoes are cute.”
    Brett snickered. “No. It’s crazy that people don’t even notice the color of your skin anymore. They just see… you.”
    Just then a boy with a pierced nose and tattoo sleeves whizzed by on his skateboard. He turned and glanced back at Frankie.
    “Spoke too soon.” She giggled. “I think he’s a little freaked,” she said, stopping to check the silver peep-toe combat boots in the window of the Steve Madden store.
    Brett put his arm around her and pulled her close. “Ummm… I think he just thinks you’re hot.” He squeezed tighter, as if claiming her for himself. Just in case there was ever any doubt. Which there wasn’t.
    She squeezed him back. “Awwww… that is so sweet!” He leaned in and kissed her.
    Frankie sparked until the moment he pulled away. The skateboarder had been staring. Frankie tried to console him with her friendliest wave, but he rolled away disappointed.
Did he really just see me for me?
Had they come that far? Was it—?
    “Look!” she said, yanking Brett toward a pink-and-black awning. “There’s a sale at Betsey Johnson!”
    “What’s up, Franks?” asked a glam-goth salesgirl. Her black-lined lips lifted in a welcoming smile.
    “Just browsing.”
    “Ten percent off on anything in the store,” the goth offered, tugging on her black lace scarf—one of six dangling around her neck.
    “You having a sale?” Brett asked, obviously trying to show he could hold his own in a shopping situation.
    “It’s a Stein special.”
    “Awwwww.” Frankie hugged her. She smelled like cherry perfume.
    “You’re a celebrity here,” he said, as they wandered toward the accessories rack. Bolt earrings and leather cuffs with stitches sewn in were available in an array of unapologetic colors.
    “It’s not just me,” she said, trying on an auburn faux-fur hair band. “It’s all the RADs.”
    Outside, a crowd was gathering around a street performer. A mime was sweating off his makeup as he tossed three oranges in the air. Frankie pulled Brett toward the spectacle.
    But Brett stopped under a shorn fig tree, desperate to keep his distance.
    “What’s wrong?” she asked, hating to miss a second of the show.
    He pointed to his T-shirt: It was emblazoned with a cartoon ofa mime tied to a train track and inches away from being crushed by a speeding locomotive.
    “That’s not him, is it?”
    Brett laughed. “No, but—”
    Frankie stood on her tippy-toes, gave him a quick kiss, and dragged him toward the front of the crowd. The instant the mime saw Brett’s shirt, he made a show of wiping invisible tears from his eyes and then ran off.
    “Told ya,” Brett said as he and Frankie burst into hysterics and took cover behind a bronze dolphin.
    She pressed her cheek into his muscular chest. “Summer is going to be so voltage,” she said, looking in the window of Nike. He smoothed her black hair off her forehead and tucked it behind her ears.