The Sweetest Thing You Can Sing Read Online Free Page B

smacking Jacob.
    “Do you have a ride home?” Genevieve asks, throwing her hair back over her shoulders. “I can give you a lift.”
    Nicole sighs and stares off at a speck in the distance. “That would be great. Thanks.”
    I follow Nicole’s eyes to the disappearing guy, who is now only a dot on the horizon. “Maybe you guys can run him over on your way home,” I offer. On a normal day I’d pretend not to have noticed what happened between them, out of politeness, but it doesn’t feel like an ordinary day anymore.
    Nicole smiles thinly. “You promise?”
    The fact that he seemed to be watching some sexy footage of her that she wasn’t happy about is good enough for me. Like I needed another demonstration of how much high school guys suck. “If I can add someone to the list too,” I quip.
    Nicole smirks and wipes her damp cheek with the back of her hand. “Since Genevieve’s driving I guess that’s up to her.”
    The three of us are getting soaked standing there, but Genevieve, with her perfect features and A average, still looks like a cross between young Gwyneth Paltrow and teenaged Nicole Kidman. “Come on,” Genevieve says impatiently, digging her hands into the pockets of her brown leather jacket. “I’m freezing.” She cocks her head at me. “Do you need a ride too?”
    “I’d love one.” Genevieve has never bothered to suck up to me because of Morgan. I can’t imagine her sucking up to anyone, and maybe it’s dumb of me to feel mildly excited about catching a ride with her, but if I don’t tell anyone it doesn’t count.
    I let Nicole take the front seat in Genevieve’s not new but not ancient Honda Civic. Genevieve asks us where we live and begins driving in the direction of Nicole’s house. It’s quiet in the car and Genevieve explains that her speakers are blown. “I meant to buy new ones,” she says, “but I started to get used to the silence.”
    Then we’re back to a semi-awkward quiet that lasts until we pull into Nicole’s driveway. “Thanks for the ride,” she tells Genevieve before turning to glance over her shoulder at me. “Thanks, Serena. I’ll see you in English tomorrow.”
    “See you, Nicole,” I say back. We just finished Lord of the Flies in English this morning and I’m never going to pick up the book again if I can help it. Who wants to read a novel about how we’re all basically savages at the core? If that’s true, I don’t want to know it.
    I hop in the front so Genevieve won’t feel like my chauffeur, and as soon as I shut my door she says, “So have you seen the video? I didn’t want to mention it to Nicole because she seemed pretty upset, but really, she should’ve known better. You can’t let them film stuff like that.” Genevieve clucks in disapproval. “But I feel sorry for her anyway. It’s not like she can undo the damage, is it?”
    “Actually, I didn’t see the video. The guy Nicole was fighting with was watching it so I just heard a bit from his cell.” I have that Lord of the Flies dread in my stomach and wonder if I really want to know more. “What is it? Like a sex tape?”
    Genevieve shoots me a sideways look. “It was going around school today. I’m sure you’ll see it soon enough. Basically she’s doing a striptease for Liam Powers. Lots of shaking her naked booty and so on. You can imagine.”
    “That sucks.” I frown and look out the window. Nicole and Liam Powers have been hooking up since last spring. He’s a junior like Genevieve but not quite as popular. Whenever I saw Nicole and Liam together in the hall or cafeteria they were smiling. Now I’ll probably never see them together again. It occurs to me that things could’ve been so much worse with Jacob. “I can’t believe Liam would do that to her.”
    “Word is it wasn’t him that spread the video — someone else stumbled across it on his cell and forwarded it around.”
    I groan. “Everyone’s going to see it. That’s so unfair.” I have no idea