The Last Place on Earth by Carol Snow Read Free Book Online

I slid down in my seat and tried not to inhale.
    In math class, I looked around for the pinch-faced drill team girl, hoping to pump her for more information about Gwendolyn, but she was out, too.
    Walking across the classroom, Hannah Branson caught my eye. If she wore a verb T-shirt, it would say, GOSSIP or SUCK UP . “What’s the deal with Henry? He’s been out forever.” Hannah was a good five inches taller than I was, plus she had this habit of tilting up her pointy chin, which meant I got a view up her nostrils that I could have done without.
    â€œHe’s … I’m not sure.”
    â€œIs he camping?” She tilted her chin up a notch higher. It bugged me that Hannah knew that Henry’s family liked to camp, but then, pretty much everything Hannah did bugged me.
    â€œI don’t know. Maybe.”
    She raised her eyebrows. “So … did you guys break up?”
    I blinked at her. “We were never going out.”
    â€œReally?” Her chin finally dropped, and her eyes popped a little.
    â€œTruly.” I forced a smile.
    â€œEveryone thought you were.”
    â€œEveryone was wrong.”
    â€œSo … you’re not going to Homecoming with him?”
    â€œNo. I’m not.” I had no intention of going to the dance with anyone, not that it was any of her business. Homecoming was the last thing on my mind right now.
    â€œOh.” Hannah pressed her lips together and flitted to her seat.
    We had two schoolwide dances every year: Homecoming and Winter Formal. Last February, during biology lab, I was partnered with a small, intense boy named Rudy (verb T-shirt: STUDY ) when the whole dance and dating thing first crossed my radar.
    â€œYou going to Winter Formal?” Rudy had asked. We were sharing a microscope. Examining bacteria. Love was not in the air. The only thing in the air was the smell of rotting leaves and hand sanitizer.
    â€œNah.” I squirted some goo on a slide. Going to the dance had never occurred to me. It would require tickets, a dress, shoes … all kinds of stuff that cost money. Plus, aside from a particularly gorgeous senior water polo player whom I worshipped from afar, no boys in this school interested me. And also, I didn’t like being in large groups of, you know. People.
    Rudy took the slide and stuck it under the microscope. He peered through the viewfinder and adjusted the lens. “I was thinking the dance might be fun. You want to go together?” His tone was super casual, like he was asking me to join a study group. He kept his eye on the bacteria.
    â€œNo, thanks.” I jotted down a couple of notes. “I’d rather just stay home. Watch movies or something.” I would have said no to a study group, too. I only liked doing homework with Henry.
    It wasn’t until Rudy looked up, his face bright red, that I realized that he had been asking me out. Like on a date. While examining bacteria.
    â€œI thought he meant in a group of friends!” I later told Henry. He thought the story was hilarious. Of course he did. “Why does Rudy even like me? I hardly know him.”
    It’s not like I wanted to go to the dance, but I felt bad about being so rude.
    â€œOh, Daisy,” Henry said, still laughing a little. “You don’t get it.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œYou’re cute. Guys notice you.” He kept his tone completely matter-of-fact, like he’d said, You’re right-handed or You have brown eyes .
    â€œAll guys?” I asked.
    He gave me what can only be described as a Dad Smile. “Only the ones with good taste.”
    The Dad Smile actually made me feel better. If Henry thought I was cute, if Henry asked me out—ugh. It would be worse than awkward. I’d be out a best friend.
    The day before Winter Formal, a Thursday, I was checking Netflix on Henry’s smartphone. (He had a better phone than I did.… Well, he had a better