Rebel, Bully, Geek, Pariah Read Online Free Page B

her?”
    â€œTess! Go puke,” Georgia ordered.
    Someone snickered, and I realized that Georgia had backup—two more unfairly pretty girls at her flanks.
    â€œOkay.” Tess obediently stumbled away, already half-bent into hurling position. Her clumsy fingers had tangled in my hair, skewing my hat. I hurried to jam it back down, but Georgia’s eyes had already snagged on the few jagged edges of scars that crept past my hairline onto my forehead.
    â€œWhat’s your name?” she asked.
    One of the backup Barbies answered for me. “They call her Worms.”
    I choked. Did people still call me that? No one had said it to my face in years, but then, since I’d started high school, nobody had really talked to me much at all. That was the upshot of being invisible. It was lonely, but at least it was safe.
    â€œGross.” Georgia flinched. “Worms? Why?”
    The backup Barbie shrugged as if it didn’t matter why, and I pulled my hat down tighter on my head. Kids didn’t need areason to call you names. You could cover up your secrets with hats until a boy teased that you only wore them to hide your greasy hair. You could pull the hat off to prove he was wrong, exposing your orange curls, until another boy laughed and covered his eyes, shouting, “Ugh! Put it back on!”
    I’d learned all that back in seventh grade. Junior high meant a new wave of students who didn’t know about Mama or my scars or that my hair used to be as straight and blond as Georgia’s. So I had opened myself up just an inch, making eye contact in hopes of making friends. Once I realized that I would be a target with or without my scars, I crawled back under my hats and embraced invisibility for good.
    Georgia lifted her chin. “Well, no offense,
Worms
, but if you weren’t invited, you really shouldn’t—”
    â€œI invited her.” A body filled the space where Tess had been, and it was much more imposing, with all those crazy dreadlocks and that hard stare.
    Georgia’s voice turned to acid. “Well, I
know
nobody invited
you
, Andi.”
    â€œI’m pretty sure I have a standing invitation to these shindigs,” Andi said.
    â€œNot this one. This ‘shindig’ was my idea, and—”
    â€œYour idea?” Andi interrupted. “Is that why it’s so lame?”
    One of the Barbies next to Georgia made a choking noise, and I couldn’t tell whether it was a gasp or a stifled laugh.
    Georgia’s cheeks flushed, and her hands flailed for a moment before landing on her hips, as if she was trying to make herself look bigger. “The only lame thing I see here is you and your . . .” Her eyes slid to me. “Friend?”
    There was something in the way she said the word “friend”—some echo of pain, or even jealousy. Whatever it was, Andi caught it, too.
    And she laughed at it.
    â€œThat’s right,” Andi said. She linked an arm through mine. “And my friend and I wish you would go away.”
    â€œI’m not going anywhere. This is
my
—”
    â€œYeah, yeah. It’s your lame party. Oh, Georgia,” Andi sighed. “I liked you so much better when you just did what I told you to.”
    Georgia huffed. “I never did anything just because you told—”
    â€œI’m bored,” Andi said abruptly. She turned to me and waved a hand at the other girls as if flicking away a cloud of gnats. “Let’s go find some more interesting people. There must be one or two here.”
    Then, her arm still linked with mine, she dragged me away.
    Â 
    BEFORE
    â€œI LOVE THE black strapless one, but Mark likes me in blue. He says it matches my eyes.”
    â€œPlease. Mark prefers you in
nude
.”
    The two girls started snickering, and one let loose an unattractive snort. It was the only unattractive thing about either of them. I shifted in my seat behind them,