The Anti Social Network by Sadie Hayes Read Free Book Online Page A

from you and I started worrying. I knew that with a score like that you’d get into an amazing college and probably get a scholarship and I wouldn’t. And I started freaking out that we’d be separated again. So I … ” He couldn’t look at her. “I used the Dawsons’
    computer and traced your steps to hack into the SAT website and change my score.”
    He was picking at the corner of his burrito wrapper. “I only increased it to a 2150 and honestly, Amelia, if I’d had all the SAT prep courses most of the kids here had, you know I would easily have gotten that on my own.
    But … somehow the Dawsons found out. And now they’re threatening to tell Stanford I cheated if I don’t get you to start embezzling money.” He sat looking down for what felt like an eternity, waiting for Amelia to say something.
    Amelia took a sip of her beer. She chewed a bite of her burrito. Then she took another sip of her beer. Adam stared at her anxiously.
    “So, how long before they tell?” she finally said.
    “Two weeks.”
    “Tell them I’ll do it,” she said.
    “But Amelia, you can’t! You can’t start embezzling again!”
    “I didn’t say I was going to embezzle money. I said to tell them I would.” She took another sip of her beer. The alcohol was making her feel confident.
    Adam couldn’t believe how calm she seemed. “You’re not mad?” Amelia smiled. “No, I’m not mad. We’ll figure it out. I’m glad you told me. I don’t want us to have secrets.”
    He grinned and picked up his burrito again. “Me either.”
    “So is there anything else?”
    He wiped a bit of salsa off the corner of his mouth. “Well, there is one other little thing. Since we’re not keeping secrets.” Amelia laughed. “What’s that?”
    “I’ve been dating T. J.’s sister, Lisa.” Amelia choked on the beer she was drinking. “You’re what? Are you kidding? Are you crazy?”
    “Amelia, I think I’m in love with her.”

Chapter XIII
Lights! Camera! Action!
    “C had and I are going to watch a movie. Any interest?” Shandi asked Patty after Sunday dinner.
    “What are you watching?”
    “
Henry and June
. It’s about Henry Miller, his marriage to June, and his affair with Anais Nin. It’s a beautiful film, if you haven’t seen it.”
    “Sure. I’ll be right down. I’m just going to throw on some pajamas.” She slipped into a pair of Soffe shorts, slipped off her bra, threw on an oversized sweatshirt, and padded down the stairs. It had been a week and a half since Chad picked her up from jail, and things had been surprisingly un-weird. He hadn’t said anything, or even hinted at it in front of the Hawkins, and she knew she could trust him not to. Plus the fact that they had this little secret now—in addition to their other little secret—made her feel like they were secret pals, separate from the rest of the world.
    Chad and Shandi were seated in two reclining theater chairs in the middle of the movie room. Patty grabbed a blanket and took the seat next to Chad as Shandi started the film.
    “Mind if I share your blanket?” Chad whispered a few minutes into the film.
    “Sure,” Patty smiled.
    He lifted the armrest between them, and pulled the blanket so that it covered his lap as well as hers.
    “Isn’t the cinematography beautiful?” Shandi whispered as a shot of Paris panned into Henry Miller’s bedroom, where he was lying with a naked French woman. Shandi’s eyes were glued to the screen, totally engrossed.
    The actors started having loud, bed-shaking sex. “Did Shandi mention that this film was the first one in the world to get an NC-17 rating?” Chad asked Patty, loudly enough for Shandi to hear.
    “Shhh … they only rated it that way because they were prudish and focusing on copulation rather than the artistry of presenting the affair. It’s not about pornography, it’s about Henry Miller’s life, which happened to be filled and defined by a great deal of sex.” The film continued,