Secret Life (RVHS Secrets) by Bria Quinlan Read Free Book Online

the only crazy one
at the table.
    “We’re getting along great,” he said between gasps.
    What?
    I looked at him, waiting for him to clue them into my
embarrassing, potentially insulting blunder.
    “Oh.” The smile spread across Amy’s face. I could see how
proud of herself she was. She gave Luke a little nudge with her elbow I was
pretty sure she thought was inconspicuous.
    Which had Ben laughing again.
    “What?” Amy’s nose squished a bit as she looked from one of
us to the other…pride being replaced by confusion.
    Ben was still laughing, so I was pretty sure explaining his
erratic behavior was on me.
    “We’re getting along great.” I glanced his way and smiled,
happy he was finding the humor in this. “Ben’s just so happy about winning the
game and hanging out with us…” I leaned across the table, lowering my voice. “I
mean, look at him. He could use all the friends he could get.”
    “ Amy, thanks for inviting me.” Ben
tossed an arm across the bench behind me. “It was exactly what I needed.”
    Me
too.
    I sucked in a relieved breath that puffed out on a laugh so
deep it almost hurt my lungs.
    So, Worse Times Thirteen was going to be me bursting into
tears in front of the only people who really mattered. The relief was just that
much. I was that—happy. Something I’d forgotten I knew how to be. Thank
goodness I’d gone out with them. It put the whole Jared thing in perspective
for a night.
    He was someone that hurt me. It still hurt…missing him,
feeling less than I should be because he dumped me. But tonight…tonight I got
to be a little freer because I had an amazing best friend and there were good guys out there—even if they
were in love with someone else.
    I looked around the table, sure
this memory was A Moment. The absurd amazingness of a
night out with your best friend and two really fun guys—of getting to relax and
not think or obsess—just being able to be as close as I come to a normal teen.
Yeah. I tucked it away for those days when I just couldn’t deal. Because
honestly, I needed to remember that when things in life were good, they didn’t
get much better than that.

 
 
    Chapter
5

 
    The generic Verizon ring vibrated my cell for an unknown
number. It was probably someone I could get away with killing for calling
before the alarm clock went off on a Saturday. Which would be
noon.
    “Hello?” Please note, hello might have sounded more like who the hell
is this?
    “Hey. Just got back from my run.” A
deep, unexpected voice jolted me awake. “Wanted to see about
us getting together.”
    I looked at the number again. It suddenly seemed odd that a
girl—any girl—in the RV didn’t have Chris Kent’s number programmed in her
phone. Even if that girl was me.
    “Today?” As
in…today? I glanced at the clock again.
    “Yeah. We’re already a couple weeks
into the semester. We’ve got to get going.”
    What had I been thinking? Oh, yeah. Some strange force had
created a momentary sympathy for the uber -popular It
Boy. And a trust that he might be able to add better than I
could. Not to mention getting my butt back on the Dean’s List.
    My phone beeped. Did these people think I was Matt Lauer or
something? Who really gets up that early?
    I glanced at the screen and groaned. Again. Amy.
    All of a sudden, as if I’d had social amnesia or something
yesterday, every reason I shouldn’t tutor—couldn’t tutor—Chris Kent came
rushing back.
    “You know, Chris,” I began, hoping he’d just pick up on the
issues and let me out of our non-agreement. “I’m not sure this is such a great
idea.”
    “What the hell is that supposed to mean? We agreed to this
yesterday.”
    “Well, a girl has the right to change her mind.” Or, at
least that’s what my mom says every time she changes shopping plans. That woman
hates to shop. It’s the one thing that makes me question my heritage. “And like
I said, this is just a bad idea.”
    “Rachel, you can’t back