manicpixiedreamgirl Read Online Free Page B

about him.
    “Uh, sure,” I said, and Justin gave some kind of affirmative sound as well.
    “Nobody else would’ve gotten it,” Robby went on.
    “Gotten what?” I asked.
    But Robby just shrugged and grinned. He broke out bottles of water from his pack and passed them to us. Justin and I had drained ours half an hour before.
    Justin brought up plans for the summer. We talked about that for a while, while I tried not to have a panic attack at the thought of not seeing Becky for three months solid.
    On the way back down the mountain, as Justin lagged behind, I asked Robby, “What did you mean about getting it?”
    “Ty,” he said, “you ever notice I know a lot of people at school?”
    I said I had.
    “But I wouldn’t climb a mountain with ’em,” Robby said. “That’s all.”

    “Get out of my way, Rob.”
    “No, sir.”
    I consider trying to make an end run around him. It won’t work. He’s too fast.
    I try whining instead. “Come on, man!”
    “Text her back, tell her you can be there in a couple hours,” Robby says. “Because seriously, you’re not driving before then.”
    Still pissed, but somehow managing to grasp the wisdom in what he’s saying, I text Becky.
    Need couple hours. Can’t drive. Cool?
    The three of us wander back to the concrete table, and before I even sit down, she’s texted me back.
    NVM thx
.
    “Oh,
goddammit
!” I show Robby the screen. “See that? Thanks, asshole.”
    “That’s me, the asshole keeping your drunk ass alive,” Robby says, faking sorrow. “Tough luck, compadre.”
    “I’m not drunk!” I say.
    Justin picks up the champagne bottle. “Drink?”
    My cell buzzes. Thrilled, I check it, assuming it’ll be Becky, changing her mind.
    “Ah, shit.”
    “What’s up?” Robby asks.
    “Nothing,” I tell him. “It’s Sydney.”

After that day in the hall when Becky looked at me, the tables turned. Now it was Becky keeping an eye on
m
e. At first I liked it. I mean, why wouldn’t I, right?
    But she never said anything! Of course, neither did I. I couldn’t figure out why she’d suddenly gained interest in me. We had no classes together or anything like that. Which, honestly, was another mystery; our high school was pretty big, but you’d think our paths would cross in some class or another.
    I’d spend pretty much every night pacing my room, developing mental movie scripts to talk to her in a variety of smooth, cool, charming ways.
    FADE IN:
    INTERIOR. SCHOOL HALLWAY.
    TYLER DARCY, cutting an ironically dashing figure in jeans and a tight T-shirt that shows off his splendid abdominals, leans back casually against a wall. Two—no, four!—seniors walk past him and cower when Tyler gives them the slightest sneer of disregard
.
    From around the corner enters REBECCA WEBB, an adorable girl with blond hair like corn silk, blossom skin, and the slightest wry tilt to her hips. Her perfectly shaped rear is cupped not too tightly and not too loosely in blue jeans. She eyes Tyler, who kicks off the wall and saunters to meet her. The other students move to walk around, many of them casting glances of envy at Tyler’s good fortune
.
    REBECCA
    So, I know we haven’t ever really talked before, but—
    TYLER
    —you were thinking we should go out for coffee and get acquainted.
    REBECCA (smiling shyly)
    How did you know?
    TYLER
    You can’t fight fate, Rebecca.
    REBECCA
    You know who I am?
    TYLER (caressing her cheek)
    I’ve always known.
    Slow dolly forward as he tilts his head to meet her lips. This kiss is so exquisite, so beautiful, that the other students dissolve away into … No, wait, they stop and watch, in total awe of their perfection. FADE TO BLACK as Bob Dylan’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love” plays under
.
    A real Oscar winner, right?
    In these scripts, she was demure yet possessing a great sense of humor. She was smart, but impressed by my ownnatural brilliance. That kind of thing. You know how it goes.
    Luckily, I never wrote any of that