Holly's Heart Collection Three Read Online Free Page A

and located a pen and my three-ring binder just as Jared and Amy-Liz entered the classroom holding hands. The sight of them together struck me hard. I mean, ever since I’d first met Jared in November of seventh grade, he’d flirted with me. Even long after we’d decided to be just friends, he never seemed willing to let me go. Until now . . .
    Jared and Amy-Liz sat across from each other, and I saw that he had eyes for only her now. Cute, with naturally wavy, blond hair, my petite friend also had a high, clear soprano voice, not to mention a sparkling personality.
    The thought of my first crush interested in someone else made me feel even worse. I guess when it came right down to understanding why I felt this way, I was basically in the dark. But I knew one thing so far: Life as a freshman stunk!
    “Good morning,” Mr. Irving said. “I have a number of things to pass out to you today. Please bear with me as I do the required paper pushing.”
    Bear with me? Paper pushing? Where’d they find this guy? But the more I studied him, the more I realized he reminded me of someone’s uncle. He was almost parental, I guess you could say.
    There were zillions of things to be announced, and my attention wandered a bit while Mr. Irving listed various deadlines, mostly for the return of the papers he’d just distributed. But something about him—maybe his ongoing humorous remarks— reminded me of Uncle Jack.
    My ears perked up when he mentioned the election of freshman officers for student council. Jared and Amy-Liz seemed to pay attention for the first time, too.
    “One week from now—and you’ll be hearing more about this,” Mr. Irving explained, “we’ll be running student council election campaigns for this year’s freshman class.”
    Jared raised his hand. “Can anyone run?”
    “Absolutely,” Mr. Irving said. “America is still a free country.” Laughter splashed through the classroom.
    I glanced at Jared, who was whispering something to Amy-Liz. Was he going to run? And if so, would Amy-Liz handle his campaign?
    I’d already promised to help Andie and had assured her I wouldn’t run. Maybe I should’ve thought it through. Maybe it wasn’t too late to change my mind and run against Andie and Jared. And beat them both!

    I was feeling totally stressed out by lunchtime. On top of everything—bad hair day included—I had landed tons of homework. High-school teachers sure knew how to pile it on. They weren’t easing us lowly freshmen into high-school life very gradually.
    My hair newly wet down and rebraided, I settled in at a table in the cafeteria. I’d saved three places, hoping Andie, Paula, and Kayla might show up and share the woes of their first morning back at school.
    Suddenly I noticed a pixie-haired girl standing motionless in the doorway of the cafeteria. Her eyes were a blank stare. A beautiful dog—a golden retriever—stood at her side.
    I watched as the dog deftly guided her through the maze of tables and students to the teacher-monitor. Observing the girl, I felt ashamed. My feelings of contempt for these halls of higher learning and the cruel way life had seemingly treated me— forcing me out of my cozy junior-high nest, not to mention the over-perming of my hair—well, all that seemed unimportant as I watched the blind student.
    I began to eat my lunch, contemplating life without the fabulous sense of sight—thinking how it would be having to depend on another person or a guide dog for my mobility. Whew! The thought of such a thing made the imposed move to high school seem trivial. Ditto for hair problems.

FRESHMAN FRENZY
    Chapter 7
    Curious about the blind girl, I started to get up to go introduce myself. That’s when Andie and Paula showed up.
    “Hey, Holly,” they said together, each of them pulling out a chair across the table from me.
    Andie seemed a bit startled when she looked at me. “What happened to your hair?” she asked. “It looked really good this