Read Online A Field Guide for Heartbreakers by Kristen Tracy - Free Book Online Page B

what a quince was.“It feels muggy in here,” Veronica said. “Can you ask somebody to crank up the AC?”Mrs. Knox shook her head. “There is no AC. It’s called natural ventilation.”I watched Syd Covert come up and tap Mrs. Knox on the shoulder. Veronica leaned in and whispered, “You’re getting sweat marks near your pits. Try to lower your body temp.”“What?” I asked. “How?” “I’ll get you some water.”I didn’t want Veronica to leave me alone at the table, producing grotesque sweat marks. “I’ll come too.”We crossed the room again, and I glanced at my armpits. I was wearing a white shirt, and the fabric under my arms was saturated. “This is awful.”“You’re lucky you’re wearing sandals. Heat primarily escapes through your head and extremities.” Veronica handed me a glass of water, and I immediately started sucking it down.“You look nervous,” she said. “Stop it.”“It’s my first time in a foreign country.” “Relax. It’s not that different.”I almost choked on my water. “Yes it is.” “Whatever.” Veronica took a swig of her own water and frowned. “I heard somebody at a table say that we have to take a tour after orientation. Bummer.”“That’s great. It’ll help us scope.”Veronica rolled her eyes. “You can’t scope in a huge group with a tour guide. Maybe we can ditch the tour.”“Don’t you want to learn anything about Prague?”“I already know everything.”“That’s not true.”Veronica cleared her throat. “It all started a million years ago with a hunting party. There were settlements. Wars. Religion was huge, and they built a castle and a bunch of cathedrals. A bridge went up. They put a bunch of saints on it. More wars. Puppets exploded on to the scene and stayed. Russia took over and forced everyone to be Communists. People got sick of that. There was a fight over a hyphen. The Slavs went one way. Czech people went the other. And now I’m here. There you go. History of Prague.” “I think you’ve skipped over some stuff.”Veronica took another drink of water. “Let’s get back.” When we returned, the Short Fiction table was still disappointingly guyless, and Mrs. Knox was still chatting with Syd Covert. Contrary to what Veronica had said, she didn’t seem too offended by him. In fact, it almost looked like they were flirting.Veronica pretended to ignore them. “Your pits look way better,” she said.“Stop referring to them,” I said. I fished through my bag to locate my pen and notebook. A million conversations were going on around me. My mom had told me to always be ready to write down good restaurant and sightseeing suggestions. Most of the people I saw were college-aged, but there were a few older people too. One woman at the Novel table, when she laughed, looked a lot like my mom. “Wow,” Veronica said. “You’re going to take notes?”“Someone might say something useful,” I said.“Yeah. I’ve been saying useful things for six years.” Veronica shot me a devilish smile, and I smiled back.“We have a small group,” the older woman at our table said to me and Veronica. She was knitting something pink. It looked like a tubular-shaped hat.“Oh, there’s guys in the group too, but they got plastered last night. They’ll probably stumble in late,” Veronica said.“Well, the beer here is pretty cheap,” the woman said. She continued to knit. She seemed unfazed by Veronica, and I liked that.“That’s probably Annie Earl,” I whispered to Veronica.“I bet the other one is Brenda,” Veronica said.I looked at the attractive brunette with pale skin and delicate features seated next to Annie Earl. She was reading a book by Philip Larkin. “Probably.”Veronica didn’t look too happy. “I was hoping the other girls would be potato-ugly.”“I know.”“Wow,” Veronica whispered. “Do you see them?”I did see them, and I couldn’t believe Veronica was going to comment on Annie Earl’s scars while she