Paparazzi Princess Read Online Free Page B

‘I was wondering if you wanted to get together over the holidays and you know . . .’
    I heard Josh snigger and Tom let me go and stood back a step. ‘Get together?’
    ‘Yes. Maybe—’
    Tom shrugged. ‘Um . . . not sure what I’m doing yet, Jess. I . . . I don’t really do plans. I prefer to stay loose, not be tied down to anything. Know what I’m saying?’
    I felt a thud of disappointment in the pit of my stomach. This wasn’t going well and my earlier fantasies faded like a snowball in an oven. I got what he was saying all right.
    ‘Er . . . yeah, course. Keep it loose. Me too.’ I stepped away and went towards the stairs.
    ‘Hey, you OK? You look kind of upset,’ Tom called after me. Josh and Roy were still looking on as though they were enjoying my discomfort. I cursed myself for asking Tom about hanging out while they were there.
    ‘Me, nah. Never. Loose as a goose, that’s me.’ Inside I felt like dying. What was I saying? Loose as a goose? What idiot says mad things like that? Me. That’s who. I don’t even know what it means. I am such a love loser.
    ‘Cool,’ said Tom. ‘And I’m sure I’ll be over to see Charlie at some point, practise some sounds with him and that. Maybe catch you then.’
    ‘Yeah. Right.’
    No lingering looks or suggestive comments this time, I noticed. They say girls are changeable but I really don’t get boys , I thought as I thumped down the stairs.
    My whole mood felt deflated as I went into the girls’ cloakroom and into a cubicle. As I put the seat down and got my phone out to text Pia to come and meet me, I heard the door open and close and someone come in.
    ‘There’s going to be a few good parties,’ said a girl’s voice. ‘Tom Robertson said he’ll probably have one at some point. Yay.’
    I froze mid text.
    ‘He is so cool. I think you’re in with a chance there,’ said another voice.
    Ohmigod! I knew those voices. Ros Gambier and Peta Howarth from Year Eleven. Only two of the best-looking, most sophisticated girls in the school. One dark, the other blonde, they both have style and a band of wannabes copy their every move, haircut or nail colour.
    So it wasn’t that Tom didn’t want to make plans. He just didn’t want to make them with me!
    Tom Robertson , I hate you , I thought as I heard the door open and close again as the girls left. I felt such a fool. I should have known. What would he want with a great stupid buffoon like me? I didn’t know how to be with a boy, not really, and I couldn’t be sophisticated if I tried. I always ended up doing or saying something daft but then boys don’t always want girls to be funny. They don’t want anyone moving in on them too much, either. You have to be cool but not too cool. You have to show you like them but not too much or they run off like scared deer. I hate boys. They do my head in , I decided . I thought Tom was into me and we had something special going on. What an idiot I am. I started feeling all this lovely slushy stuff I’ve never felt before then he does the cool I-don’t-care act like I mean nothing to him. It hurts. I wish he was my boyfriend and not available to the whole school. No, I don’t. I hate him and wouldn’t go out with him if he begged me. Most of all, I hate the dull ache I feel in the pit of my stomach. Love sucks.
    My phone bleeped that I had a text from Pia.
    Where R U?
    In doldrums. Loo. Ground floor , I texted back.
    Minutes later, I heard Pia’s foosteps.
    ‘You in there?’
    ‘Yep and I’m not coming out. I am going to stay here like that Moaning Myrtle ghost in Harry Potter , the one who lives in the toilet.’
    ‘Could get very smelly and boring.’
    ‘Don’t care.’
    ‘What’s happened? Last time I saw you, you were cuddling up to lover boy.’
    Through the closed door, I told her the latest.
    ‘So?’ she said when I’d finished. ‘Stuff him. There are other boys. JJ Lewis, for instance. Imagine how Tom would feel if you got off with him .