Read Online A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl by Tanya Lee Stone - Free Book Online

on my words through the tears.
She definitely hit a nerve.
    She puts her hand on my shoulder.
Why is she being so sweet?
I don’t even know her.
    â€œJust do me a favor and check out
Forever,
okay?”
She takes her hand off my shoulder,
smiles,
and walks away.

I CAN’T BELIEVE
    what I’m reading.
    This poor book. Every little bit of free space—
in the back, in the front,
on the heading pages of new chapters,
even in the margins—there are things written
about him.
It’s not good.
    Josie’s words have been embellished,
with a border and a label: FIRST ENTRY,
and an arrow pointing to her words.
This scribbler wants there to be no mistake:
Josie = Fearless Leader.
So many girls.
    How could there have been so many girls
in four years?
I’m sure his buddies knew, but somehow he managed
to keep a low profile about it, and anyway,
who’s got the time to keep up with
this guy’s string of girlfriends?
Certainly not me.
    I bet a lot of girls were mortified after
and just kept their mouths shut.
Does he even know the damage he has done?
I have to think he’d care, if he had a clue.
He’s not a monster.
But then again, some of these girls sure think he is.
    They’ve created their very own support group
within the pages of
Forever.
    The more I read, the more I realize
I’m not alone.
And it helps.
It really
helps.

WE THREE
    I’m walking through Blue Hall
and I see Josie.
    â€œHey, Josie, thanks for the heads-up about
Forever.
Very, um, informative.”
    â€œNo problem. Hey, Aviva, this is Nicolette,” she says. “Um, hi. Wow. I guess I should say I’m sorry,” I say.
    Nicolette looks at me
and says
nothing.
    I open my mouth to add something,
anything,
    but then Nicolette shrugs and says,
“I guess it’s okay. You didn’t know.
Right?”
    â€œNo, I
definitely
didn’t know.
But I’m still sorry,” I say.
    Just then,
he
walks by.
    We all glare.
    He had to expect at least some of us
would start comparing notes
sometime.
    He puts his head down and hurries past.
    We look at each other and
smile
a little.

MATERIAL GIRL
    I never did write in the book.
I don’t know why, maybe I’m saving up
to write a song about this whole mess.
Put a bad experience to some good use.
I never was one to buy into that whole
suffering artist thing,
but maybe there’s something to it.
    I do have a lot more . . .
material

than I did before.
    Maybe that whole hippie karmic cosmic
“everything happens for a reason” stuff
my parents spout
is true after all.

GIRLFRIENDS
    Well, my head is
definitely
out of the clouds now.
    I take my chances and look for Amanda at lunch
the next day.
    â€œI heard what happened. You okay?” she asks.
Her question springs new tears to my eyes.
    What a stand-up chick.
She doesn’t have to be nice to me.
I don’t deserve it.
    â€œI will be, eventually, I guess.”
“Real convincing.” She laughs.
“Hey! Don’t laugh at me.” I throw a French fry at her.
“You can keep crying, if you prefer.” She smiles at me.
    â€œYou pegged him right away, didn’t you, Amanda.
You learn about boys like that
from all those books you read?”
    â€œI’m sure my time will come.”
    â€œYeah, well, when it does, I’ll be here.
Count on it.”
    â€œI’m going to hold you to that.”
    â€œYou got it.” I start crying again.
“I’m so stupid.”
    â€œYou’re
not
stupid. You know what,
Viiiv
?” She grins.
“You’ll see the next one coming a mile away.”
    Let’s hope so.
I wouldn’t want to go through this again.
But unfortunately, something tells me this stuff is
tricky.
I doubt this is the only mistake I’m going to make.
And I’m not so sure
it was a mistake, anyway.
    I kind of hope he learns something too.
    Even if it’s only for the sake of the next girl
who comes along.
Or the one