Best Enemies (Canterwood Crest) Read Online Free Page A

tables—the caf was deserted.
    I picked through my food, my thoughts focused on tonight. The idea of sitting in the darkened theater with Eric made my heart pound. The only boy I’d ever sat with at the movies had been Jacob during film class, but that had been totally different. Was I supposed to hold Eric’s hand for the entire movie? My hand might get sweaty.Then Eric would be grossed out and he’d never want to do it again.
    I swallowed and pushed away my waffles. I had to ask Paige about the hand-holding sitch. I checked the time on my phone. Still early. I took small sips of my orange juice and watched as the Crush Girls—the riders I’d caught talking about Eric—came into the caf. The six girls loaded their trays with food and scanned the room, looking for empty seats. They spotted me and started whispering.
    Uh-oh.
    They walked up to my table and stopped.
    “Can we sit?” asked Rachel, a girl on the intermediate team.
    “Sure,” I said.
    The girls put down their trays and stared at me, not one of them touching their food.
    “So… ,” said a girl with braces. “Remember when you told us Eric Rodriguez had a girlfriend?”
    “Yeaaah,” I said.
    “Funny,” the girl said. “You never mentioned her name.”
    I picked up my fork and started playing with my waffles, desperate for something to do. “Well, I didn’t just because I—”
    “Because you
are
the girlfriend?” Rachel interrupted. She adjusted her black plastic–rimmed glasses. Artsy.
    “Um.” I swallowed.
    “You could have just told us,” said a girl with blond highlights sitting next to Rachel. “We’re, like, so sorry that we were talking about your boyfriend.”
    “Even if he
is
gorgeous,” Rachel added with a grin. She was pretty in that girl-next-door way. She was freckled and petite with a perfect, slightly upturned nose and her light brown hair had warm reddish highlights and side-swept bangs.
    I smiled back. “No worries.”
    “Cool. But, uh, keep an eye on him,” Rachel said with a wink. “
All
the girls think he’s hot.”
    “He is,” I said. “Lucky me.” I picked up my tray and walked away, leaving them staring enviously after me.
    For the rest of the morning and afternoon, I forced myself to do homework. With finals only weeks away the workload was getting heavier every day. But it was no use; I couldn’t concentrate on
anything
. All I could think about was tonight.
    “What if he wants to see that zombie movie?” I asked Paige.
    She turned away from her desk to look at me. She’d been doing homework all day too, stopping only every five minutes to answer my date questions.
    “Then you go,” Paige said. “Scary movies are
perfect
because every time something terrifying happens, you can bury your face in his arm. He’ll love it.”
    “Oooh, yeah,” I said. “Good point.”
    Paige looked at our wall clock. “It’s five thirty,” she said. “We either pretend to keep doing homework or start getting you ready.”
    My history book was closed before she’d finished her sentence. “I’m going on a date!” I said, my voice rising with every word. “Omigod! What should I do first?”
    Paige grabbed my arm and pulled me off my desk chair. She pushed me gently into the bathroom and started to close the door.
    “You’re going to do this crazy thing called
showering
,” Paige said. “Then, I’m going to do your hair. Okay?”
    “Okay,” I said, taking a deep breath. Paige shut the door and I hopped into the shower. I used three times the usual amount of strawberry-vanilla scented body wash before getting out. I pulled on my fluffy pink robe that Mom had given me for Christmas and let Paige blow out my hair until it was smooth and shiny.
    “Get dressed and then I’ll finish it off with a flatiron,” she said.
    I put on the clothes we’d ordered from Express, twirling in front of the mirror.
    “Am I good or what?” Paige said, eyeing my outfit. “I
knew
a blue ruffle top would be perfect.