The Second Virginity of Suzy Green by Sara Hantz Read Free Book Online Page B

ask. “I bet that hurt.”
    “Yeah, I’m fine.
It didn’t hurt that much. Move over and let me sit down.” Lucky we’re all small
as three on a seat made for two is nothing if not intimate. “How was the party
on Friday, Janey? As boring as you thought?”
    “Depends on what
you mean by boring.” Janey smirks. “I was telling Suzy about it, wasn’t I?”
    “Yes, and we’ve
just got to the interesting bit. Come on Janey, what happened? I’m getting all
hot and bothered just thinking about it.”
    Janey and Amy
both look at me with bemused expressions of their faces. I think I might have
said something wrong.
    “That’s not the
sort of comment we’d expect to hear from a member of the Virginity Club,” says
Amy, her tone distinctly sarcastic.
    What the—
    “I’m not. Well I
am, but I only went on Friday. How do you know?” And more to the point, does
she know what else happened?
    “I saw you leaving
Starbucks with Lori and Rachel.” Phew. “I know that’s where they go so I put
two and two together and got my answer. Hardly rocket science.” She rolls her
eyes.
    What a bitch. I used to think she was okay.
I shrug. “Oh, right.”
    “We had such a
cool time,” Amy says, averting her gaze from me to Janey. “And there’s this
real cute guy working in Starbucks. Have you seen him?”
    I think back to
Friday night when I was there for all of one minute. I don’t remember seeing
any guys working there. Only girls.
    “No,” says
Janey.
    “Neither,” I
say.
    “Well hands off,
he’s mine.”
    “Well, that
might be a bit hard,” says Janey. “Seeing as we don’t even know what he looks
like.” She glances at me and starts to giggle. “So maybe we’ll fight you for
him.”
    “Count me out,”
I say emphatically. “I’m definitely not interested.”
    “Because?” asks
Janey, arching an eyebrow.
    Luckily the bus
pulls up outside school before I have time to answer. I pick up my bag from the
floor, wait for Janey and Amy to slide out of the seat and follow behind them
as we make our way to the door of the bus.
    Looking out of
the bus window I see Lori leaning against a big oak tree, and my heart plummets
as the reason I’m dreading going to school this morning comes flooding back.  My
steps slow to a crawl in an attempt to prolong the inevitable. I’m so pathetic.
Where on earth is in-your-face-Suzy who dare face anyone and anything?
    I can’t delay
stepping off the bus any longer as there’s a line of students behind me. Maybe
Lori won’t notice me if I slouch and tuck in behind Janey.
    “Suzy, over
here.” Crap. She’s seen me. But she doesn’t sound as if she hates me. Not that
I can tell after three words. I suck in a deep breath, but it doesn’t seem to
slow my pounding heart.
    “Hi,” I say when
I get to the tree. I give my best and brightest smile. “What are you doing
here?”
    “Waiting for
you.” She folds her arms and looks decidedly fierce.
    Uh oh. Waiting
for me so she can tell me not to go to the VC again and not to talk to any of
them in future. I knew it. Things were going too well for something like this
not to happen. And it’s no-ones fault but my own for being so stupid and for
launching into act-before-thinking mode. Only when I was like this before I
couldn’t care less about the consequences.
    “Oh right,” is
all I can utter as I wait for the onslaught. I focus on my shoes, unable to
look her in the face.
    “Yeah. To apologize.”
    My eyes shoot up
in surprise. This has got to be a joke, right? But she looks serious enough.
Why would she want to apologize? I don’t get it.
    “Apologize?”
    “Yes,” Lori
replies, hopping from foot to foot and looking uncomfortable. “For being so unsympathetic
on Friday. I didn’t mean to drive you away. I felt awful all weekend. I
couldn’t phone because I went away with my parents and didn’t get back until
late last night. So I decided to wait for you this morning.”
    I shake my head
and pinch myself