Politically Incorrect Read Online Free Page B

being a sore loser didn’t do anyone any good.
    “Nice job, Natalie,” Sloan said, her voice trembling a little. “I’m sure you’re going to be an amazing chairperson.”
    “Thanks, Sloan. I really hope you’ll volunteer to be in the group. It’s going to be so much fun, I promise,” Natalie said brightly.
    Sloan half smiled. “Of course I will.”
    “Cool! Now let’s get ready for Tricia!” Natalie said, throwing her arms in the air.
    Sloan let out a heavy sigh and wondered if she could be any more jealous of Natalie than she was right now.

chapter FOUR
    On Thursday morning, Natalie was actually whistling in the shower. That’s how overjoyed she was about winning the essay contest. In just a short while, she was going to be meeting with Dr. Steve and coordinating all these incredible plans for the festival. As Natalie lathered her hair with shampoo, she imagined her future college interview. She would wear her cutest preppy outfit, of course, and the admissions director would be incredibly impressed with the activities portion of her application. Now she had something besides the notoriety of her father’s name to make her record stand out from the crowd.
    Natalie was just rinsing the shampoo out of her hair when she heard a loud beep. Next thing she knew, the water in her shower stall suddenly stopped running.
    “Hey! What happened?” Natalie cried out to no one in particular.
    “Looks like Dr. Steve is taking this water conservation thing really seriously, because the showers have built-in timers,” a voice replied from outside Natalie’s shower stall. “Apparently nobody could abide by the three-minute rule!”
    Natalie wiped some suds off her forehead. “Chelsea? Is that you?”
    “The one and only!” she chirped.
    “Is there any way to reset the timer? I still have to rinse my hair.”
    “I don’t think so,” Chelsea replied. “Hold on, let me fill up a cup with some water from the sink.”
    “Thanks, Chelse. I owe you one!” Natalie said, relieved.
    Actually, when Natalie thought about it, she owed Chelsea a lot these days. Natalie had wanted to thank Chelsea in private for writing her essay, but hadn’t gotten the chance to. Maybe now was a good opportunity.
    A knock on the shower stall jarred Natalie out of her thoughts.
    “Here you go,” Chelsea said, sliding a cup filled with water underneath the stall door.
    “You rock, Chelse!” Natalie said. “Hey, is there anyone else in here?”
    “Yeah, Joanna just walked in,” Chelsea said in a soft voice.
    Natalie would have to tell Chelsea how much she appreciated her help some other time. Even though she didn’t feel like teaming up with Chelsea to write the essay was wrong, Natalie wasn’t exactly comfortable with that information being common knowledge. Sure, the story about her dad and the zoo was completely true, but Chelsea had put it into her own words, and Natalie knew that wasn’t the same as writing it herself.
    “Okay. Well, I’ll talk to you later.”
    “All right. See ya,” Chelsea said, clicking the bathroom door shut behind her on the way out.
    Natalie poured the water over her head and dried off with her big, fluffy towel in a flash. She dressed in record time and sprinted across the campgrounds. She was practically out of breath when she arrived at Dr. Steve’s office.
    The door was open a crack, so Natalie popped her head in. However, much to her surprise, Sloan was sitting in one of the chairs opposite Dr. Steve’s desk.
    What is she doing here? Natalie thought.
    “Hey, Natalie. Glad you could make it. Why don’t you have a seat?” Dr. Steve gestured to the chair next to Sloan.
    “Um . . . okay,” Natalie said warily. What was going on here? Weren’t she and Dr. Steve supposed to be meeting about the Green Festival?
    “I asked Sloan to join us for a reason, Natalie,” Dr. Steve began. “You see, I spoke with Jasmine and some of the other counselors last night and everyone feels that, while you