Common Ground (The Common Ground Trilogy Book 1) Read Online Free Page B

is Zoe,” Annie replied, putting her arm around my waist in a half hug. I could feel the blood rush to my cheeks in embarrassment.
    “Nice to finally meet you guys. I’m Steph,” she said as her wild emerald eyes excitedly jumped from Annie to me, “and this is Hope”.  Hope just gave us a half smile and a lazy wave of her hand while Steph shook both of ours. “We’re just off to The Pit to get a quick bite before Orientation, you guys in?”
    “Sure!” Annie said overly enthused as the four of us started out for the cafeteria. “Wow Steph, I love your hair!”
    “Thanks,” she replied, throwing her perfectly curled, fire-red hair over her shoulder where it rested nicely. “It’s impossible to keep it curly here though. It’ll be straight by the time we get to campus!”
    Steph’s hair was just the beginning of what was an extremely beautiful girl. Her cheekbones were perfectly defined on her thin face, which was covered by a few auburn freckles and her body was toned like that of an Olympic swimmer. I would have been surprised if she had an ounce of body fat anywhere. She covered her natural beauty with heavy eyeliner, blush and ruby red lipstick. She wore a very tight lime green strapless t-shirt and high riding khaki shorts, which just emphasized the perfection that was her body. After studying her, I glanced down at my own slim but un-toned body and felt a twinge of jealousy.
    “I know what you mean,” Annie said, tugging on her own frizzled locks. “When did you guys move in?”
    “Yesterday. I actually came upstairs to say hello, but you guys weren’t home.”
    “Yeah, sorry about that. We went out to Soaking Wet,” Annie said as the two of them started to break off from the pack, leaving Hope and I slightly behind.
    The two of us walked in silence for what felt like an eternity as Annie and Steph were talking enough for the four of us. My eyes and ears were locked onto them as they had started talking about how gorgeous the guys were in Vegas.  Every now and then, my eyes peeked over at Hope who just kept her head down and stammered forward. After a few minutes, things just started to feel awkward.
    “So, how do you and Steph know each other?” I asked hesitantly. 
    Hope’s head jerked up so fast she had to re-position her thick glasses back into their normal spot.
    “Huh?” she asked surprised. “Oh, well we went to the same high school,” Hope said, barely loud enough for me to hear.
    “Where’d you go?”
    “Um, this high school down in Tucson, you wouldn’t know it.”
    “Oh, so you guys must have been friends for a while then?”
    She just shook her head. “They just put us together because of that.”
    “Ah, well that’s too bad,” I said, not really sure what else to say. “Are you enjoying it here so far?”
    “It’s fine I guess,” she shrugged. “Better than Tucson that’s for sure. What about you?”
    “We came from Seattle so it’s a pretty big change but we’ve been here for two weeks already. I’ve gotten used to it.”
    She nodded and seemed to relax just a bit as her shoulders slouched a little and she had picked up the pace. “How do you two know each other?”
    “That’s a long story,” I sighed. “Let’s just say we grew up together. She’s my best friend.”
    “Cool,” Hope said with a soft smile. Her smile was quite a change from the somewhat awkwardness of her appearance. She had shoulder length black hair, but it was completely matted and uncombed. It rested on top of a very round and chubby face. Her deep brown eyes were hidden behind extra thick glasses, which rested on a long and pointy nose, as pimples and other random blemishes covered the rest of her face. A pair of really baggy jeans covered her legs, and a plain yellow t-shirt covered her undefined chest. She wasn’t fat by any stretch of the imagination, but she wasn’t in the same ballpark as me, Annie or especially Steph.  But Hope had a friendly and innocent vibe about