Something True Read Online Free Page A

dad’s truck, taking a bite of my sausage link. The sun was shining, the breeze was blowing, the leaves were turning all kinds of awesome colors, and I was on my way to maybe see True and then meet my gorgeous girl and have cupcakes for breakfast.
    Sometimes it was almost unreal how good it was to be me.

CHAPTER THREE
    Darla
    “I’m so excited. You must be so excited!”
    I held my phone to my ear as I maneuvered my white BMW convertible into a space near the center of town. I know, totally illegal, but sometimes you can’t just hang up the phone, and this was one of those times. We were talking about homecoming court. I mean, come on.
    “I know. I can’t wait. Do you really think I have a chance?”
    Mariah Gatewood’s sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line almost startled me into rear-ending the car in front of mine. I hit the brakes, closed my eyes, and silently counted to ten.
    “Of course you have a chance!” Mariah gushed. “Who else could it be?”
    I put the car in park. “Well, we know Veronica’s gonna get it.”
    “Of course.”
    “Of course.”
    Veronica Vine was my best friend and the most popular girl in the junior class, if not in the whole school. She had been on homecoming court every year, and this was not the year there would be some random snafu that would leave her out. She and Josh Moskowitz were practically married, which did nothing but skyrocket her stock, and she’d gone up an entire cup size but down an entire dress size over the summer. Any boy with a pulse would vote for her.
    I got out of the car, making sure to plant my stiletto boots firmly before standing, because I’d already splatted on my face in these shoes once, and I was pretty sure I’d die of embarrassment if it happened again.
    “But there’s only one other spot for a junior, and there are tons of girls who could get it,” I told Mariah. “You could get it!”
    “Um, please. No,” Mariah said. “But you’re Veronica’s BFF. And now that you’ve got Orion you’re, like, a lock.”
    Okay. That stung. Because clearly she thought that without Orion I wouldn’t have a chance. Which was true, but she didn’t have to say it.
    Still, I took a deep breath and let it go. My mother always said it was better to let the little things go, and she made a seriously awesome living giving inspirational speeches from coast to coast, so this was a mantra I tried to live by. I mean, I knew Mariah was right, so why bother snapping at her about it? There were certain things a person needed to do to be considered popular. I knew this better than anyone. And ever since the first time Trevor McKay had called me Darbot the Geek back in seventh grade when I still had my back brace and retainer and glasses, I had been working my butt off to get where I was.
    It was the reason I had learned to put in contacts, even though the very idea of touching my eye skeeved me out. It was the reason I had spent my entire eighth-grade year solidifying myself as Veronica’s publicly declared BFF and not just the girl who sometimes helped her out with her homework. It was the reason I had walked around my house for hours in these stupid heels until I could actually do it without looking like a deranged T. rex with a drug problem. And it was the reason I had locked down Orion on his first day at school before he could even look at anyone else. For years I’d been watching the popular kids, taking note of what it took to be noticed, to not be invisible. And now I wasn’t invisible anymore. And if I could make it onto homecoming court, then everyone would know who I was. I’d be important. Finally, important.
    “Thanks, Mariah.”
    I walked around the back of my car, and my heel got caught in the seam between the brick lining of the sidewalk and the actual sidewalk. I steadied myself on the parking meter and looked around, but luckily, there weren’t that many people out. It was still kind of early for a Sunday.
    “No problem.