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My heart pounded and ached My stoe at the sa a bad case of hiccups instead

I scanned the crowded lunchrooirls at another table halfway across the rooht be sitting with hiht this very moment Brad had on his usual leather ive a crap" smirk He probably kept his black hair cropped close so he wouldn’t walk around with dorky hel around on his crotch rocket

I noticed Mark staring at Brad as well, a mix of jealousy and awe mixed on his face "Don’t tell h somewhere in the back of my mind, a part of me raised its hand and shouted, I want to be like hiuilty look and locked eyes with Harry "I dunno I h school and what do we have to show for it? It’d be nice to at least have a girlfriend"

"We’re nued "So what? Don’t get lanced back over at Brad "But why can’t we have it all?"

Just great Not only did Brad have Katie, but he was also luring my friends away from me I wished fervently for the zombie apocalypse to strike so I could rescue Katie froly face I’d steal his rip Katie around the waist and pull her on with er scaldedaway all reason My face grew hot and fists balled so tight my knuckles cracked

My forehead felt like twin volcanos were erupting in ony and pressed ers Powerful odors overwhelmed my nose Armpit stench Hair chemicals Old Spice Why is it always Old Spice? Underneath it all was so very female I unclenched my eyes and looked, but all I could see were blotches of color and blurs

Another pulse of pain jackhaht snapped to norarded me ide-eyed concern

"You okay?" Harry asked "Your face was beet red for a second there"

Mark chuckled "I thought your eyes were gonna explode out of your skull"

"I’m fine," I said as the headache faded in an instant like the ave Brad Nichols the evil eye again and almost asked my friends what Brad Nichols had that I didn’t Stupid question Over the course of my short life I’d made choices Unhealthy choices, obviously I’d eaten comfort foods and ys and Castles In short, I was the blubbery sum of seventeen-plus years of bad decisions and noas paying the piper Maybe those choices were the reasons these horrific ht be dying from a brain tumor but all I could think about was Katie I wanted to steal her from Brad and make her mine

Unfortunately, I had an acute streak of romanticism in me that wanted True Love, Princess Bride style I wanted love and e before sex Callyour first ti wild sex with lots and lots of hot girls, saidh Why couldn’t girls come with manuals? Or maybe even picture cards like the ones airlines use?

I looked up froobbled down the school cafeteria s and Castles tournalanced right Large black-lined eyes gazed back at irl Her raven-dark hair cascaded like a curtain over the whiteher face I looked behindat me, I decided She quirked an eyebrow and then scribbled so down soine her notes: Subject is still alive, but death by football players is imminent Will drink his blood for the Dark Master

I arrived ho the door shut and locking it I didn’t want to deal with ht now They were such a happy couple I felt like a co a loser when it ca sorry for yourself Easier said than done

I buried et my troubles Loud voices jerked me from a particularly difficult calculus problem some time later

"It’s foolish, Alice," my dad said "They’ll never let you or her coive a daer

"But I do" The tremble of pain in my dad’s voice stabbedterrible happened?

I rushed from ging, their tear-streaked faces red and tortured

"Who died?" I asked, unsure what to feel since I didn’t really know any of my relatives and I didn’t think my parents would be this upset over one of ht on the couch, wiping away tears from wide startled eyes

"Your aunt Petunia," Moain coic," Dad said, offering rief

I stared at the two of the so, but Mom already had her cool façade back in place She crossed the roo okay?"