Imaginary Grace Read Online Free

showed.
    As it turned out, she’d skipped out with Chris Morgan , el capitan of the football team. Fucked him right out in the parking lot, in the back of his parents’ Lexus. Some geek saw them and thought he’d earn a few popularity points by spreading the word, and by the time Monday rolled around the whole school was talking about it. In fact, it was all they could talk about. The battle of bands, including Ratt Trapp’s performance, was all but forgotten and I was so pissed I thought my head would explode.
    Now, just to be clear, it’s not like I was in love with her or anything, but I’ll admit it was definitely pretty cool being with the hottest girl in school, the girl everybody wanted. I was out for blood, and since I couldn’t get it from Keira, I walked up to Chris and sucker-punched him in the jaw. He was huge and I knew I was no match for him, but I wanted to get in one good shot before we both hit the floor.
    Well, needless to say Chris beat the crap outta me, but getting that first punch felt so frigging good. During the brawl he slammed my head against one of the lockers – hence the scar. We both ended up getting suspended for a week, but my humiliation lasted much longer. I spent the rest of the term avoiding people and counting the minutes until summer.
    That was the summer I started working out – a lot – and by the time school started up again in September I had morphed into a completely different person. Kiera had ditched Chris and was all into hooking up again, but I was so done with her. The sight of her made me sick, and to be honest, I didn’t need her. Random girls were constantly hitting on me and, heck, who was I to turn them down?
    I made it clear that I wasn’t looking for a relationship, but that didn’t seem stop them; in fact, it just seemed to make them more interested. At the age of seventeen I had cracked the code and discovered the secret for getting girls: the more you ignore them and treat them like shit, the more they want you.
    To be fair, I’m not saying that all girls fit this profile, but judging from my own personalexperience, a large percentage of them did. To be honest, I found that I had little respect for any of them.
    I’d just found a re-run of a basketball game that’d aired earlier when I heard a set of keys jiggling outside. A second later, Scott stumbled in. “Hey man, what are you still doing up? I didn’t even know you left the bar.” Then he laughed. “Did you bag Amber and then kick her out?”
    “I didn’t ‘kick her out,’” I replied casually. “I told her nicely that I had to get up early and that she should probably leave. Anyway, she knew the deal.”
    He rolled his eyes and said he was going to bed. I said I was too and clicked off the TV. It was three a.m. before I finally fell asleep and by seven, I was in the kitchen, making coffee and looking around for something to eat. As usual, there were few choices. As I popped a frozen bagel into the toaster oven, I glanced out the kitchen window and noticed a vaguely familiar girl jogging in the distance. Why the hell was she wearing a sweatshirt in ninety--degree weather?

Chapter 3
    Grace
    O ver the following week I noticed a slight tingle in my stomach; it grew stronger as Friday approached and though I tried to ignore it, I knew what it was: the anticipation of seeing Tanner again. When I arrived at class that morning, the door was still locked, so I sat down on the floor and started rummaging through my bag for something to read as I waited for the professor to arrive.
    I didn’t have to wait long. Within a few minutes the hallway was jam-packed with people, and as I gathered my books and got to my feet, I found myself surrounded. The harried-looking professor arrived and unlocked the door, then the throng of students moved toward the room.
    Just then, someone knocked into me and sent me forward. My face came into contact with the muscular back of the guy in front of me, and the