No Use For A Name by Penelope Wright Read Free Book Online Page B

Miss Popular. Your dance card must be filling right up. Move it."
    I went to pull at my hair self-consciously but there was nothing there, it was still in the tight ponytail. I removed the hair band and let it fall down over my shoulders. Oh my god, my scalp ached, but I felt better having some hair to tug on while I talked to my mom. "It's not about cheerleading. It's about driver's ed. There's some law that says they have to let me take it, but I'm waiting for them to tell me if it's going to be before or after school."
    "Oh." My mom cocked her head and considered it, her need to control me obviously warring with her desire for a chauffeur. She'd never gotten her driver's license. But since none of my siblings had either, she still didn't have anyone but my dad to cart her around, and he was never home. Mom bit her lip. Ultimately her greedy side won. "Fine. Check your email. But make it quick."
    My fingers tapped in my webmail username and password. I kept my eyes on my mother to make sure she didn't sneak around to steal my password. But of course she didn't. She's not that interested. Mom turned away and started rummaging around in the freezer, probably looking for a wayward pack of cigarettes. She kept them in there to stay fresh, but at the rate she smoked them, there was no way those babies were ever getting stale.
    My eyes skimmed over my new messages, weeding out the obvious junk and skipping over the ones I could read in the library tomorrow. There were three from Kaia in response to the email I'd sent her about Derek. Oh god. My heart dropped into my feet again, but this time it wasn't Derek's kisses I was remembering, it was the horrible conversation about him that Amy Yates and those bitches had made sure I'd overheard at youth group. I tossed my head. Shake it off .
    There! A message from tlawson hung out near the bottom of the list. I opened it up and mentally pumped my fist in the air. Evening driver's ed. Every night at six o'clock, starting next week. Perfect.
    I shut down my email and rose from my mother's desk. As soon as she heard the chair squeak, she swooped in from the kitchen and started fretting over her desk, repositioning her mouse pad ever so slightly and blowing on her keyboard, as though I'd left some sort of powdery residue behind. She'd toss things wherever and flick crap all over the rest of the house, but her little internet cubby had to be freaking pristine. Whatever. She was cackling to herself over something she saw online as I walked through the family room toward my bedroom.
    "Holy hell, what are you wearing?"
    Christ. Time for round two . I stopped and faced Phoebe. "It's my cheerleading uniform," I said defiantly, lifting my chin in the air a notch.
    But she surprised me … she didn't go on the offense. She tucked a lock of her dishwater blonde hair behind her ear and cocked her head at me. "You're a cheerleader?"
    "Yes."
    "I didn't know you had it in you."
    "Well, I guess I do." I stood with my arms crossed over my chest, resisting the urge to yank on the ends of my hair. "You have an issue with that?"
    Phoebe shrugged and looked mildly interested, which, for her, was a big deal. "Hmm. No. That's fine. Just fine," she repeated as I relaxed and continued the short walk across the room. "Hey, Baby?"
    "Yeah?"
    "I've been meaning to talk to you. I'm getting real sick of Monica's shit."
    So, it was time for the annual room flip. Once a year, Phoebe would have a cow over something and Rachel and Monica would trade rooms. Rachel was hardly ever home anymore, but when she was … well, maybe it would work better to have Monica in my room this year. Phoebe'd never talked to me about it though. It just happened.
    "Um, okay. I guess I'll ask Monica which bed she wants when she moves in." Maybe she'd take the one by the window.
    "No, Rachel's a gigantic pain in the ass. I want you to move in with me ."
    "Huh?" I put my hand against the wall, not exactly to steady myself, but a good stable wall