Unfriendly Competition by Jessica Burkhart Read Free Book Online

been too tired after my lesson and the rest of my homework had kept me at my desk until I’d fallen asleep.
    I filled in the last blank and shoved the now-finished worksheet back in my pink folder, glad to not have any late homework, especially not in this advanced class. I’d been the only one in the room for a while because I’d gotten there early. I looked up when the doorknob turned.
    Paige stepped inside, giving me a tiny smile when she saw me.
    â€œUm, hi,” she said.
    â€œHey.”
    There wasn’t any venom in our tones—they sounded the same. Sad and tired.
    Paige was wearing a cranberry-colored three-quarters sleeve shirt that I’d never seen before, with over-the-knee black boots and jeans. I wondered if she’d gone shopping with Geena, her new roommate. Even after all this time, thinking about it was still hard to digest. I opened my folder, shuffling papers, and pretending there was something interesting in it.
    â€œCan we talk for a sec?” Paige asked. She sat beside me, placing her leather messenger bag on the floor.
    I glanced at her, unsure if I’d heard her right. “Of course,” I said. I had no clue what this was about. Paige and I weren’t enemies anymore, and our relationship had never been exactly that, even after the Callie thing, but we’d been sort of frozen and hadn’t moved forward to repairing our past friendship.
    Our past BFF-ness.
    And it still hurt.
    Paige’s green eyes focused on mine. She took a deep breath and twisted a lock of red-gold hair around her finger. I shifted in my seat, hating the discomfort between us.
    â€œSasha, I wanted to know—”
    Paige closed her mouth when the door to the classroom burst open with such force that we both jumped. Vanessa, a girl in our class, walked inside laughing with Alison. Behind them came a few other students and Mr. Davidson.
    I looked at Paige, desperate to know what she’d wanted. But it was obviously something Paige didn’t want to discuss in front of everyone. She gave me a sorry look and opened her notebook.
    Mr. Davidson went to his desk and started taking attendance.
    I’m going to have to sit through this entire class and be tortured, I thought. I’d have to wait until the end to see if Paige wanted to finish what she’d started saying. What if she said nothing at all—like it had never happened?
    I felt something being pressed into my hand. I looked down, under the table, and a tiny folded up piece of paper was in my hand. On the ripped up piece of notebook paper, in purple pen, was a note in Paige’s handwriting.
    Can we meet up and talk? Pls?
    For a long minute, I stared at the note, reading Paige’s familiar handwriting over and over.
    I finally wrote back.
    2mrw?
    Paige read my note and handed me another.
    Absolutely. Text me whenever.
    For the rest of English class, I tried to focus on the lesson and not think about whatever Paige wanted to talk to me about. I wasn’t too nervous—the way we’d just talked hadn’t been contentious. Paige didn’t seem like she was asking to meet with me just to fight. Or, at least, I hoped not.
    Later that afternoon, I was heading to free period when I saw Eric looking at a handout from one of his classes.
    â€œHey,” I said, walking up to him.
    He looked up smiled. “Hey, Sasha. How’s everything?”
    â€œGood,” I said. “Busy, obviously. But good.”
    He adjusted the math textbook and notebook in his hand. “I’m glad. I’m happy you’re doing okay.”
    â€œActually, I’m doing more than okay,” I said, my tone soft. “And it’s partly because of you.”
    Eric leaned his shoulder back against the wall, looking at me with his intense dark eyes. “What did I do?”
    â€œWhat you did with Jacob—the riding lessons—I can’t thank you enough. That was the best Halloween surprise ever. I