Platinum Read Online Free Page B

mother’s grave.
    “Lilah?”
    “I’m fine,” I said. “I just have some killer cramps.” It seemed like the logical lie. We were, after all, in the bathroom, and if there was one thing that other girls at least pretended sympathy toward, it was cramps.
    “I’ve got some Advil,” Tracy offered. “You want?”
    I nodded silently and forgave her for every headache she’d given me so far this lunch period. Tracy was a witch if you crossed her, and she wasn’t the brightest eyeliner in the set, but if you were friends, she would follow you to the bathroom to make sure you were okay. And to regloss her lips.
    “Thanks, Trace,” I said as she handed me an Advil.
    “No problem,” she replied, pulling some berry-flavored gloss out of her purse. “Fuchsia was about to make me puke,” she complained without preamble. “She’s so all over Tate it isn’t even funny.” Tracy was incredibly talented at talking while applying lip gloss. Without being asked to, she handed me the tube, and I leaned toward the mirror, my stomach still flipping itself inside out as I pushed down the mess of images swimming around in my mind and tried to cling to reality.
    I’d have to deal with the whole seeing things that weren’t there thing eventually, but right now, talking to Tracy was just about all I could handle.
    “Fuchsia,” I said lightly, “is all over everything male.”
    “And some things that aren’t,” Tracy added wickedly. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who remembered Fuchsia’s performance at Parker’s party. Tracy’s wicked expression melted into enormously pathetic-looking Little Orphan Annie eyes. “You don’t think Tate actually likes her, do you?” she asked.
    I shook my head. “Of course not,” I replied, capping the gloss and handing it back to her. Truthfully, though, if Tracy wasn’t careful, Fuchsia was going to end up dating her ex, and I was going to be left to pick up the pieces and negotiate the truce. And if that happened, I could kiss the few good times the three of us did still have together goodbye.
    “Good,” Tracy said, happily accepting my lie because it was what she wanted to hear. “I don’t think Brock likes her either.”
    The comment hit me like a steel gong. Why would Tracy say that? It wasn’t like I was actually worried about Brock liking Fuchsia. Brock and I had been together for almost two years, and just that morning, he’d written me a poem, albeit a bad one. He still liked me, and only me. I had nothing to worry about.
    The door to the bathroom opened, and another slightly chubby girl poked her head in.
    “Occupied,” Tracy said, without even glancing away from the mirror.
    Then again, I thought, if Tracy was in here with me, that meant that Fuchsia was out there with Brock…alone….
    “Let’s go,” I said, faking a shudder without ever looking at the bathroom intruder.
    Tracy picked up where I’d left off and, as was her habit, took it one step too far. “Definitely,” she said. “This place reeks of Non.”
    The Non girl’s cheeks blushed scarlet, and I couldn’t help but feel like the puppy kicker Lissy thought I was.
    Stop this, I told myself sternly. There was a time and a place to have a conscience, and unless you wanted to be the one getting kicked, high school wasn’t either of them.
    And besides, I thought as I opened the door and stepped back into the cafeteria, I had to face the fact that I had much, much bigger things to worry about.
    Like, for example, the fact that Fuchsia was sitting in Brock’s lap. And the fact that the boy no one else could see was standing behind them, staring at me.
    Again.

 
    4

    Boys
    She who has the boys
makes the rules.
    His eyes were dark, measuring, and locked on my face, not my breasts, which typically got far more visual screen time with boys my age than my high cheekbones or clear blue eyes. The mystery boy could see me, that much was clear, and as he skulked around the Golden table, his eyes on