Read Online Prom Queen, The (Life at Kingston High Book #3) by Melody Carlson - Free Book Online

managed to finish it, and only after staying up past midnight, but at least it was still fresh in her mind. She started by asking the girls to introduce themselves. Most of them were younger than her, but, she reminded herself, a vote was a vote—and she was here to win theirs. She started out by talking about what she’d liked about the book, going on for several minutes. Then she paused to see if anyone else wanted to make a comment, but when no one said a word, she continued. This time she talked about what she did not like.
    “Excuse me.” An overweight girl named Brianna frowned at her. “Have you ever led a book group before?”
    Megan laid her book in her lap. “Not really.”
    Now the other girls in the group exchanged glances. Almost like they knew something Megan did not.
    “Do you even know how to lead a book group?” another girl asked.
    Megan shrugged. “Don’t we just talk about the book?”
    “Yes . . . and no.”
    “Usually, everyone gets a chance to talk about the book,” Brianna told her.
    “Oh . . .” Megan nodded.
    “Just because you’re the leader doesn’t mean you get to lecture us,” someone else said.
    “Uh, right.” Megan made a forced smile. “I guess I was just waiting for you all to jump in.”
    Brianna held up her book, opening it to the back and pointing to a page. “Didn’t you see the discussion questions?”
    “Discussion questions?”
    “Have you ever even been in a book group?” a brown-haired girl asked.
    “Well, no, but I—”
    “Then why did you offer to lead one?” the brown-haired girl demanded.
    Megan didn’t know what to say, but now others were expressing themselves, and all with one thing in mind—questioning why Megan felt qualified to do this.
    “Give her a break,” Brianna said finally.
    “I’m sorry,” Megan told them. “Maybe this was a bad idea. I just wanted to start a book group. I had no idea there were rules and—”
    “It’s not that there are rules,” Brianna explained. “More like expectations.”
    Megan flipped to the back of her book now. “Should we go ahead and do the discussion questions?”
    To her relief, the girls agreed this was a good plan. Then, one by one, they all took their time (lots and lots of time) to answer each one of the fifteen questions. Megan considered excusing herself before they were done, explaining she had to pick up her little sister, but instead she texted Arianna that she was running late. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Arianna texted back that she’d already gotten a ride home with a friend. It was after five by the time Megan finally peeled herself away from the book group. And only after they’d decidedwhat next week’s book would be. Of course, that meant that she was committed to show up here next Wednesday. Did these girls actually read a book a week?
    As Megan drove home, she wondered how she could drop out of this pathetic little book group. However, she realized that a prom queen probably wouldn’t do something like that. For now, she might as well go with the flow, maybe even fake that she’d read the upcoming book. Perhaps she could find something online to help her. Even so, it seemed like a lot of work for just nine measly votes . . . unless these girls became so loyal to her that they actually influenced their friends to vote for her too. That is, if they had friends.
    Megan did a mental countdown of the time remaining until the prom queen election as she drove home. Four weeks. Most importantly, she had to get the fundraiser event solidly launched—this meant getting advertising and publicity started by the end of the week. And second most importantly, she had just one week to secure the nomination for prom queen. She knew she could count on her friends to nominate her, but it would take a few other nominations as well. Then the official campaigning would begin three weeks before the election.
    She was just parking in front of the house when her cell phone rang.