Whitney Read Online Free Page B

thought the plan was foolproof, but then he said that he loves pizza. What if he was just saying yes because of the pizza?”
    “So you should have invited him to do something that he normally wouldn’t want to do,” Caitlin said.
    “I guess. But I don’t know what that is. We don’t talk that much.”
    “I could have Michael just ask him if he likes you.”
    I rolled my eyes. Was involving their boyfriends everyone’s solution to my problem? Why not just use the park’s announcement system? “No, I don’t want to get more people involved. Just help me figure out where to go tonight.”
    “Pizza Palace,” Robyn suggested. “It’s near where we live. It’s got more than pizza. It’s got games, so if it gets awkward at the table and you can’t think of anything to talk about, you can always go play something.”
    “You think it’ll get awkward? You think this was a stupid idea?”
    “No, I don’t think it was stupid. I also don’t think he agreed because of the pizza.”
    I wished I was as sure.
    “I’llhave Sean go on MapQuest and print you a map before we leave,” Robyn said.
    Sean worked in marketing now so he spent a lot of his time in the front offices. He had his own computer for designing marketing stuff. Sometimes we passed in the hallway when I was on my way to the P&E office.
    “Thanks, but I just need the address. The limo has a navigation system.” Besides, David was pretty good about figuring out where things were.
    “Okay. I’ll get it for you,” Robyn said.
    Robyn and I had bonded earlier in the summer when we chased off some bullies. Later we rescued a child who nearly drowned. She performed CPR, while telling me what to do to help. But I let her take all the credit because I knew a TV interview scenario when I saw it, and I didn’t want to appear on TV. I hadn’t wanted the i’s to see me and know I was working here.
    On the Fourth of July, Caitlin had saveda boy from choking, with no help from anyone. She and Robyn were now both designated park heroines.
    So while I’d helped Robyn, I hadn’t really done anything to make me stand out — not the way Robyn and Caitlin had. What was I going to do? Save a kid from a popping balloon?
    I wasn’t jealous of their accomplishments. But the two people who were the closest to being my friends had boyfriends now and had done something at their jobs to make them an important part of the water park. I was feeling like a total loser. I knew it was my fault because I hadn’t taken working here seriously. Oh, I’d planned a party for the employees and arranged a light show for the Fourth of July, but it wasn’t as though I’d averted a crisis.
    Add to that the fact that I was lonely since I’d discovered I had no true friends at my old school and was suddenly out-numbered by people who were making a difference, and I was getting a taste of thereal world my dad had been talking about. I didn’t like it much.
    I shifted on the lounge chair and cleared my throat. “Okay, I have one other little problem.”
    Robyn sat up as though she’d been waiting for this moment, as though she’d known that eventually I’d break down and confess everything. “What’s that?”
    “Sunday, there’s going to be this big birthday bash for someone I know. They’re renting the water park after hours.”
    “Isn’t that, like, mega-expensive?” Caitlin asked.
    “They’re mega-rich.”
    “I think it’s cool that your friends want to have a party here,” Robyn said.
    “They’re not my friends,” I admitted. “They used to be, but well, they’re like Jasmine except they’re much, much worse.”
    Jasmine was an employee who worked one of the slides. She’d stolen away Caitlin’s first guy, Tanner, then tried to steal Michaelfrom her, too. But Michael had been way more interested in Caitlin than in Jasmine. So now he and Caitlin were together.
    “They stole a guy from you?” Caitlin asked.
    “No. I’ve never had a guy