Bright Purple: Color Me Confused with Bonus Content Read Online Free

quickly. “I’m going outside to meet her.”
    Mom just shakes her head as I walk past her. I can tell she is judging me, that she thinks I’m totally selfish, not to mention a worthless kind of friend. But then again my mom is not a Christian. She doesn’t understand that the Bible draws clear lines between right and wrong, good and evil, gay and straight. My mom doesn’t even believe in absolutes. How can she possibly get me?
    “So what’s up?” BJ asks as I get into her almost brand-new VW Bug. I still can’t believe her parents got her this for her sixteenth birthday last summer. But then they’ve got money, and they probably think it’s no big deal. And, as BJ told her friends, they also promisedto take it away from her if her grades don’t stay up. Not that they need to be worried. BJ’s GPA is close to perfect and everyone is pretty sure she’ll end up being valedictorian. Still, I can’t help but feel a twinge of envy as I smell that new car smell and eye the little bud vase where she keeps a fake daisy. I mean she’s only sixteen and I just turned seventeen in October and I still don’t have a car. Not even an
old
one!
    “Have you talked to Jess?” I venture as she pulls into traffic.
    “Like since when?”
    “You know, like
today
.”
    “No, I haven’t seen her since basketball practice yesterday. By the way, you were looking really good out there, Ramie. I heard Coach Ackley telling Mrs. Cole that we might have a chance at state if you keep playing like that once the season starts.”
    I kind of shrug. “That’s cool.”
    “So what’s the deal with Jess? Why didn’t you ride with her tonight? Not that I mind giving you a ride. But is she sick or something? I mean she seemed perfectly fine at practice. In fact, her game was looking pretty good too.”
    I’m not sure how much to say. I mean it’s one thing for Jess to confide in me. I am, or rather I was, her best friend. But I’m just not sure whether I have the right to tell anyone else. “She’s not sick,” I tell BJ. “Well, not physically anyway.”
    “What do you mean? Is she going mental on us or something? Did she have some kind of meltdown?”
    “Sort of.” I let out a big sigh. “But I think she should tell you herself, BJ. I mean she only told me today, and it was kind of shocking, but I don’t know if it’s okay for me to tell anyone yet.”
    “Man, now you really got me curious. Now that I think about it, she has been kind of quiet lately. But she’s been at every practiceand she plays good and hard, so I’m thinking it’s not like she’s doing drugs or anything. Is she?” BJ looks worried.
    I kind of laugh. “No, she’s definitely not doing drugs.”
    “But she’s not coming to youth group. Has she fallen away from the Lord or something?”
    “I . . . I’m not really sure. you’ll have to ask her that yourself.”
    “So, she
might
be there tonight?”
    “Maybe. I don’t really know.”
    “Did you guys have a fight?”
    “No, not exactly. But her, uh, her little announcement has put kind of a damper on our friendship.”
    “Ah-hah!” BJ sounds excited now, like she might’ve stumbled onto the right answer. “Do you two like the same guy?”
    “No, no,” I say quickly.
    “Are you sure? I mean I noticed that you’ve kind of had your eye on Mitch Bryant lately. Do you think that Jess is—”
    “No,” I insist. “It’s nothing like that. But what’re you talking about? How did you know I like Mitch? I mean not that I do.”
    She laughs. “Yeah, right. Hey, I’m not stupid, Ramie. I saw you talking to him during practice last week. you seemed pretty tuned in to every word he was saying and he was eyeing you like he—”
    “Hey, he was just being nice. He came by to help the coach with that new laptop that’s been driving him nuts. Then Mitch gave me a little shooting pointer,” I tell her, which isn’t completely untrue. “And it actually worked. Remember, he used to be pretty