Free Forever for a Year by B. T. Gottfred Page B

mattered as much as how pretty you were in real life.
    But then there was this one photo of her playing soccer. Carolina was concentrating so intensely on the game, she couldn’t tell anyone was taking the picture, so she didn’t know to be uncomfortable. Instead she looked like an Olympic athlete that would be in commercials because she was beautiful and amazing at sports. She was striding across the grass, two opposing players behind her, anguished they couldn’t catch her. Her eyes were so sharp you had the feeling she could see right through you and the ground and into whole other worlds. The muscles in her arms and legs were tight, reminded me of how I felt right this second, and for that second I thought again we were soul mates. You know, like the one person that would make me feel not so fucking alone.
    Then I stopped thinking that because I don’t believe in that crap. But maybe I didn’t stop thinking it as much as I wanted to.
    *   *   *
    Carolina acted strange as I walked toward biology. She looked at me, so did her friend and some older girl, but then she looked away. Suddenly I felt like she was annoyed I had sent her that friend request. So I sat in the back of class, far away from where we sat yesterday. I did it to punish her, but it probably only punished me.
    At lunch, the older girl who was with Carolina before biology marched over to our table, pointed at me, and said, “You, come here,” like she was a teacher disciplining me. I wasn’t going to move. I didn’t know this chick, and I certainly didn’t like being told what to do.
    But then my cousin Henry said, “Dude, that’s Katherine Darry. She’s, like, the hottest girl in the school. Go, go.”
    â€œThanks for telling the new kid here what’s up,” Katherine said, winking at Henry like he was her best friend, only to turn her gaze cold as it descended back on me.
    Screw it. I got up, followed her out of the cafeteria into the hall. Not sure why Henry thought Katherine was that attractive. Yeah, she knew how to walk so that her butt moved back and forth and she knew how to wear makeup like girls on reality TV, but there was nothing pretty about her at all. Her face was puffy and angry, her eyes small and panicked.
    â€œDo you like my sister?” Katherine asked after she stopped, spun, and shoved her head six inches from mine.
    â€œWho’s your sister?”
    â€œOh. My. God. You retarded or are you just retarded? My sister is Peggy. She looks like me, but not as, you know, mature, except her boobs are huge, which is why you like her, don’t lie!”
    â€œShe’s Carolina’s friend?”
    Katherine opened her mouth but didn’t say anything while her brain tried to catch up. “Listen, new kid. I know how stuff works. You’re super hot, but nobody realizes it yet because you’re new. Not even you, apparently. So you can’t like Carolina. It just won’t work. So you can like Peggy maybe, because I don’t want her dating any of my friends. So you think about it, and I’ll talk to Peggy. But leave Carolina alone. She’s not your type.” Then she tapped my ear with her hand two times. “Okay?”
    But I didn’t say anything. I sure as hell wasn’t going to agree with her, but I didn’t have the balls to tell her off either. Then she left and I just stood there, not quite sure what this really meant. When I turned around, Henry was standing there, Licker and baby-faced Jake behind him. They stepped fast into my space before I could do anything about it.
    â€œWhat did she say? What did she want?” Henry asked.
    â€œI don’t know.”
    â€œDon’t lie! Just tell us!” Jake whined.
    â€œSomething about her sister, Peggy. Wanted to know if I liked her.”
    Licker said, “Katherine must think you’re going to be cool, which means you probably will