Free Rotten Apple by Rebecca Eckler Page A

and a half IM’ing with Zen.”
    “I thought you said you only chatted for an hour,” Apple said, feeling herself falling into a worse mood by the second.
    “Well, it was more like two hours. But it seemed like ten minutes. Love you!” Happy said, and hung up.
    Apple threw her phone down on her bed and walked over to her computer to write to ED.
    Dear ED,
    I can’t believe what is happening. It’s like my mother always says. Sometimes life is just not fair. I hate to admit it, but I’m really distressed. Happy just called and told me she had been chatting with Zen—yes, MY Zen—for almost two hours! It’s not like I wasn’t around to IM with. I hate myself for saying this, I do, but it just seems everything comes so easily for Happy. I don’t know, maybe it’s like my mother always says to Crazy Aunt Hazel—that when you least expect it, that’s when you meet someone. Maybe the problem was that for years, I was WAITING for something to happen with Zen. Happy wasn’t waiting. And something is definitely starting to happen with her and Zen. Then again, it was just instant messaging. Maybe I’m just overreacting. I want to be happy for my best friend but…
    Apple suddenly stopped typing. Her mother had snooped in her electronic diary just a few days before. How could she have forgotten? This was the kind of problem her mother would totally get off on, too—a girl being in love with a guy she has never told, who apparently was showing interest in her best friend instead. There was no way she was going to let her mother find out what she was going through. No, Apple was not like the rest of the Bergites—what Apple calledDr. Bee Bee Berg’s cult-like followers. She didn’t like to share her problems with anyone, especially not her mother. She wasn’t even sure if Zen’s chatting with Happy
was
a problem. Maybe they were just becoming friends. But she was still pissed at her mother for daring to sneak into her room to read her diary. The only way to get back at her mother for snooping was to try and trap her in the act. Apple deleted what she’d written about Zen and Happy, and started to type again.
    Dear ED,
    You can forget about everything I wrote about Zen the other day. I don’t like him anymore. It was all just a silly phase. I have discovered true love now—the love that only a REAL man can inspire. You know, a VERY mature man. I’m in love with Mr. Kelly. That’s right. I’m in serious love with my math teacher. I know this sounds weird, considering how much I hate math, but I’m really starting to enjoy class. Especially since Mr. Kelly is so hot. So you can forget about Plan Z. My new plan is to get Mr. Kelly to fall as deeply in love with me as I am with him. It is possible, you know, ED. He is single. And gorgeous. And he’s not that old. He may be, like, only 35. And he seems to really like me. Every time I put up my hand in class, he chooses me. I swear, I love watching him write out math questions on the blackboard. He has the most gorgeous hands. Hands that I would love to feel all over my body. I will keep you posted, ED. I promise. Oh, I can’t wait for math class! In fact, I may just become a mathematician one day. That’s how into math I am now. Well, that’s how much I’m into Mr. Kelly!I’m done with high school boys. I want a real man, not a silly high school boy.
    Apple smirked, rereading what she’d just written. She thought it sounded believable. There was no way her mother wouldn’t mention something about
this
fake diary entry. It was like her mother’s advice to women who take back men who cheat on them: once a cheater, always a cheater. Or was it that leopards can never change their spots? Whatever it was, Apple thought, once a snooper, always a snooper. Her mother couldn’t change her spots. Once she read it, her mother would
have
to admit that she had read Apple’s private diary. Apple purposely left her entry on the screen and didn’t shut down her