Laguna Cove Read Online Free Page B

shaking her head and looking away. God, what’s with him? It’s like someone told him he has nice teeth so now he smiles all the time.
    “That’s too bad,” he said.
    “Whatever.” She shrugged, knowing she was acting like a defensive brat, but not really willing to stop.
    “What school are you going to?” he asked, seemingly unfazed by her bad attitude.
    “Laguna Beach.”
    “Me too. What year are you?”
    “Junior,” she said, still looking at the water and not at him.
    “Me too. So I guess I’ll see you Monday then,” he said, still smiling.
    “I guess.” Anne stood and turned to head back up the stairs. God, is everyone here like this? Tanned and happy and smiley and friendly and gorgeous? She sincerely hoped not.
    And then she heard Jake say, “I’ll stop by later to see if you need anything.”
    Anne turned, looking briefly at Chris and then at Jake. “I don’t need a baby-sitter. I don’t need anything,” she said. Then she turned and walked back up the stairs before either one of them could respond.

chapter five
    “Lola? Is that all you’re having?”
    “ Sí , Abuela. I’m fine.” Lola looked across the table and smiled patiently at her grandmother. This was all part of the normal breakfast routine Lola had come to expect ever since her grandmother had come to live with them. And it was so predictable she was often tempted to walk into the kitchen, slap a tape recorder right next to her cereal bowl, lift her spoon, and push play.
    “Let me make you some eggs and toast,” her grandmother offered, smoothing her shapeless floral cotton dress as she rose from her seat.
    “ Abuela, please. I don’t want eggs. Besides, Ellie will be here any second,” she said, glancing at the clock and hurriedly finishing her Cheerios.
    “Nonsense. You hardly ate any breakfast. You’re too thin,” she said, eyeing her tiny granddaughter with disapproval. “You’ll never find a husband looking like that.”
    “Well, considering that I’m still in high school, that’s probably a good thing,” Lola said, getting up from the table and placing her bowl in the dishwasher.
    Abuela was her father’s mother, who, after Abuelo’ s passing just over a year ago, had reluctantly moved from Mexico City to live with them, bringing nothing more than two trunks full of cotton housedresses and all of her old-school beliefs—actively disapproving of just about everything in her new life in Laguna Beach. If it was up to her, Lola’s mother would stay home all day preparing meals for her family, and Lola would be twenty pounds heavier, dressed in her first communion garb, and engaged to be married to a nice Mexican boy from a good family the day after her high-school graduation. The only thing Abuela seemed to approve of was her son. Lola’s father could do no wrong.
    “Lola, don’t forget you have cotillion practice this evening,” her mother said, striding into the room and bending down to briefly kiss Abuela on the cheek.
    What a contrast they are, Lola thought, looking at Abuela’s short, round body clothed in one of her numerous tent dresses and her mother’s tall, sleek, elegant form perfectly turned out in one of her designer suits. I got Grandma’s lack of height and major stubbornness, but thankfully my mom’s slim build and straight dark hair, Lola thought. It’s her eyes that were like her dad’s, shiny, dark, and deep like onyx.
    “Mom, I’ll try to make it but I can’t promise anything. It’s the first day of school and all.”
    “No ‘and all,’ Lola. Say ‘It’s the first day of school,’ period.”
    “Yeah, yeah,” Lola said, bending down to kiss Abuela just as Ellie pulled into the driveway and honked.
    “Is that Ellie?” Abuela asked.
    “ Sí , Abuela. I’ll see you later,” she said, grabbing her bag and heading toward the door.
    “Can you please inform her, once again, that it is impolite to honk?”
    Lola shook her head, put her hands on her hips, and breathed an