Labeled Love Read Online Free Page B

play with the guys, especially today. I don’t want to risk my new pink tank top getting pulled by Cole. He can get rough when he tries to tackle me.”
    “He better not be rough.”
    “Mom, he’s a boy who breathes football.”
    “Well, maybe you should stand on the sidelines with Jules, so you don’t get hurt.”
    I tsk. “Um, yeah, I don’t think so. I would much rather play football than look up fashion blogs on my phone all day.”
    “Okay, just be here on time. I told the person at the center I would be there after school for when the younger kids come in for homework help,” she says. I nod my head and jump out of the car.
    Jules lifts her bright blue eyes from her phone when I reach her. “I heard a few kids say there was an earthquake,” she says, putting her phone into her designer backpack. “I didn’t feel anything,” she adds as we walk through the landscaped entrance of our middle school. We really don’t have fall in California, so our garden club planted lots of yellow and gold fall flowers, making the walkway to our classrooms upbeat and festive. We fake our seasons with lots of decorations, and that’s fine with me. I can’t stand to be cold, and who wants to live where it snows? Yuck! Not me. I’d take the West Coast sun anytime over being cold and stuck in the house all the time.
    “Nope, I didn’t feel the earthquake. I didn’t feel a thing,” I tell her.
    “Me either,” she says with a shrug. “We’re probably going to have an earthquake awareness speech now.” She smiles as I agree with a nod.
    We walk into class, heading right for our seats. Jules and I sit side-by-side, while Cole and Brett sit behind us. They aren’t in their seats when we walk in, but it never takes long to feel their presence. They always throw their backpacks down and sit with a big huff, like they just ran a mile. I’m sure they’re throwing the football outside.
    As soon as Cole sits down, he leans forward and says, “Hey, Starkie.”
    “Hi,” I say, turning my head to the side. Cole is starting to pay a little bit more attention to me since we entered middle school—more than usual, if that’s possible. Out of all the boys, he’s my favorite to play with. With our families in the same business, Jules, Cole, Brett, and I have always been together. We’ve always been best friends, but no one can take Jules’ place.
    Our teacher walks to the front of the classroom. With his back to us, he writes on the white board. Brett starts bugging Jules. I look over as he pulls at her loose bun while Cole tells me, “Scoot to the side, Starkie, so I can see your paper when we take the test.”
    “Absolutely not,” I whisper behind me.
    “You’re so mean,” he mutters. Then he twists a piece of my hair around his finger and pulls it down. He can be such a brat. I yank my head forward for him to let go. He laughs. “You do realize you just hurt yourself more than my little hair pull did. You should be an actress, Shay. You always make things so much bigger than they are. Come on. Let me see your paper, smarty pants.”
    “You should have studied, Cole.”
    I hear him let out a breath, and I smile before biting down on my pencil.
     

     
    AFTER WE FINISH our test, I feel really confident. The boys walk out ahead of us, as Jules and I head toward our favorite bench to eat our lunch. Jules’ mom only buys organic, so her whole lunch tastes like cardboard, so she says.
    My mom tried to buy all organic once and gave my dad and Beau a sandwich and chips while they were watching a football game; she stood over them and waited until they took their first bite. Dad looked up at her and said, “I love you, honey, but don’t ever feed me that shit again . ”
    I don’t normally swear, but that is what Dad said, and Beau agreed. I sat on the other couch and giggled to myself. I had gone shopping with her that day, and she was so excited about turning us on to something that came out of the ground,