Free She's So Dead to Us by Kieran Scott Page B

“You just sealed it.”
    “Oh. Oops.” I bit my lip and smiled an apology as Logan twirled Annie past us toward the far wall. The other party-goers scrambled out of their way to keep from getting their toes crushed. “Sorry, Annie!”
    “You’re going to make this up to me!” she shouted back. “Tomorrow you’re on glitter duty!”
    “Glitter duty?” I asked David.
    “She loves to have glittery signs for the Harvest Fest but hates dealing with glitter,” he replied. He looped his arm around my shoulders and gave me a squeeze. “Aren’t you so glad we crashed your table on the first day of school?”
    I rolled my eyes as he headed off to the bookshelf that was serving as a makeshift bar. Someone turned up the music, and a few of the freshmen girls started to dance with the other members of David’s band. As the party swelled around me, my heart fluttered with excitement. The truth was, I couldn’t have been happier that Annie and David had crashed my table that first day. And I was psyched that Annie had invited me over to hang out with her and David tomorrow. For the first time, I was starting to believe that I could make new friends in Orchard Hill. That I could have a life here.
    A life that was Crestie free.

october
     
    You guys! I think Jake Graydon is going to ask me to the Harvest Ball!
    Why would you think that?
    Well, you know, after Friday night . . . plus he totally
just smiled at me in the hall.
    Well, I heard he already asked Lacey Goodman.
    What? Lacey? Why?
    She’s Lacey Goodman. Do you really have to ask?
    Ew. Really?
    No. Lacey’s going with Chris Harrington. I heard Jake was gonna ask Cori Ranger.
    But Cori doesn’t even hook up!
    She didn’t used to. Before she met Jake at
Josh Schwartz’s Saturday.
    I think I’m gonna throw up.
    Don’t worry. You still have a chance.
    You think?
    It’s Jake Graydon. Pretty soon he’s going to have
worked his way through the entire school and
he’ll have to make a second round.
     
     
     

 
jake
     
    The door to my room opened and I dropped my Xbox controller and lifted my Physics text onto my lap. Then I saw it was Shannen and let the book slide to the floor.
    “Nice try, Graydon, but even your mom would’ve caught that one,” she said.
    “Everything okay?” I asked. Usually when Shannen came barreling into my room unannounced, it was because her dad was on a bender and she needed to escape. “Your dad?”
    “Oh, he did the ‘come home and pass out’ thing tonight. I’m just bored.” She shoved her hands under my arms from behind to lift me up. “Come on. Hammond and the Idiot Twins are downstairs harassing your brother, and Chloe’s in the car.”
    I shut off the TV. “The car?”
    She shot me a wicked look over her shoulder. None of us had our licenses, but that never stopped Shannen when she had a plan. And when Shannen had a plan, it usually meant a good time.
    I followed her down the stairs at a jog and into the kitchen, where Jonah sat at the counter trying to do his algebra homework. The Idiot Twins were sandwiching him between them, shouting numbers in his ears so he couldn’t concentrate, while Hammond stood across the room, throwing popcorn from our popcorn machine at all three of them. The popcorn machine was right next to our sundae bar. Mom had it all installed over the summer in an attempt to turn our house into party central. She loved it when my friends were around.
    “Quit it,” Jonah complained, trying not to whine. He elbowed the twins on either side, but they clung to him as Hammond laughed.
    “Dude. Not cool.” I grabbed the back of his polo shirt to drag him out of there. With my free hand I slapped Trevor on the back. “Let’s go.”
    Hammond launched one more shot at Jonah, and Todd gave my brother a world-class noogie as we walked out. Still, Jonah somehow managed to snatch the popcorn out of the air and eat it.
    “Nice,” I said to him.
    He grinned in reply. “Quit letting those assholes into