Survival of the Fiercest by Anna Carey Read Free Book Online Page A

bull break dancing.
    Kyle
    PS: You were right about that Decemberists song—the acoustic version of “Engine Driver” is so much better.
    Â 
    Â 
    TO: Kyle Lewis
FROM: Andie Sloane
DATE: Wednesday, 7:11 p.m.
SUBJECT: Re: Hey there
    Hilarious video. This totally made my night. This week is turning out to be kind of…weird (long story). I’ll definitely talk to you soon. Can’t wait.
    xoxo
Andie

ASHTON PREP GIRLS DO THEIR HOMEWORK
    C ate leaned on the wrought iron fence outside her town house, glancing every so often at her Tiffany Crown of Hearts watch. All day, girls had been peppering her with questions, asking if there would be a talent portion of the audition, or if she preferred they change out of their uniforms and into a specific designer label. Everything was as it was supposed to be: Girls were back to looking to Cate for advice, and Chi Sigma was already on its way to beating out Beta Sigma Chi as the most popular sorority at Ashton Prep. But if she was going to make ninth grade her defining year, she was still missing one key ingredient: a boyfriend. And that’s where Eli Punch came in.
    Danny Plimpton dashed down Eighty-second Street. His red and blue-striped tie was blown over his shoulder, like he’d just stepped out of a wind tunnel. “It’s about time,” Cate hissed, snatching the lime green folder from his hands.
    â€œIt wasn’t my fault!” Danny had thick black eyebrows and a nose that turned up at the end. He reminded Cate of the GrinchWho Stole Christmas. “Mr. Klotchske gave me detention for spitting on the sidewalk.”
    â€œSave it.” Cate turned the folder over in her hands. The front of it had a picture of a stick figure planting a tree, the words THE GREEN CLUB printed right above it. Two whole days had gone by since she first met Eli, and she still hadn’t had one real conversation with him, unless you counted his original “hi.” Still, she found herself sitting up straighter in class, smiling as she walked down Madison Avenue, and spending twenty extra minutes picking out her uniform shirt. She felt an imaginary set of eyes on her all the time— Eli’s eyes. She was starting to feel like the lovesick Eponine in Les Misérables , always pretending Marius was beside her. She didn’t just want to be Eli’s girlfriend. He made her want to be a better version of herself.
    She opened the folder slowly, breathing in the cool night air. Eli Punch’s smiling face looked directly at her. She smiled back.
    â€œIt’s everything from the last two days, just like you asked.” Danny tugged on the ends of his tie. His uniform shirt was untucked, his tiny legs sticking out underneath it.
    This was it. The crucial piece of the Eli puzzle—his life at Haverford. Cate thumbed through the materials, which included Eli’s schedule, napkins and receipts Danny had scribbled on ( the Eagle wiped his mouth with this at lunch; receipt from the Eagle’s recent Coke purchase ), and candid photos Danny had taken on his iPhone. There was one of Eli eating turkey burgers with Braden Pennyworth, Haverford’s star basketball player, and one of him in his Brooks Brothers boxers and a T-shirt that looked like it had been taken from the inside of a locker. In the last onehe was wearing the Haverford signature red and blue shorts, a basketball tucked under his arm. “Wait—he’s on the Haverford varsity team?”
    â€œYup.” Danny glanced inside the front window. He was three inches shorter than Lola and could’ve easily been mistaken for a fourth-grader.
    Cate pressed the photo to her chest. “And he’s only a sophomore,” she said. The only thing better than having a Haverford boyfriend was having a Haverford boyfriend on the varsity basketball team. Every Ashton Prep girl was part of the Facebook group “Waiting for Braden Pennyworth to be single again” or