Freshman Year Read Online Free Page B

idea. Instead, I think about the person I usually think about before I fall asleep: my dad.
    I think about how I’d do anything to have him back, especially now that I’m starting high school. He used to tell me stories about how much fun he’d had at Gila High and how I was going to love it, too. I was even going to join the club he started way back in the day: Future Scientists of America Club. I try to stop myself, but now I’m remembering the accident and the way his car looked like a crushed Coke can, then the funeral, then coming home and knowing he’d never be here again. I wish I could remember him without remembering any of that.
    I need to focus on something else, so I start thinking about how the official start of high school is just forty-five hours away and that I have a lot of work to do. Since my encounter with the Hot Dog on a Stick Chick, I know it’s going to take a lot more than new clothes and makeup to leave my nerdy self behind. I quietly take out my notepad and, by the light of the glowing faces of Paul, John, Ringo, and George, I make some changes to my to-do list. I cross out Change glow-in-the-dark stars , add Buy scented lotion , and draw a heavy, urgent circle around Practice Spanish daily .

    *
    I make it through the night on two hours of restless sleep, and in the morning, after Marisol and Sarah are gone, Kate and I have some breakfast while we wait for her sister Jenn to pick her up.
    In between bites, Kate lectures me on the expected behavior of high school girls. “I mean, Abbey, boys aren’t going to like you if you don’t like yourself. You have to, you know, put some effort into how you look, or you’re going to end up going to your first formal with a group of other lame-ass girls who couldn’t get dates, or worse, you won’t get to go at all.”
    I try to act interested, but I’m not convinced she can know so much about a place she has never been. Jenn, on the other hand, is a much more reliable source. That’s why when she talks, we all listen.
    Jenn’s going to be a senior at Gila High, and even though she usually ignores us or calls us names like the Freak Pack and Dorks R Us, she sometimes tosses out little morsels of highly desirable high school info. Naturally, I keep a list of these secrets in my notebook. They’re mostly about which teachers to avoid (Schwartz and Ponsi), how to sneak off campus (like I would ever do that), and how the fastest snack-bar line is always run by the oldest lunch lady, but I’ll take whatever I can get.
    Jenn arrives and waits for Kate to polish off her cereal.
    I get up for more cereal and can feel Jenn’s eyes follow me as I cross the kitchen. I sit down again, fold my long legs in my chair like a contortionist because it’s how I’m most comfortable, chew my Cheerios, and wait for Jenn’s always-uplifting commentary on my body, as if I need more reasons to feel self-conscious.
    â€œDamn, girl,” she says, “I’m pretty sure your mom had an affair with Big Bird about fifteen years ago. Have you asked her about that yet? Seriously. Legs for days? More like legs for months.”
    I just roll my eyes and take another bite of cereal.
    â€œSpeaking of which, you guys are going to try out for basketball, right?” Jenn says, as she grabs another handful of Os from the box. “I mean, you kind of have to. Between the two of you, the janitors won’t need a ladder to get the spiderwebs out of the rafters.”
    Kate and I have never discussed trying out for any sports, so I don’t really acknowledge Jenn’s suggestion/put down.
    But then Kate shrugs and says, “We’re going to wait and see.”
    â€œUh, yeah. We’re not sure,” I say, playing along and successfully hiding my heart attack.
    â€œCome on,” Jenn says, “are you kidding me? You two are, like, bred for hoops.” Then she asks, “Dude,