All the Way Read Online Free Page A

him.
    â€œYou look hot,” Joey said.
    I smiled so hard it almost hurt. Which was weird, because normally, I wouldn’t even be that psyched about dating a guy like Joey. He was so full of himself, he wasn’t really my type.
    But after the dry spell I’d had this year, I’d have been happy to go out with Mango himself!
    Joey pulled me a little closer as we walked into the gym. Wow, I thought. He’s being really . . . what? Forward? Possessive? Affectionate?
    I wasn’t sure which.
    All at once, a tiny little voice in the back of my head said, Hold on. What if he expects me to have sex with him tonight? I mean, Joey and Molly had been doing it regularly—like, every Friday afternoon—for as long as I could remember. What if he expected the same from me?
    But I told that tiny little voice to shut up and stop being ridiculous. Molly and Joey had been going out for years, probably. Of course they were going to fool around. That was different. No way would he expect the same from me. Not on a first date, anyway.
    Joey moved his hand up to my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. Like he wanted to reassure me, or something.
    What was he, a mind reader?
    The bleachers in the gym were filling up quickly, so we sort of stood there, trying to figure out where to sit. I saw a pack of Molly’s friends—Ursula, Amber, Isabel, and a girl I didn’t know—clumped in the middle of the best seats, center court about eight rows up. There was an empty seat in the middle of them with a jacket on it, probably Molly’s. They all stared at us for a nanosecond and then tried to pretend they weren’t interested, but I could still feel them watching. Other people were staring at us, too.
    I guess when you show up at school with the hottest guy in the senior class, people notice.
    â€œCome on,” Joey said, taking my hand and leading me up the steps to a row that was just two rows higher than where Molly’s friends were sitting. We weren’t exactly right behind them, more off to the side. But close enough.
    Was he trying to keep an eye on her? Or just making sure she noticed us?
    On the way, we passed my cousin Ariel and her best friend, Gina, who were the only two friends I had at Norton. Having Ariel had been both a blessing and a curse, to tell you the truth. It was a blessing to have an instant friend on the first day of school last fall. But it was a curse because I got lazy and didn’t really try to hook up with anyone else. Why bother? I figured I’d be spending all my time with Rachel at my old school—not hanging out at Norton much anyway. And since Ariel wasn’t too socially connected, I wound up being part of a really small group—the group of Ariel and Gina.
    Ariel’s dark brown eyes opened wide when she saw me with Joey. She shot me a look that said, Wow! How and when did you land him?
    I smiled at her and sort of shrugged to indicate, I’ll tell you later.
    â€œHey, man,” some guy said to Joey as we scooted into the bleacher row. “What’s up?”
    â€œNot much.” Joey squeezed my hand when he said it, so I wouldn’t feel like he was saying I wasn’t much.
    Like I said, who knew there was a softer side to Joey Perrone?
    Once we were settled, perched high in the bleachers with a view of the whole social scene below, Joey really came to life.
    â€œCheck out Jessica B.,” he said, nodding toward the end of the basketball court where all the players were trying to mount their donkeys. “Have you ever seen thighs that big on a girl that short?”
    Jessica B. was a cheerleader at Norton, and her thighs were muscular, not flabby. They weren’t really that big, but I knew what he meant. Tonight she was supposed to be playing donkey ball on the student team—if she could ever heave herself up onto that animal. The donkey kept turning his head to sniff her while she was trying to climb on. Each time his