Romance: Teen Romance: Follow Your Dreams (A Nerd and a Bad Boy Romance) (New Adult High School Sports Romance) Read Online Free Page B

bit of mascara and touched her lips with lipstick. She used very little make-up, generally. She didn’t see much need to be dolled up constantly. Mark was coming over this evening, and that was the only reason she was bothering to even apply make-up on a Saturday.
    Over the last week and a half, Mark had lunch with her and Lydia every day, and she and Lydia had gone to football practice every day. She had become resistant to Teresa’s taunting. The girl was relentless. The more Joanna got to know Mark, the more she understood Teresa’s behavior. Mark would be quite a loss. With him being on the football team and one of the best players, it put any girl he was interested in on a pedestal. Teresa didn’t want that pedestal taken from her.
    But it had been. And Joanna was happy about it.
    She was still a little worried about what she would do at the end of the school year. Summer was approaching, and she was distracted, thinking about all the things she wanted to do with Mark. They would go to the beach, the swim club, the tennis courts. They would go biking and hiking and to the mall sometimes too, probably at Lydia’s request.
    But her plan to go to UVA for the brain studies program was nagging at her. She didn’t want to let go of something that was so dear to her, something she’d been planning on and hoping for since she was a little girl. She didn’t want to make stupid decisions with her life.
    But Mark was not a stupid decision. She was sure of that.
    She couldn’t change how her heart felt anyway. She wanted to be with him. All the time. They texted each other until very late at night, sometimes causing her to lose needed sleep. She still managed to get her studying done, but it was interrupted quite often by conversations with him that ranged from two or three texts to an hour and a half of talking.
    She pushed her hands through her hair and let it fall back over her shoulders. She smiled at her reflection.
    “Okay, Mark. Where are you?” She turned and headed to the door of her bedroom. He would be there any moment. She was waiting anxiously for the doorbell to ring.
    Instead of waiting inside, she decided it was too nice outside not to stand on the porch and stare down the street until she saw his black car approaching. When she did see it, she felt ridiculously overjoyed and was then privately embarrassed by her delight. She lifted one hand to cover her mouth while she giggled and then waved at him with it as if that’s what she intended to do all along. She kept her big smile and walked down to the curb to meet him. He jumped out of the driver’s side and rounded the car quickly.
    “Hello, pretty girl.” He said, wrapping his arms around her in a tight hug.
    “Hello, handsome.” She responded. She tilted her head back and let him press his soft lips against hers.
    She sighed. There was no way she would be able to go to UVA now. She wasn’t going to able to leave him for any reason, and she knew it.
    “You want to go for a walk in the park?” He asked.
    She nodded. “That sounds great!” She reached out to grab the handle of the car door, but he stopped her.
    “Let’s walk there. It’s only a few blocks.”
    “Okay.” She smiled up at him, and he took her hand.
    “So do you know what Lydia’s doing today?” He asked as they began to walk.
    She looked up at him. That was a strange question. Why was he suddenly asking about Lydia? She felt a little sick to her stomach. He laughed when he looked down at her.
    “Don’t look so distraught!” He said. “I only ask because I know what she’s doing, and I’d wondered if she’d mentioned it to you yet.”
    She shook her head slowly. “Nooo.” She said, dragging the word out a bit. “So, what’s she doing?” She raised her eyebrows and widened her eyes in mock suspicion.
    He laughed again. “I better answer the right way or I’m in trouble, aren’t I?”
    “Count on it.” She replied, trying not to smile.
    “She’s going out