Wired by Francine Pascal Read Free Book Online

warning bells were sounding in earnest.
    â€œYeah, well, I mean… they know that Jake can be a real flirt and that guys can be totally dense, so it was good to just get it off my chest, get some girlie input, you know?”
    â€œYeah, totally. I’m all for girlie input, Gaia. But those girls…” She sighed, arranging her thoughts inher mind before she spoke. “Look, Gaia, they’re obviously your friends and they’re my friends, too, but I’m not sure they’ve always got the most, uh,
unbiased
advice to offer, that’s all I’m saying. Don’t put too much stock in what they have to say. They don’t do too much original thinking.” She hoped she didn’t sound melodramatic, but she wasn’t sure.
    Gaia laughed. She understood what Liz was getting at, and though she wasn’t about to shrug off the FOHs’ friendship, however tenuous it was, it was nice to know that someone else was looking out for her. Someone who understood the murky social waters she was sailing.
    â€œI’m serious,” Liz pressed. “I don’t want to go all high drama on you, but girls like that… well, they usually have an agenda. Just take their advice with a grain of salt,” she emphasized.
    Gaia’s look of bemused appreciation shifted to one of mild panic. What exactly was Liz saying? Were the FOHs out to
get
her or something? Did Liz know something concrete?
    Gaia’s spirits sagged. The warm sense of belonging she’d had only moments ago—the acute sensation that the FOHs accepted her and that Liz cared for her—was replaced suddenly by cold dread. Jake was a flirt who had no intention of staying with her. He’d probably already asked someone else to the prom. Her “friends” were at some Starbucks downtown, plottingher social demise over nonfat lattes. Her mood, shaky as it was, deflated like a popped balloon.
    â€œHey,” Liz broke into her thoughts softly, reading her panicked expression. “No one’s conspiring against you or anything like that. It’s not, you know, so dire. I’m just looking out for you because you seem a little fragile lately.”
    Gaia laughed shortly. Fragile. That was what she had become. If Liz only knew.
    â€œLiz!” A booming male voice cut into their conversation. “You ready or what?”
    Gaia and Liz turned simultaneously to see Skyler Rodke loping easily toward them. “Hey,” he said, once he was standing before them.
    â€œI thought Chris was meeting me.” Liz sounded confused. “We were going to go pick something up for Mom uptown. Something big and heavy” she said pointedly. “It’s a classic Skyler must-miss scenario.”
    Skyler grinned. “Chris wasn’t man enough for the task. I told Mom I’d help you.”
    â€œWell, that’s awfully kind of you, Your Highness, to come all the way downtown to help your poor, downtrodden sister. I’m sure the fact that there’s a beautiful blond along for the ride had nothing to do with it,” Liz said sarcastically.
    â€œThat’s sisterly trust for you.” Skyler laughed, flashing his even white teeth at Gaia. She suddenly felt flushed. Skyler was hot, no doubt about it, but itwas more than that. It wasn’t even that he was checking her out, because in spite of what Liz had said, Gaia didn’t see it. But something about him did make her nervous.
    Let’s face it, just about everything makes me nervous these days
, she admitted to herself. But this was a different nervous. Yet as unsettling as the feeling was, she couldn’t turn away from him. She was mesmerized. She loved the fact that he was teasing her, loved the fact that he lumped her into the same group that he lumped his little sister. The vibe between Gaia and him felt familial. It was like he was the anti-Jake—unconcerned with the new bizarro Gaia’s constant anxiety. Willing