Free Burn for Burn by Jenny Han, Siobhan Vivian Page A

her car, but then PJ screams out, “Alex!” and the whole group runs into the road and stops his SUV.
    “Nadi!” Rennie screeches, and runs up to the passenger window. “Isn’t it past your bedtime?”
    I knew it. It was Nadia!
    Everyone talks for a couple of seconds before Alex starts beeping his horn to get his friends out of the way. I guess he’s in a rush to get Nadia home. It’s after midnight on a school night, and Mrs. Cho would kill Nadia if she caught her sneaking out. Mrs. Cho was really cool but she was also strict. Once she sent Lillia up to her room for a whole hour while Rennie and I were over swimming because she thought Lillia was being a fresh mouth.
    When Alex drives off, Rennie catches me looking and points me out. She calls, “Umm, sorry, Kat. I don’t think that gas station takes food stamps!”
    I pretend not to hear her. I can’t handle getting into it with her again today.
    Reeve whoops and says, “Uh-oh, Kat! You’re not going to let Rennie get away with that, are you? Come on! You’re a tough guy!” He sputters into laughter. “I know I wouldn’t mess with you.”
    Gas starts to leak out of the nozzle, and I jam the hose back into the cradle, my hand shaking. Rennie thinks that just because she goes with Lillia’s family on vacations to St. Bart’s or wherever the fuck, that she’s on their level. But she’s not. She lives in a two-bedroom condo with her single working mom. She works at Bow Tie because she has to. That Jeep she drives was a hand-me-down from her mom’s married boyfriend. Rennie might try to pretend otherwise, but we both know the truth: If I’m trash, then she is too.
    *   *   *
     
    I’m back in my room when my phone buzzes. It’s Alex.
    R U awake? I’m around if you want to talk.
    I whip my phone across the room. That ass. Like I’d ever speak to him again. He doesn’t deserve to hang out with me, and he definitely doesn’t deserve to make out with me. He associates with shit bags like Rennie and Reeve. He thinks they’re quality people, and as far as I’m concerned, that makes him just as bad as they are. They make me want to barf, every last one of them. They get away with murder on this island. They just do what they want to do, and screw everyone and everything else.
    Today I told that girl in the bathroom that Reeve would get his, that karma’s a bitch. I meant it when I said it, but now I’m not so sure. When has Rennie ever had to pay for any of the evil shit she’s done to me? Never. I’m sick of waiting for karma. Karma can suck it.

CHAPTER TEN
    MARY
     
    I ’M SITTING IN CHEMISTRY CLASS, AND I FEEL DIZZY from trying to untangle Mr. Harris’s blackboard notes. He’s written out a bunch of numbers and letters, trying to explain the process of scientific notation. I think it’s supposed to be a shorthand way to deal with infinite numbers. Only, I’m infinitely lost. I thought I was studying science, not math.
    But the other kids in my class seem to have no problem following what Mr. Harris is saying. They’re nodding and scribbling things down in their notebooks. It’s been this way all day, in every single class except gym. It seems like the juniors in Jar Island High are smarter than me, and I should technically be a senior. I used to be smart. I always got good grades at my old school. Then my life got screwed up, and since the Reeve stuff, I’ve always been behind. What if the school decides to put me back another grade? I’ll be eighteen and a sophomore? No. That can’t happen.
    I want to lay my head down on my desk and never wake up. I look over at the guy sitting next to me. Every time Mr. Harris turns around to write on the board, he carves something into his desk with the pointy end of a key. I lean closer to get a better look. It says, EAT ME.
    *   *   *
     
    After Reeve’s first day at my school, I tried to steer clear of him. Which wasn’t easy, because we had to ride the ferry to and from Jar Island