Her Teen Dream Read Online Free Page A

can
count on some new customers,” Karin said.
    He smiled. “I like your daughter and her
friend already, Shelly. Ready to go?”
    “Yes, I am.” Shelly looked at Lesley.
“Remember, I have my cell phone if an emergency comes up.”
    “I’ll be fine, Mom,” she assured her.
    After Shelly left, Lesley and Karin made
popcorn and went into the den to watch a video.
    “So how do you really feel about your Mom
dating again?” Karin asked, sitting in a beanbag chair.
    “It’s kind of weird,” Lesley admitted with a
mouthful of popcorn. “How would you feel if your Dad died and your
Mom started seeing someone else?”
    “I don’t know.” Karin shrugged. “I guess I’d
want her to be happy and not alone for the rest of her life.”
    “That’s how I feel about my Mom dating. No
one can ever take my Dad’s place, but he’s not here anymore so we
both have to move on. Right?”
    “Yeah,” Karin agreed, while hoping she did
not find herself in the same awkward situation anytime soon.
    “Anything new on the Marcus situation?” asked
Lesley.
    “Haven’t heard anything yet.” Karin sipped a
Diet Coke. “Daddy’s supposed to meet with all parties tomorrow.
Hopefully it’ll get Marcus off the hook.”
    “Yeah, then maybe you can hook up with
Reese and I can hook up with Marcus. Then we’d be the envy of all
the other sophomores at Elmwood High.”
    “And apparently some of the juniors, too,”
quipped Karin, in reference to Cheryl Green.
    “You know, it was Cheryl’s friend Jayne
Hathaway whose house was trashed after a party she gave,” Lesley
noted.
    “No way?” Karin raised a brow, though not so
much because of the news, but that Lesley seemed to always have the
scoop on the juiciest stuff.
    “Yeah. I heard it contributed to Cheryl and
Reese’s breakup, as each stuck up for their friend and had a
falling out.”
    “Interesting,” hummed Karin, grabbing more
popcorn and glancing at the movie that neither really seemed to be
watching. “Now it looks like Cheryl’s having second thoughts.”
    “That’s because girls are naturally jealous,
especially when they sense that the person they gave up has his eye
on an even prettier girl,” Lesley said.
    “I’m not sure that’s true.”
    “What? The prettier part or that he has his
eye on another girl?” Lesley gazed at her.
    Karin stared at the question. She knew that
she was attractive—or at least above average—but unsure if it could
measure up to Cheryl’s gorgeous looks. She wondered if guys saw
girls differently than they saw themselves.
    “Eye on another girl,” she responded.
“Honestly, I think Reese’s eye was more on my Dad and helping out a
teammate than me.”
    But Karin hoped things could change, even if
Cheryl Green seemed to think that she wasn’t good enough for Reese.
It didn’t mean he felt the same way.
    “Let’s just wait and see,” Lesley stated.
“Maybe we both need to have a little more faith that guys aren’t as
dumb as they sometimes seem.”
    Karin laughed. “How about a lot more
faith?”
    Lesley giggled and they high-fived each
other. “That, too.”
    Karin looked up at the TV and realized that
the movie had ended. Meaning it was time for her to go home. She
was already thinking about tomorrow, which could be judgment day
for Marcus Payne. And maybe for any possibilities she could have
with Reese as well.
     

CHAPTER FIVE
     
    Karin sat at the formal dining room table for
dinner. Her mother sat at one end and her father the other. It was
a routine that never changed, as if doing so would somehow disrupt
the family’s equilibrium. They were having her mother’s famous
casserole along with biscuits and turnip greens.
    Karin sensed her mother watching her like a
hawk, as if she intended to skip out on the meal. She had no
intention of doing that, especially when she knew that her father
had news on Marcus’s predicament.
    Greer seemed to read his daughter’s mind as
he wiped his mouth with a cloth