Thin White Line Read Online Free Page A

though it doesn’t hurt that I’ll be seeing Ryder again, too.
    “It’s a date then.” She grabs the bag of chips off my tray. “You gonna eat this?” she asks, ripping the bag open before I can respond. She looks at my plate. “Pizza and chips. You’re thin now, but in time, that shit will go straight to your hips. Look at the women in our family if you don’t believe me.”
    She has a point...
    I sense someone from Ryder’s table watching me. I glance up and Ryder is looking our way. He lifts his chin a fraction and I have to stop myself from turning around to see if he is watching me or someone else.
    Brooke follows my gaze and then turns back to me with a grin. “Be careful.  Ryder doesn’t have a problem in the girl department. Love the boy to death, but he can’t commit for shit.”
    “Is he seeing someone now?”
    Her lips quirk. “Ryder doesn’t necessarily ‘see’ anyone.  He goes after what he wants, sleeps with whoever he wants, and then moves onto the next person. In all the years I’ve known him, I don’t remember him ever being exclusive—if that’s what you want to call it—for more than a month. Christ, even in sixth grade he was dating three of us at the same time and not one of us had a clue.”
    My eyes widen. “So, you went out with him?”
    “I was young and impressionable,” she says, looking embarrassed even to admit she’d been interested in Ryder at one time. “Been there, done that.”
    “Do you know who he’s seeing now?”
    “Her.” Brooke nods towards the first set of double doors. “The chick with the long brown hair and skanky black tips is Cicely, Ryder’s current lay...or basically the girl he shags on nights he should be practicing with his band. The girls who’ve been talking shit about you are her friends.”
    My gut twists. Not only is Cicely pretty and tall, she has the tiniest waist I’ve ever seen.
    I try to ignore the stab of envy that rushes through me as I watch Cicely stop at her friends’ table for European cheek kisses (seriously), before passing my table and sliding her butt onto the bench beside Ryder.
    “The black tips are new for her. I call it the ‘Ryder Affect’.”
    I frown. “The ‘Ryder Affect?’”
    “Yeah, every time Ryder starts seeing a chick, the next thing you know she’s changing her looks to be more like him, or rather, what they think Ryder wants. Cicely is morphing from jock girl to rocker chick before my eyes.” She shakes her head. “So sad.”
    It shows just how much power Ryder has over the girls who like him. I make a mental note to absolutely not change my looks or myself to please anyone else.
    I am borderline nauseous when Ryder’s attention turns to Cicely. He glances at her, smiles—or at least begins to—until Cicely picks an apple off Ryder’s tray and bites into it.  He lifts a brow as though to say, what the hell are you doing? And she instantly sets the apple back down, looking embarrassed.
    Most girls I know lose their appetite when they are depressed. Not me. I gorge on sweets and junk food. I can feel the urge to devour every bite on my plate, so I push the pizza away from me.
    “We used to be best friends from the time we were in second grade up until seventh grade.”
    “You and Cicely?”
    She nods.
    I think back on the summers that we spent together at our grandmother’s house and try my best to recall any mention of Cicely. I do remember her talking about a good friend with curly brown hair. In fact, she had a picture of her BFF from a photo booth. The two had matching haircuts. “What happened?”
    Brooke shrugs as she finishes off my chips and takes a drink of my pop. “People change.”
    I watch her closely. “You mean that she changed?”
    After checking to be sure Cicely’s buddies aren’t listening to our conversation, Brooke lowers her voice. “She said I changed, but it seems an odd coincidence that she cut me off the summer I got fat.”
    I straighten. “When did you