Starstruck by Cyn Balog Read Free Book Online

Wish was my boyfriend, she’d probably have one of those brain meltdowns and start sputtering, “Does not compute! Does not compute!” So she has done well all these years just pretending I don’t exist.
    I look over to see them both admiring a purple blotch on the top of Erica’s foot, right under the strap of her white flip-flops. Erica has this rough-voiced, mysterious, Harley-riding sex-kitten thing going for her, which means she is my polar opposite. And she’s had a reputation since before I stopped playing with Barbies. There was a rumor going around sixth grade that her father had come home one afternoon and found Erica making out with her new boyfriend, topless. I can almost believe it, because even though we were only twelve then, Erica already had the kind of rack one wouldn’t mind showing off.
    She says, “Yeah, I got it from a local when we went to Fiji. It means ‘peaceful journey.’ ”
    Is it wrong that I hope the local gave her a symbol that means “I have to pee” instead? Or “spoiled rich American teen hoochie”? I start to giggle to myself; then I have to stifle a snort. I guess I don’t suppress it well enough, because Terra turns to glare at me. Well, at least she acknowledged that I exist.
    “Oh, hey,” she says to Erica, talking a mile a minute. “Did you hear about Wish?”
    Obviously, seeing me has sparked the mysterious Dough-Wish connection in Terra’s brain. Erica nods, and for a second my heart does a free fall. I knew it was a lost cause hoping that when he came to school, nobody would remember him, that he would be just another faceless nobody like me. After all, though he hasn’t been around in four years, he still knows the people of Cellarton High better than I do, judging by all the messages they leave on his Facebook wall. But Erica? She can barely remember her own name. This is not a good sign. “Yeah, where is he? I thought he’d be here.”
    “His plane got delayed or something,” Terra says. “He’s coming in tonight.”
    Erica gives one of her famous sly grins. “I can’t wait to see him. He looks so hot in his pictures.”
    I slide down in my seat. Well, yeah, four years ago, Wish was awkward and gangly, and the pictures of him now are a definite improvement. There was no question in my mind that Wish would be higher-shelf than me. But he’s not supposed to be right there on the top! If Erica, gorgeous Erica, thinks he’s hot, what does that mean for me? My best hope now is that he got glamour shots taken of him out in L.A. that make him look extremely hot, but in reality he is a puny little booger with acne and bad breath. How pathetic am I that I want a boyfriend with bad breath?
    Terra flips her red hair. “I wanted to see if anyone would come with me to meet him at the airport tonight. As a welcome-back surprise. So far I have like twenty people. You coming?”
    Erica nods. “Why not?”
    Wait, wait. No. My mom and I were going to meet Wish at the airport. That was the plan. I’d imagined the whole thing: Wish hurrying up the ramp with a bag slung over his shoulder, then dropping it and running for me. He would take me in his arms and twirl me around. Okay, maybe not twirl me, but just pick me up. Okay, maybe not pick me up, but give me one momentary heave-ho so that my sandals fell off and my cute little pedicure, the only thing cute about me, showed. Airport lighting makes people look like the dead, yes, but there was a chance he’d be so jet-lagged he’d think Mrs. Potato Head was hot. And maybe if I shoved my feet in his face, first thing, he would be so mesmerized that everything north of them wouldn’t matter.
    Terra goes right on ignoring me, making plans to pick Erica up at whatever time tonight, and meanwhile, my first twinge of disappointment fades and I’m left feeling … relieved. Because if they’re going to be his welcome committee, I don’t need to be. And if I don’t go, then I won’t see Wish tonight. And if I don’t