Read Online Bailey Morgan [2] Fate by Jennifer Lynn Barnes - Free Book Online

bad inthe first place). Listening to her talk about it, things seemed simple, so even though boys weren't exactly her forte, I was definitely open to her suggestions.
    “I say go for it. If he hurts you, leave 'im to me.”
    The expression on her face transitioned from unholy to deadly. When it came to my feelings, she was a bit overprotective.
    I mulled over Zo's boy advice. Could I really just go for it? I mean, when did that ever work out for people like me?
    “Don't tell Delia,” I said after a few minutes. “About the boy.”
    “And convince her that there's something to this Geek Theorem of hers?” Zo snorted. “Never.”
    By the time we made it to my house, I was feeling a whole lot better. Liking Cryptic Boy (if I did actually decide to like him) didn't have to be a bad thing. I was good at crushing on people. It was the whole being-a-girlfriend part I was questionable at. Ultimately, I decided that with each of my problems (except for the one that I was going to “deal with” by ignoring), I needed more information. And that meant …
    “Research,” Zo finished glumly.
    That was more A-belle's area than it was either of ours.
    “Cookies first,” I said as I opened the front door. “Research later.”
    “What are you girls researching?”
    My mom was probably a ninja in a former life. She's just that stealthy.
    “Ummmmm … boys.” I said the first thing that came to mind.
    My mom looked from Zo to me and then back again. “Where's Delia?”
    Had I not been in the process of being extremely sketchy and lying quite badly, I would have started cracking up. My mom knew my friends way too well.
    “Cheerleading practice,” Zo said with a completely straight face. “Annabelle's at the university.”
    At first, I was grateful to Zo for covering for me, but then my mom's eyes lit up at the word
university,
and I was briefly overcome with an intense but short-lived desire to toss my friend out the window.
    “I'd forgotten she was taking classes there this year,” my mom said. “You girls should sit in on one of them sometime.”
    Zo seemed to have realized what she'd done. She should have known not to mention anything related to c-o-l-l-e-g-e around my mom.
    “And her mother works there, too, doesn't she? I bet Dr. Porter could arrange for a private tour of some kind. I wonder if she knows anyone at Wellesley …”
    I didn't need to be psychic to predict that Anna-belle's mom was going to be getting a call from mine very soon. With my luck, the four of us would end up spending fall break visiting colleges together, with special tours set up by whomever Dr. Porter knew at each one.
    I seriously needed to figure out how to control myfateing just enough to make sure that didn't happen. The moping penalties I would inevitably incur if it did would probably result in my hospitalization.
    “What is that wonderful smell?” Zo's words sidetracked my mother.
    “Cookies,” my mom said, and the two of them stood there for a second, grinning at each other. I could barely remember what their relationship had been like back when Zo's mom was around, but these days, Zo and my mom were both downright gleeful in their mutually beneficient relationship. In no time at all Zo had a cookie in each hand and I was nibbling around the edges of one of my own.
    “So,” my mom said, “anything interesting happen at school today?”
    Zo and I met eyes.
    A boy in one of my classes recognized the tattoo you don't know I have.
I sent the thought in Zo's direction, and she sent another response we wouldn't be saying out loud back my way.
    Some lady at the mall gave us magical necklaces,
Zo thought,
but we don't know how they work yet.
    I'm going through some rite of passage in the fairy realm tonight,
I thought back to her.
    Bailey has a new crush,
Zo continued.
    I gave her a horrified look. As bad as talking about the Sidhe would be, talking about a potential crush would be a million times worse! My mom
loved
getting the