Free The Boy Project by Kami Kinard Page B

move. All of the times that I’d felt sick listening to Tabbi talk about Evan didn’t compare to how seriously ill I felt at that very moment. It was like someone had spread Gorilla Glue on my butt and I was going to be stuck in my desk forever. I was cold. And shaky. Tabbi was somewhere (probably home) crying her eyes out, and it was all thanks to me. Maybelline wanted to get back at me, and since I didn’t have a boyfriend she stole my best friend’s.
    I might have stayed in that seat forever if fifth period hadn’t started filing in and Mia Willers hadn’t said, “Get out of my seat, girl, before I dump you out.”
    Now I’m in the instrument room pretending to fix a stuck valve. Even though I could get suspended for it, I’m taking out my cell phone and dialing Tabbi’s number.
    She doesn’t answer.
    I wonder how long I can stay back here before Mr. Waldorf notices? I do not feel like making a joyful noise today. . . .
Bedtime
    After trying Tabbi’s cell a thousand times and only getting voicemail, I was finally able to reach her by calling her home number and talking to her mom first.
    As soon as I said hello, Tabs started sobbing. It was hard to understand what she was saying, exactly, but eventually I managed to get the whole story.
    Basically, Evan is a jerk and Maybelline is a fiend. Get this — at lunch, Maybelline just sashayed up to Evan and Tabs while they were
celebrating their two-week anniversary
and asked Evan to go to the spring dance with her! And right in front of Tabbi, Evan said yes.
    Tabs said she asked Evan if he liked Maybelline so much, why hadn’t he just asked her out a long time ago? He said he would have, but he didn’t think a girl as pretty as Maybelline would say yes!!!
    Poor Tabbi. She was all tears. “You’re still looking for your soul mate, Kara, but I’d already
found
mine. Maybelline didn’t steal my boyfriend, she stole part of my
soul.
”
    I feel like the worst friend in the world. If I hadn’t been having that ridiculous conversation about dead hotties, I’d have noticed my best friend running from the cafeteria in tears.
    I’ll tell you what, though. Even when Maybelline does dump Evan — and I’m sure she will since he’s obviously (to everyone but him) her rebound guy — I am done researching him. There are some things you never know . . . but I know for sure that my one and only true soul mate will not be someone who treats people like Evan treated Tabbi. I honestly can’t believe that I used to like that guy!
    I guess if Evan and Tabs weren’t meant to be, it’s good for Evan that he figured it out before he got his hand tattooed.

Thursday, January 25
Lunch
    James and The Vine are no longer going out. This status change doesn’t have nearly as much YAY power as Alex’s did, but in the interest of being objective with this study, I need to note it anyway. I don’t know how he managed to disentangle himself, but Gina is now ignoring James and openly creeping around other guys.
    And though it’s still hard to imagine how I could ever like someone who willingly let himself fall into The Vine’s clutches, it is easier to observe James now that he’s free.
    One thing I just noticed about him, for example, is that he no longer has a unibrow. I heard him telling Alex L that his mom plucked it for him. My first thought was: Eww! I couldn’t really believe that he admitted this. Then again, it was so obvious that it had been plucked — since now he has
two
eyebrows instead of
one
— that I guess he may as well have.

    And speaking of admitting things, I have to admit that James looks a lot cuter these days. It might be that he walks differently. Like he’s more confident or something. His new duo-browed look doesn’t hurt, either.
    I pointed this out to Tabs, who agreed that he was cuter, but argued that he still wasn’t