Free Devon Delaney Should Totally Know Better by Lauren Barnholdt, Nathalie Dion Page B

quite tan. No matter! I’m going to the dance with Luke! Yay!
    “Luke and I were just talking about the dance,” I say, giving Lexi a look.
    “Ooh!” she says, “So he finally—uh, so you guys are going?”
    “Yeah,” Luke says.
    “You’ll have to ride over with me and Jared.” Lexi claps her hands. “And we’ll have an after party at my house, of course, and maybe even a pre-party.” Shefrowns. “Of course, I’ll have to think up a theme.” She looks off into space thoughtfully. A theme? Hmm. I hope she doesn’t expect me to dress up for the theme or anything. I need a dress for the dance, not for Lexi’s pre-parties and after parties and all her in-between parties. Plus, I’m going to have a hard enough time convincing my parents that I’m allowed to go to the dance at all, much less all these other parties. I haven’t even told them about Bailey’s party yet.
    “Hey, guys,” Kim says as she slides down the hall. “Luke, Lexi.” She looks at me.
“Devi.”
Kim likes to call me Devi with this little snort at the end, like it’s not quite my name. She thinks it’s super funny to mock it.
    “Oh, hi, Kim,” Lexi says. “Love your top. I think it’s great that someone with such skinny legs isn’t afraid to go for vertical stripes.” She smiles, and Kim gives her a thin smile back.
    “Thanks,” she says. “I actually got it the other night when I was shopping for something new to wear to Bailey’s party.” She looks me up and down. “You guys are still going, right?”
    “Yes,” Luke says, a little too fast for my liking. Why’s he so anxious to get to Bailey’s party? I wonder if he bought her a present yet. Hopefully something generic, like a gift card. Or a gag gift, like the time mydad got an ant farm from my Uncle Thomas.
    “Of course you’re going to be there, Luke,” Kim says. “Bailey told me how well you used to get along with her family.” Luke gets a little half smile on his face, like he’s remembering Bailey’s family fondly. Figures. My family doesn’t even know he exists. Well, they do. Just not as my boyfriend.
    “We’re definitely going to be there,” Lexi says. “We’re so excited, we wouldn’t miss it for the world. And my mom’s going to pick up Greg, so you’ll get to meet him.”
    A flicker of uncertainty passes over Kim’s face for a second, but she recovers quickly. I shoot Lexi a look, but she just smiles and says, “Right, Devi?”
    “Right.” She must have talked to her friend Ryan! Yay! Now all I have to do is get through this dumb party, show off Ryan/Greg for a couple of hours, and everything will be fine.

chapter six
    My mom picks me up after mock trial that day, so that we can go shopping for my new cell phone. My idea, not hers. I figured if my parents were having some kind of weird meltdown where they thought me getting a cell phone was okay, then I needed to capitalize on it before they changed their minds. So I insisted we go ASAP.
    “How was mock trial?” she asks, as I vault myself into the minivan.
    “It was good,” I lie. Mock trial was definitely not good. Lexi skipped so she could go and hang out with Jared, and I had to be in a group with Kim, Bailey, Luke, and Kim’s on-again, off-again boyfriend, Matt Connors. The whole thing was extremely annoying, since Bailey kept touching Luke’s arm every single time she thought he said something funny. And then when my mom pulled up, I had to leave them in the lobby, ALONE. TOGETHER. And Luke couldn’t even walk me out or hold my hand or kiss me goodbye, because, hello, what if my mom saw?
    To add insult to injury, all during science today Mel planned out her radio show, which is going to be an advice and gossip show! Where people call in and ask her advice! Hello! Advice and gossip is totally up my alley. I mean, I’m a master at getting out of tricky situations. Her class advisor said she could find a partner to do it with her, but I just don’t have the time with mock