Ruined by You Read Online Free Page A

again, then he will.”
    She shrugged. “Maybe,” she said. “Unless someone else gets to him first.” She nodded toward him, and my head snapped around. “Someone like that,” she said.
    I watched as a beautiful girl with golden blond hair, and too much cleavage, sat down next to him. She tossed her hair over her shoulder to get his attention, and then gave him the biggest smile she could have possibly given. I watched as the two of them started talking, heat burning my cheeks.
    “It’s no big deal,” I said, trying not to clinch my teeth together. “I don’t even know who he is. We talked for thirty seconds, tops.”
    I cursed myself for being jealous at all. It wasn’t like I had any right to be. If I wasn’t going to go talk to him, then that beautiful girl had every right to. She was probably easy too, which I’m sure he would appreciate. I groaned and sunk onto my stool.
    “So you’re going off to school next year?” Huck asked me, taking a small sip from his beer.
    I nodded. “I’m going to New York State,” I said, feeling a familiar sense of nervous excitement at the thought of living in the city.
    “That’s so cool,” Huck said. “I can’t wait to go off to school. I can’t wait to get out of this little town.”
    Sarah rolled her eyes at him. “Keep dreaming,” she said. “It’s not like you’re going to be going very far.”
    “I’m serious,” he said. “I’ve been giving it a lot of thought, and I think I’m going to do it. I want to get out and see the world.”
    Sarah studied him more intently, and the awkward smile on her face turned down.
    “Your mom won’t let you get far,” she said. “She’d be a wreck without you.”
    He gave her a lopsided, confident, grin. “You let me worry about her,” he said.
    Sarah scowled at him, and crossed her arms in front of her. It was obvious that she hadn’t been aware that Huck had been thinking about going away to college. I bit my lip, not wanting to get in the middle of it.
    Sarah gave him a hard look when he took another sip from his glass.
    “Have you forgotten your manners, Huckleberry?” she said. “Is the big college man too important to offer a girl a drink?”
    Huck looked at her, nervously. Then his eyes swung to me, and he reached for the pitcher.
    I held up a hand. “No thanks,” I said. “I don’t drink.”
    Sarah looked at me, genuine surprise in her face. “Really?” she asked. “I figured that was just a show for your mom.”
    “Really,” I nodded.
    She gave me a calculated look, like she was adjusting her mental image of me. Then she turned back to Huck, and gave him a hard look, her eyes flitting down to her own glass.
    “Sorry,” he mumbled, quickly, as he grabbed her glass and filled it with beer. Part of me felt sorry for Huck. He’d set off a trap he hadn’t even realized was there.
    “Your parents can’t afford to send you to some far off school,” Sarah said, when he was done pouring.
    “I’ll figure something out,” Huck said.  
    “Are you going to take out loans that you’ll never be able to repay?” Sarah asked, sharply.
    I groaned out loud.
    “Can we talk about anything other than student loans?” I said. “I don’t even want to think about paying for college right now.” Sarah looked at me, her eyes narrowing. I waved my hand. “I got some scholarships and everything,” I said. “But, I still need to find a summer job if I’d like to have food on the table.”
    “Well, that shouldn’t be too hard,” she said, her back straightening. “We know a lot of people in town, I’m sure we could find you something.”
    Huck took another swig from his glass.
    “You should talk to Scottie,” he said. “The Battle’s coming up. I’m sure there’s something he could have you help with.”
    “No one asked you, Huck,” Sarah said, turning back to him. He leaned back in surprise, giving her an apologetic look. “Come on, Maggie, I’m not in the mood for this crap,”