Kissed Read Online Free Page A

pain .
    “Home so soon, honey?” Mom asked.
    “My
stomach’s kinda yucky. I’m going to lie down.”
    “Okay.”   She came into Beth’s room a few minutes later.   “Do you need a Midol, Beth?”
    “What?
No! Eww, Mom.”
    “Sorry,
sorry…just wanted to check.”
    God, could this day get more embarrassing?

 

Chapter Two
    Dad
took Beth and her mother on a camping trip for a week in July.  
    She
came back to a note from Jacob that his mom decided to travel, after all.   He didn’t know how long.   So much for her fun.   In spite of being Queen of the Friend Zone,
her teen heart was fiercely loyal—and stubborn, crushing on him hard all
summer.  
    September
came all too soon and school started in a week.   She was ready to kick scholastic butt.   Sophomore, baby!   No more
lowest-woman-on-totem-pole.   Even had a new backpack and folders.   And pens.   And a graphing calculator.   Okay, still a nerd.   But most importantly, Jacob would be back!
    She
heard a car next door and checked her appearance in the bathroom mirror.   New, much smaller, glasses rest on her nose
and she’d chopped her hair from waist-level to across her shoulder blades.   Last week, she started experimenting with
mascara and pink lip gloss.   Finally grew
an inch, so new jeans were added to her wardrobe, too.  
    Having
stalled long enough, she skipped next door to welcome her best friend
home.   Her jaw dropped when he opened the
door.   “Oh my god, what did you do to
your head ?”
    “Like
it?”   He ran his hand over the bleached
spikes.
    “It’s white !”   She took in the rest of him—torn jeans, a
wallet on a chain, and a black tank top.   He wore studded cuffs on each wrist and silver rings on most of his
fingers.   It was hot .   “And are you taller?”
    He
grinned.   “Six-foot-one
as of two weeks ago. You’re still Little Bethie.”  
    She
scowled at him.   “I grew, too.”
    “Oh, how much?”
    “An inch!”
    “Ooo, sproutin ’ like a weed.”
    And oh my god, he’d added a tongue stud .   “Shut up.”   Turning on her heel, she pretended to leave.
    “Oh,
come in, already,” he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her through the
door.   “Brought you
some Cadbury chocolate.”
    “We
have Cadbury here.”  
    They
reached his room.   Their decorating
tastes couldn’t be more different.   He
liked dark rich colors and nearly everything on the walls was music-related.
    “Not
the same.”   He dug around in an overnight
bag on his bed.   “Here.”
    “Thanks. So…why the bleach?”
    “It’s
my senior year, love. It’s all different now.”   He pushed the bag over to make room for her to sit.   “What did you do this summer?”
    She
sat on his bed, and he joined her.   The
white hair made his eyes look bluer, something she didn’t think possible.   “N-not much. We were
camping when you left, as you know. Um, Dad’s been traveling for work a lot, so
it’s me and Mom and our cameras. I learned how to develop my own prints. I
could show you later.”
    “That’s
great, Bethie.”   He tugged a strand of
her hair.   “Where’s the rest of it?”
    “Trash
can of Supercuts. It got in the way that long.”   He noticed she cut her hair?   Dad didn’t.   Swoon .
    Jacob
dropped the strand.   “Shame. I like the Princess Leia look.”
    “Geek.”   His love for Star Wars was a secret, especially if
they were at school.
    “Nerd.”
    “Punk poser.”   The
walls were currently black, matching his wardrobe.
    “Bookworm.”
    They
grinned at each other.   “It’s good to be
home,” he said.
    “Yeah?”   Her heart
swelled that she was part of that.
    “Yeah.”
    They
hung out every day until school started.
    Last year of high school and less than a year ‘til he was eighteen
and finally out of here.   He was
counting down the days, chomping at the bit for a time when he could really
devote his all to music.  
    Not
all bad in L.A.,
of course.   He