The Hybrid Read Online Free Page A

suggested it, that
way she wouldn’t have to embarrass herself by pulling the
folded map out of her back pocket. Tru could follow Bethany, casually pretending she already knew the way.
As the two girls walked to class, two more girls quickly
joined their sides. They looked like they belonged to part
of Bethany’s posse based on what they were all wearing ⎯
miniskirts, flowery spaghetti-strapped shirts, and pink
headbands in their hair. Gertrude instantly felt out of
place in her plain white, loose fitting t-shirt, dark colored
hoodie, and faded blue jeans.
And the minute they started walking with them, Gertrude felt as though she had been transplanted into the
middle of a classic teenybopper movie.
The three girls glided across the glossy linoleum floor,
in unison, in their strappy heels, waving at the other students as they passed by. Their hair flowed through the air
as they walked on their long, fake tanned, bare legs, making it slightly harder for Tru to keep up. Her shorter fivefoot, seven-inch stature looked even shorter next to their
Amazonian-like figures. Tru watched them walk on either
side of her, realizing how invisible she was to everyone
else when she was in their presence.
When the four of them arrived to their next class, they
sat at the back of the room so the girls could spend the
entire hour and thirty minutes asking the same questions
Bethany had asked, and then some. These girls were
much more curious than any other girls Tru had ever met
before. But then again, she had never really hung out with
girls before. Tru kept to herself usually, spending most of
her spare time in the library, reading, finishing homework, doing anything to keep herself occupied.
When Math was over, along with another long and boring interrogation, Bethany, pulled Tru toward the back of
the room as the rest of the class emptied through the door
at the front of the room. The other two girls stood behind
Bethany, smiling creepily in Tru’s direction.
“We want you to eat lunch with us today.” Bethany
looked back at the two girls before she continued, “don’t
we, Ladies?”
Tru slightly laughed. Bethany reminded her of a modern day ⎯ and definitely perkier⎯ Rizzo, with the lessbadass Pink Ladies, standing wide eyed behind her.
They shook their chins up and down in unison, so that
their heads looked like bobble toys, with smiles on each of
their rosy, overly made-up faces.
“Oh, okay, sure.” Tru replied, with a moment of hesitation.
Sandra-D, watch out, ‘cause here I come.
“Okay, we’ll see you in a few hours!” Bethany said as
the three of them walked to the front of the room, heading off to their next classes. When they were out of sight,
Tru exited the room, and made her way to her next class.
She slyly removed her map, glancing at it quickly before
placing it back in her pocket.
As Tru meandered through the hallway full of students,
she
thought
about
what
had
just
happened.
She
was
shocked that they would actually want her to sit with
them at lunch. She had sat alone the day before, with her
back shoved in a corner of the great room, facing the rest
of the cafeteria. The school was so small that people were
bound to notice that she wasn’t very social.
So why did they choose me? I definitely don’t fit in
with them. I look nothing like them! They are Barbie
dolls , and I am G.I. Jane .
Realizing she was overthinking the whole situation,
Tru walked silently down the hall. Even though the school
was small, she still managed to get shoved every now and
then. The students around her were in such a hurry that
they didn’t even think twice about the fact that they had
almost completely knocked her to the ground, more than
once.
Tru sat in both of her Science and Spanish classes
alone, listening to the teachers drone on. The classes that
had been selected for her were much too easy, and the
school lacked any form of advanced placement classes.
Tru gathered that there weren’t enough advanced