Thin White Line Read Online Free Page B

get fat?”
    “Summer of seventh grade. After Grandma died that June I went on an eating binge. When I started school that fall, I’d gained almost twenty pounds over the summer.” Brooke crushes the empty bag of chips in her hand. “Let’s just say, puberty was not kind to me. Cicely never said that my weight-gain was the issue, but it seemed like a pretty strange coincidence and it didn’t help when I overheard her calling me names while I was walking down the hall one day.”
    “How shallow,” I say, thinking about Ange and how she’s been there for me through every difficult point of my life. I could have gained fifty pounds and she wouldn’t have dumped me. “What did she do when you lost weight?”
    “By then, it was too late,” Brooke says with a forced grin. For the first time, I see vulnerability in those doe-like eyes. “I mean, she asked me to come over, but when I did, too much had changed. I had changed. I was wiser and I realized I deserved better.”
    “Good for you.”
    Cicely’s past cattiness cut Brooke to the bone and it says so much about her character. “So if she’s with Ryder, do you hang out with the same people?”
    Brooke shakes her head. “Not at all. She’s a cheerleader and, therefore, a fixture on the jock circuit. She even dated a twenty-four year-old guy who is now a professional hockey player. They broke up about a month or so ago and, immediately after, she started showing up at our gigs.”
    “Maybe she’ll get back together with her ex.”
    Brooke shakes her head. “No, I heard he’s being traded to a team back east, so I’m assuming he’s already out of here. I don’t need to worry, though. Ryder has about a two week rebound rate. Trust me, by this coming weekend, he will have found someone else to sleep with. He bores easily.”
    “Is Cicely his usual type?”
    “Ryder doesn’t necessarily have a type. Any girl is his type. Personally, I’d steer clear of him; and to be perfectly honest, I don’t need the drama, especially with family.”
    I nod. “It doesn’t hurt to look, though.”
    Brooke laughs.
    We must have been talking too loud because a second later the brunette gets up and rushes over to Cicely, no doubt eager to repeat every single word of our conversation.
    “She’s staring at us,” I tell Brooke, feeling sick to my stomach as the brunette whispers in Cicely’s ear. She turns and looks directly at me. The last thing I want is to make Brooke’s life more complicated, but it seems like I just unintentionally did.
    Brooke glances over her shoulder and glares.
    “Do you think she heard me talk about Ryder?”
    “By the expression on her face, yes; I’d say she’s pissed,” Brooke says, now grinning from ear-to-ear. “That’ll give her something to worry about.”
    Brooke leans forward and motions for me to do the same. The smile has disappeared and her eyes are stone cold. “If she tries to be buddies with you, do yourself a favor and run in the opposite direction.” There is a definite edge to Brooke’s voice. “Seriously, she’s dangerous, and the closer she gets to a person, the more damage she can do.”
    “I’d never be her friend after the way she treated you.”
    Brooke’s eyes soften. “Promise?”
    “I swear.”
    I glance once more at Cicely, and sure enough, she’s still watching me with narrowed eyes. “I think it’s safe to say she doesn’t want to be my friend. In fact, I’m pretty sure I just made my first enemy.”

CHAPTER 4

    My mom’s expression upon seeing Brooke for the first time in years is priceless.
    I can’t keep the grin off my face when, with completely rigid posture and a forced smile, Mom gives Brooke a hug while trying, not very successfully, to not look at her piercings.
    Brooke is doing an incredible job at complimenting my mom on her beautiful taste in home décor (OMG, and she was calling me a kiss ass!). “No wonder Mom hired you to help her out with sets, Aunt Melissa. You have great