Free Dirty Blood by Heather Hildenbrand Page A

She’d wished
me luck and then thrown herself into campaigning, making elaborate
signs, and even preparing a speech to give on the morning
announcements.
    Unfortunately for Cindy, in sixth grade it’s all
about who you know, and Cindy’s circle of friends was considerably
smaller than mine. When she saw that everyone was going to vote for
me, she started playing dirty, spreading rumors and lies to bolster
her chances.
    Several different rumors flew around, the nicest
being that she’d found me in a compromising position with her cat,
during the last sleepover we’d had. Yeah, you’ve got to be pretty
twisted to come up with the stuff she did. Needless to say, that
was the end of whatever friendship or civility we might have had.
She won the election, which would have been fine by me, except now
I couldn’t stand her. So, we’ve enjoyed a quiet, though vicious,
rivalry ever since.
    As a result, seeing her in an outfit like this sort
of made my day. “Where did she get this and why does she think it’s
cute?” I asked as Sam snapped her phone closed.
    “I don’t know. Maybe she doesn’t have a friend to
tell her how bad it is.” Sam flashed an evil smile. “Maybe we
should be those friends.”
    “Maybe we should,” I agreed.
    The warning bell rang, and we all scattered to make
it to class.
    “Find me at lunch,” Sam called, sailing down the
quickly emptying hall, her dark hair billowing out behind her.

 
     
     
    ~ 8 ~
     
     
     
    “This dress would be perfect for my date with Ryan,”
Sam said, holding up a black mini with sequins on the waist.
    “I thought the dress you bought at the last store was
for your date with Ryan,” Angela said.
    “No, that was for my date with Chad,” Sam
corrected.
    Angela laughed. “I can’t keep up anymore.”
    “Feel free to pick up my slack anytime, Ang,” Sam
said, smiling and wiggling her eyebrows.
    “No thank you. Besides, once you go out with these
boys, they’re hooked. They follow you around like you’re the Pied
Piper.”
    “I know. Poor things.” Sam sighed dramatically.
    Angela and I just grinned and kept browsing. We were
at the mall, dress shopping for the dance I was thinking more and
more of not attending. George would have insisted, for social
standings, if nothing else. But I was actually free to decide for
myself, and the thought of going alone just didn’t appeal.
    “I’m going to try this black one on,” said Sam.
“Tara, can you hold my bags?”
    “Sure.” I took the four bags from her, set them on
the floor nearby and plopped into a chair. This could be awhile.
Sam was a serious shopper; no such thing as browsing. Everything
about Sam was that way; impulsive, indulgent and fun - always
fun.
    “Hey, Ang, you never told me how your date with Dave
went,” I said.
    “It was really great,” Angela said, her smile turning
a little dreamy. It was sort of fun to watch; Angela never looked
dreamy.
    “Are you going out again?” I asked.
    “Yeah, he asked me to the dance.”
    “Oh. My. Goodness. Did I just hear that Angela The
Librarian has a date? Like a real date with a real guy?” Sam called
from the dressing room.
    “Ha-ha, Sam,” said Angela.
    “Well, hot damn, how exciting is this! Is he a good
kisser?” she called back, in a loud voice.
    Angela’s face turned red, and she glanced around the
store, adjusting her glasses. “Can you be any louder Sam?”
    “Probably.” There was the sound of the latch being
pulled back and then Sam stepped out, the little black dress
hugging her like a glove. “Okay, what do you think?”
    I whistled. “Wow.”
    Angela was nodding in agreement. “Definitely a show
stopper. How short is that thing?”
    Sam twirled slowly, inspecting herself in the small
mirror beside her. “Short enough, I’d say. You wanna borrow it,
Ang?”
    Angela’s cheeks reddened a little. “I’m good,
thanks.”
    “I’m getting it,” said Sam. “What about you Tara? You
haven’t even tried anything