Free That's What's Up! by Paula Chase Page B

LOL
    Liz-e-O: ok don’t u have Spanish hw 2 do? j/k BubbliMi: actually I do. L8r dudettes

    Reluctantly, Mina exited the chat and let the Spanish vocabulary words roll off her tongue in hopes that saying them aloud would help her understand their meaning.

“Just yes or no ... do you wanna go?”
    â€œForget yesterday, we’ll make the great escape.”
    â€”Boys Like Girls, “The Great Escape”
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    T he chat marched on without Mina for another half hour, talk bouncing between a possible sleepover at Kelly’s and Kelly and Angel’s second attempt at the boyfriend/girlfriend thing, before endingin a loose plan, but strong vow, to make this the “least-suckiest-spring-break-ever-even-though-we’re-the-only-ones-not-going-to -the-Extreme.”
    After signing off Jacinta fumed.
    She was going to get Angel. Him and his big mouth, telling Kelly about her and Raheem.
    It wasn’t that she was hiding her weekends with Raheem from the girls ... okay, she was. But in her defense, she’d been struggling from day one to keep her two worlds from colliding. Being in The Cove wasn’t like being in The Woods. She felt right at home in both neighborhoods. But sometimes clicking over from one mind-set to another was unsettling, like traveling from the earth to the moon’s zero gravity.
    After all the advice she gave her friends about life, love and the pursuit of a decent boyfriend, she’d look like a hypocrite, not to mention weak, to go back with Raheem after he’d shamed her by kissing another girl the night of the party while she was only a few feet away.
    That’s exactly why she wasn’t going home over spring break. She’d decided for sure as soon as her father’s Navigator crossed the DRB Bridge Sunday morning.
    Fridays and Saturdays were hard enough. She wasn’t about to spend four days at home, tempted to race out of the house each time Angel called. She knew exactly where she wanted to be during break—O.C. And not because of the cheer competition either.
    The idea had come to her on Sunday afternoon when Mina hyped over JZ’s flirting. Jacinta laughed aloud at the thought of Mina’s nagging.Sometimes she and JZ flirted just to set her off. Jacinta was surprisedMina hadn’t figured that out yet.
    It was all in fun.
    JZ wasn’t interested in doing the exclusive thing with anyone. And Jacinta wasn’t looking for a new boyfriend. They made the perfectflirt match. She liked hanging out with him because, ironically, he reminded her a little of Raheem, only without the drama.
    The more Jacinta thought about trekking down to O.C. with the guys, the more it made sense.
    It would be the perfect distraction. A whole weekend away, no Raheem, no slipping back. It’s just what she needed to prove, once and for all, that she and Raheem were really over.
    All she had to do was convince Lizzie and Kelly to roll with her. Kelly would be easy. Since going out with Angel, Kelly was down for more than people might assume from someone so quiet.
    Lizzie’s going to be the tough one, Jacinta thought. She hopped into bed knowing exactly how to get Lizzie on board.
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    The next afternoon, she texted Lizzie and waited by the auditorium until she emerged. As she expected, Lizzie balked at the idea.
    â€œCome on, Lizzie,” Jacinta said, her voice coming as close to pleadingas it ever got. “Do you really feel like sitting home doing nothing the whole break?” Her eyes flashed skepticism in her honey brown face.
    â€œI thought we were just going to hang at Kelly’s,” Lizzie said. She scanned the empty hall nervously, as if expecting someone to pop their scheming right then and there.
    Cinny immediately pounced, anticipating Lizzie’s reluctance. “Well, change of plans.” She pulled Lizzie into the dark auditorium, where only minutes before Lizzie had been helping to pack away props and