Rival by Sara Bennett Wealer Read Free Book Online

told everybody the gory details, too. Dina had been avoiding Noah like the plague ever since.
    â€œThat must have been awful,” Chloe murmured. “Especially after you sent him that email with your class schedule so the two of you would never evenhave to be in the same hallway.”
    â€œYou did?” said Madison from over by the oven.
    â€œI have to go to the bathroom,” said Dina. She jumped up and hurried out of the room. I rolled my eyes. This was why you never told Chloe anything you didn’t want broadcast to the rest of the world in boldface caps.
    â€œAre you sure you didn’t know he worked there?” I asked. Chloe’d been mad at Dina for going to lunch with the cheerleaders and not inviting her along. And since Chloe always knew everything, it wasn’t hard to imagine she also knew where the guy who’d broken Dina’s heart worked.
    â€œI swear. I had no idea.” Chloe looked seriously sorry. “I’ll go talk to her.”
    â€œNo, I’ll do it,” I said. With Chloe’s big mouth, she’d probably do more harm than good.
    â€œHey,” I called through the bathroom door. “Dina, it’s okay. We’ll do pay-per-view tonight. Or we don’t even need videos. We’re supposed to be meeting people, not watching movies, right?” I heard sniffling, then the faucet. Dina opened the door. Her eyes were still red, but she didn’t look so miserable. “Don’t think about it for the rest of the night,” I told her. “At least you’re here partying and he’s stuck at work.”
    She smiled, nodded, and let me lead her back intothe kitchen. Jenna offered Dina her knife. “Wanna help cut the cauliflower?”
    Dina took the knife and started cutting neat little flowerettes while Violet smashed avocados, Madison kept an eye on her cookies, and Angela watched Chloe stir the chili.
    A few minutes later, the doorbell rang.
    â€œOkay. This is it!” said Chloe. She whipped off her apron. “Whoever you talk to, remember as much as you can so you can report back afterward!”
    Everybody showed up at once, it seemed like. All of a sudden my foyer was filled with girls we barely knew, all of them looking overdressed and nervous. Chloe raised her eyebrow at me as she took purses and overnight bags. She was enjoying it all way too much. I’d just started to get claustrophobic when I saw a brown ponytail through the crowd. It was Kathryn, getting cornered by Angela with Twenty Questions.
    I went over to rescue her.
    â€œSorry about this,” I said as I helped stick a name tag onto her baby blue sweater. The sweater had a little pearl flower on the chest and looked like it came from a vintage shop. “Some people suck at remembering names.”
    â€œThat’s okay.” Her eyes had little gold specks that flickered when she looked at me. “I could use some help, too.”
    â€œListen up, please!” Chloe reappeared on the stairs, clinking a water glass with a knife. “Thanks so much for coming tonight, everyone. We’ve got dinner and refreshments in the kitchen, if you’d like to follow me in there.”
    We wound up standing around the table trying to ignore the rumbling in our stomachs. The chili on the stove smelled great, but nobody ate anything. I could see the rest of our friends sending ESP messages back and forth across the table: What do you think about this one? Is she good enough? Is she too good? Meanwhile, the new girls were talking over one another, trying too hard. Kathryn caught me watching and smiled.
    Finally, Chloe made everybody go up to my room. We sat in a circle on the floor and passed the schnapps around, the new girls trying not to make faces as they took huge gulps. The alcohol did what it was supposed to do. Before long, people were talking, laughing, and dancing around the room to old Madonna songs.
    I went downstairs to bring up the