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

shelled the Sand Dune High Fighting Crab with my own two hands.
    “The pink one?” I said. Not that it would be pink much longer if I had anything to say about it. Pepto-Bismol is not my color.
    The girl burst into tears and her friend led her away, looking back to shoot me an admonishing glance. As if I’d done anything wrong. I was just standing there, wasn’t I? I glanced at Mindy. She looked like she’d just stepped off an out-of-control Tilt-a-Whirl.
    “What?” I said.
    “Um . . . that was Phoebe Cook. I’m guessing you must’ve moved into her old house,” Mindy explained. “Her and the other girl? Whitney Barnard? They’re seniors and let’s just say you don’t want them as enemies.”
    Great. This day just kept getting better. “Okay, but it’s not my fault that I moved into her old house.”
    “Oh! I know! It’s just . . . there was this whole, like, scandal,” Mindy said, leaning back into the lockers. “Phoebe’s family was basically booted out of their house by, like, the IRS or something, and no one knows why, but she had to move in with her aunt and it’s supposedly really awful over there and . . . well . . .”
    Mindy trailed off and I looked down the hall in the direction Phoebe had disappeared. Seconds ago she was scary, but now my heart went out to her. I couldn’t imagine what itwould be like to be forced from my home in such a humiliating fashion. What had happened to her family? Unemployment? Tax fraud? Insider trading? No wonder Dad had gotten such a sweet deal on our little bungalow.
    “Well, I have to get to class,” Mindy said, backing away from me. “I’ll see ya.”
    “Yeah. See ya.”
    Now I felt noticeably alone again. I yanked my gym bag out, slammed my locker door and turned around to find Daniel Healy walking down the hall with a group of kids. Yay! A friendly face! I started to smile at him, but then some kid with a big ‘fro moved out of the way and I saw that Daniel had his arm around—gulp—
Sage.
    Ew!
They were
dating?
    Daniel grinned and lifted his hand from Sage’s shoulder. “Hey, Jersey!”
    A nickname! My mood was swinging so fast it was gonna give me whiplash.
    “Hey!” I replied.
    Sage shot me a withering look of death. “You
know
her?” she hissed at Daniel. A few of her girlfriends snickered. That was it. I was bathroom bound.
    I jogged back down to the English hallway and yanked open the heavy wooden door. Luckily the room was deserted, so I had a couple of minutes to collect myself. I even checked under the stall doors—no feet.
    “Okay, just chill,” I told myself quietly. “It’s just the first day and it’s almost over.”
    Suddenly, the stall door directly behind me slammed open and Bethany unfolded her legs. She had been sitting on top of the toilet seat, fully clothed. Doing what, I have no idea.
    “Do you always talk to yourself?” she asked with a smirk.
    “Only when my life is flashing before my eyes.”
    The bell rang and my heart jumped. The gym was clear on the other side of the school. I was going to be
so
late! I grabbed my gym bag and raced for the door. My hands full, I used the side of my body to shove it open, but it hit something. Hard.
    What the—
    Suddenly the hall was filled with an inhuman screech that probably had seagulls everywhere winging it home. Everything happened at once. Bethany carefully pushed open the door and gasped. Hunched over in the hallway was a bawling girl, her hands held over her nose, blood gushing out between her fingers. I was going to hurl.
    “You biiiiidge!” she shouted. “You boke by dose!”
    “Omigod.” That was pretty much all my brain could produce at that moment.
    The girl took off at a run and I looked at Bethany, who was now laughing so hard, she was actually doubled over, holding on to the metal garbage can for support.
    “What? What is so funny!?” I asked, my voice sounding shrill.
    “You . . . are . . . the best,” she said between