I Was a Non-Blonde Cheerleader Read Online Free Page A

place I would have asked what mascara she used, but right then I just wanted to escape. I turned sideways to try to squeeze by them, and as I did, the Britney-clone looked me up and down.
    “Her nose is even browner than her hair,” she said under her breath.
    All her friends cracked up laughing, except one—a tall, athletic girl who looked very uncomfortable. I’d never seen so many bared non-bellies convulsing at the same time. My face burning, I ducked out of the room and tried to get lost in the crowded hall. Fat chance. I stuck out like a sore brunette thumb. I needed to invest in a wig, STAT.
    “Annisa! Um . . . Annisa!?”
    I slowed my pace and turned around. The one non-laugher was speed-walking to catch up with me. She had naturally wavy blonde hair that hung past her shoulders and was one of those people who was so beautiful, she didn’t need products of any kind.
    “Hey . . . I’m Mindy,” she said with a tentative smile. She hugged her notebooks close to her chest. “I just wanted to say, don’t pay any attention to Sage. She’s just . . . like that.”
    As if that was any excuse. And the Britney-clone’s name was
Sage
? I’m sorry, but she seemed anything
but.
I mean, “browner”? That’s not even a word. Still, I sensed that Mindy was genuinely sorry, which was nice. Of all the blonde females I’d encountered, so far Mindy was the only human. Except Mrs. O’Donaghue. But hers was a dye job—I could tell.
    “Thanks. That’s good to know, I guess,” I said.
    “So . . . where’re you from?” Mindy asked. She fell into step with me as I crossed the short distance to my locker. I was surprised. Apologizing was one thing. Risking being spotted talking to the brunette suck-up with the gum addiction was another. Sage was clearly a clique leader and Mindy was clearly risking her wrath by chatting with me.
    I liked her instantly.
    “New Jersey,” I said, twirling my lock. I did the combination, but when I yanked on the door, nothing happened. Thenit hit me that I had dialed in the numbers from my locker back home. My eyes suddenly burned with nostalgic tears.
    “Do you miss it?” Mindy asked.
    “Me? Nah!” I replied.
    “I’ve lived here my entire life. I don’t know what I’d do if I had to move and start a new school,” Mindy said. “I’d probably die of nervousness.”
    “Come on. It’s not
that
scary,” I replied.
    Just then the crowd in the hallway parted as two older girls strode right down the center of the corridor. I could see why everyone was scurrying out of their way. They were both perfectly put together in the way popular kids always are, and they both looked pissed. Popularity and pissiness? Never a good combination.
    “You’re that new girl—Annie something, right?” one of them said, stopping right in front of me. She had short blonde hair and was runway-caliber gorgeous.
    Somehow I found my voice in all the surprise. “Annisa, actually.”
    “So your dad’s the cheapskate home-wrecker, then,” the other girl snapped. Her blonde hair was of the darker, longer, stick-straight variety, and her small, round face was growing redder and redder.
    “Um . . . not that I know of,” I replied.
    Everyone was stopping to stare now. Mindy took an instinctive step away from me. Couldn’t blame her. Who wanted to stand next to the new girl while she was verbally assaulted? Any stray insults might ricochet off me and stick to her.
    “Well, he is,” the girl said. “And I’m just here to warn you that if you want to have any kind of a life at this school, you’d better stay as far away from me as possible.”
    She started to walk off and I almost let out a relieved sigh, but then she whirled around again and the air got all caught up in my throat.
    “Which room did you take, anyway?” she blurted.
    I looked at the unfamiliar faces around me, but there was no one there that could help. Or that would. They were looking at me as if I’d just