Regret List Read Online Free Page A

want, Paige. It’ll be our
book.”
    I wrinkled my nose. “I don’t want to write some
sci-fi story where everyone’s blowing stuff up and speeding around
in spaceships all day.”
    “Fine, fine,” he waved his hand. “What about fantasy?
You like that, right? A fantasy adventure.”
    “Yeah. Maybe.”
    This was a good enough answer for him and he nodded.
“I’ll bring a notebook to school tomorrow for us to get
started.”
    I blinked. School. I knew school started tomorrow of
course, but I had shoved it to the back of my mind as something I
didn’t want to think about just yet. “What do you mean, school?” I
grumbled. “Are you going to start writing without me?”
    He laughed, an unusual sound to hear, even when it
was just the two of us. “I knew it, I knew you hadn’t realized it
yet! I almost wanted to wait until tomorrow, to see your reaction
when I walked into class.”
    I still didn’t get it and was beginning to feel
embarrassed that I was so lost. “What are you talking about?”
    “It’s high school, Paige. How many high schools do
you really think we have here in this tiny town?”
    “One,” I mumbled, realizing my oversight. “You’ll be
there tomorrow?”
    “Yup.” He rose stiffly, tucking the book into his
back pocket. “I’ve got to get home for dinner. I’ll see you
tomorrow.”
    I sat for a while longer, long enough that a deer
came crashing into the clearing, saw me, then disappeared back into
the brush. Asher at school with me. What would that be like? Our
school lives had been separate for so long. I had never even
mentioned him to my friends. He was easier to understand and more
outgoing than in second grade, sure. But still, he was different.
What would they think? I wasn’t that worried about popularity (how
could I, with my unkempt red hair, thick glasses, and no fashion
sense?), but still. I was fourteen. The people you hang out with
reflect back on you tenfold at that age.
    That next day, the first day of my high school life,
my fears were realized. It started off alright – a screaming gaggle
of girls greeted me at the entrance of school, where we sat on the
thigh-high wall outside and watched everyone arrive. I should take
a moment to introduce you to my other friends. Sitting to my right
was Sammy: boy-crazy, the loudmouth of the class, a girl with a
tendency to say all the wrong things. Today was no exception. While
I sat apprehensively watching for Asher, she was talking across me
to Grace: quiet, needy, a girl with the tendency to do all
the wrong things.
    “You look a-ma-zing, Grace. What did you do all
summer, work out?”
    I glanced over. It was true. Grace looked skinnier,
but not healthy-skinnier. She looked pale and shaky and vaguely
sickly. I winced at the conversation. Everyone knew not to mention
Grace’s weight. She was never happy about it and it
constantly buoyed up and down. Even I could tell this was one of
her lowest weights, though.
    “Oh, thanks,” she mumbled, looking down at herself.
“I don’t think I really lost anything, though. Everything just
feels so tight on me.” She picked unhappily at her shirt, looking
downcast.
    “Kandice,” I said quickly, “what’d you do this
summer?”
    She sighed and looked up at the clear sky. That was
Kandice: always overdramatic, dressed in dark colors, with too much
make-up plastered on her face. “I fought with my parents,” she said
in a breathy voice. Oh right, and she never got along with her
parents. “They took away my cell phone for the summer because they
caught me texting pictures of myself to someone I met online.”
    We all gasped. “Kandice!” I said, in shock.
    She gave me a withering look. “I wasn’t naked or anything. Don’t overreact.”
    I wondered for a brief moment why the four of us
never got together during the summer. Well, that wasn’t quite true.
We would sometimes meet up to go swimming, or watch a movie at one
of our houses, but occasionally I got the feeling