Count on Me (Bayview Heights Trilogy) Read Online Free Page B

together.”
    Shondra Jacobs was the sixth member of the group of close friends who’d been together since ninth grade. Her parents were mega-protective and way too controlling. Erica thought it had something to do with Shondra being black and having to prove herself.
    “The guys aren’t here, either,” Ashley put in. “I wonder how Evan’s doing without me the night before school starts.”
    “He and Robby are having a pity party,” Rachel told her. “I talked to Rob just before I came here.”
    Erica experienced a twinge of envy. A steady boyfriend, especially a nice one like Evan Michaels or Rob Mason, was just another thing she’d missed in her quest to be Bayview Heights’s top student. Ms. Caufield had a saying she’d posted on the wall: You can get all A’s and still flunk life. It was true, in Erica’s case.
    “Rob told us you looked great at practice, Shel,” Rachel put in. Rob and Evan played soccer. Shelley was captain of the girls’ team. “What time’s your game tomorrow?”
    “It starts at four.” Shelley toyed with the braid that hung over her shoulder, probably thinking about the big match with Penbrooke. She took the sport very seriously. She also hoped it was her ticket to college.
    Erica noticed that Julia wasn’t paying attention to the conversation anymore. Sprawled out on her belly on Erica’s queen-size bed, clothed in typical Julia garb—even her pajamas were theatrical, with their flaming-red background and big dragons snarling out across her chest—she had her head down and was reading something. “Earth to Jules. Where are you?”
    Julia put her finger in the book and lithely rolled to a sitting position. Cross-legged, she faced the others. “I found it.”
    “What?
    “The spell I was looking for.” In addition to being the school actress, she was also one of Bayview Heights’s few Wiccans.
    “Who’s getting zapped this time?” Shelley asked. Practical Shelley often couldn’t get into Julia’s New Age interests. Still, she attended Julia’s performances, and Julia cheered loudly at Shelley’s games.
    “Bite your tongue, girl, or I’ll put a curse on you.”
    “Wiccans don’t do curses.” Shelley accepted a refill of champagne when Erica held up the bottle. “You told me yourself it’s a peaceful religion.”
    “I wish we could.” Julia pouted like Sister Sarah from Guys and Dolls , her last big role. This year she’d be Dolly in Hello, Dolly . “I got somebody I’d like to zap.”
    All ears perked up.
    “Who?” Rachel asked.
    Julia took a big dramatic pause. Brushing back her short white-blond hair, she scanned her audience with perfect timing. “The Big K is back.”
    Shelley’s mouth fell open. Ashley and Rachel leaned forward, and Erica dropped her almost-empty glass of champagne. She ignored it as it fell and dripped on the white carpet. “What?”
    “He’s back. I got a peek at him in Mr. Taylor’s office when I was doing money stuff for the drama club.”
    “Oh, no, poor Ms. C.” Ashley frowned.
    “She was there, too,” Julia continued.
    Though Ms. Caufield was big on propriety—she wouldn’t even let them call her Zoe—and tried to keep her private life private, the girls had made a point to find out what was happening with her and the doctor. Mostly through overhearing Ms. Lansing and Mr. Taylor talking when they thought no one was listening, and from what Ms. C let slip, they’d pieced together that Lansing had dropped her to go back to his ex. The jerk!
    Shelley let loose a very unladylike curse. “Spill it, Jules. Don’t leave anything out.”
    Erica listened carefully as Julia spun her tale. A master storyteller, she didn’t miss a detail—how great Ms. C looked in her French jeans and chic haircut, how Rad Ransom was fawning over her as usual, how upset Mr. Taylor was. But she concentrated on that bastard Lansing. “He looked like hell,” Julia said, gloating.
    “Good.” This from Ashley.
    “Maybe he doesn’t