When You Were Mine Read Online Free

appearances, we do have a dress code.”
    Olivia yawns, rolls her eyes, and hooks one of the buttons on her cardigan.
    “Let’s goooo,” she says. Olivia has this habit of dragging out the last word of anything she says. It’s annoying, but the thing about being that beautiful in high school is that your annoying habits don’t matter. Kind of like how it doesn’t matter whether you order a diet or regular Coke at McDonald’s with a Big Mac. In the scheme of things, it really isn’t affecting much. That’s how Olivia’s drawl is. It’s irrelevant, and even if people notice, most of the time they think it’s cute.
    “Calm yourself,” Charlie snaps. “It’s still early. Did you get bagels?”
    Olivia nods and produces a bag from the driver’s seat. Grandma’s Coffeehouse. Every Wednesday, Olivia has to drop her little brother Drew off at school and swings by the coffeehouse to get us stuff. We all order differently, but we know each other’sorders by heart. Charlie gets an everything bagel with plain cream cheese, Olivia orders blueberry with butter and strawberry jam, and I get poppy seed with chive cream cheese. Sometimes Charlie and I share, half and half, but rarely.
    Charlie opens the bag and passes around our respective orders. Along with my bagel she hands me a piece of gum she’s produced from her jeans pocket. “For Rob,” she says, and winks at me. I look away because I can feel my face start to heat up.
    “How is he?” Olivia slides her bag over her shoulder and slams the door.
    “How’s Ben?” Charlie shoots back.
    Olivia swallows, but then Charlie slings an arm over her shoulder. “Relax. It’s fine. Anyway, Rose has the big romantic news of today. Tell her,” she says, looking at me.
    “Tell her what?” I tuck some hair behind my ear. It’s not even eight a.m. on the first day of school, and I already don’t want to be here.
    “About the text.”
    “He just told me he was back,” I say quietly.
    “Oh my God,” Olivia squeals. “You guys are totally together!”
    I glance around the parking lot to see if I can spot Rob’s silver Volvo, but he’s always late, so I don’t really expect to see anything, and I don’t. Charlie just smiles and puts her other arm around my shoulder, and the three of us waltz toward campus.

    We’re early, of course, but today there is good reason. We can finally take advantage of the senior lounge—or PL, as we call it, because technically it’s the parents’ lounge (they fund the vending machines)—a room off Cooper House that’s reserved for seniors only. The three of us spent some illegal time there last year. In fact, it was the first place I let Jason attempt the bra unhook, but we’ve never been legitimately allowed in. So today is a big deal.
    Olivia is babbling about how her little brother stole and hid her book bag this morning and how her mom promised her a new Tod’s tote this year but she still hasn’t gotten it.
    “Can’t you just get it yourself?” Charlie asks, looking annoyed.
    “That’s not the point,” Olivia says, and stops talking.
    By the time we make it to the PL, it’s ten after seven, which means we have a full thirty minutes to spend here before assembly.
    The PL has windows on three sides and an entrance that connects to what we call the breezeway. It’s a walkway from inside Cooper House to the lower courtyard, where, since it’s California, we generally have lunch all year long.
    There are three vending machines against the fourth wall. One has coffee and cappuccinos and things like that, another has water and juice, and the third has snacks. Charlie punchesin some numbers and hands around bottles of San Pellegrino. Charlie only drinks sparkling water. It’s her thing.
    Another one of Charlie’s theories is that it’s important to have “a thing.” It makes you stand out. She calls it your seven, because that’s her favorite prime number. Meaning it can’t be divided, just like the thing that