Read Online Bethany Caleb by Kate Spofford - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Kate Spofford
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room, but put the bags in her closet and forgot about them. Wearing the right clothes had never helped Bethany to be popular before.
Bethany was prepared to be lonely the first day she set foot in the high school. In her bag she had a book to read during lunch, a new black sketchbook and plenty of pens and pencils to draw with, and her CD Walkman. Without Jana, Bethany assumed she’d have no one to sit with at lunch and she was ready to ignore everyone.
In history, her first class of the day, Bethany put a new CD in and closed her eyes to ignore everyone walking in, sharing stories of their wonderful summer vacations. She was succeeding, too, when someone tapped her on the shoulder.
The tapper was a slightly overweight girl with long blond hair. She was wearing a tie-dye T-shirt and a long brightly printed skirt in different colors than the T-shirt, colors the old Bethany might have criticized for clashing. “Hi, I’m Genn Neveu,” she said, taking the seat beside Bethany.
Bethany wasn’t sure what to do. Obviously this girl was new, and wanted to be friends with her, but Bethany hadn’t planned on having any friends. “Hi,” she said.
“You’re the first cool person I’ve seen all day. I’ve never seen so many Abercrombie labels in my entire life.” Genn was still smiling.
“Yeah, the people are kind of preppy here,” Bethany said.
“So what music are you listening to?” Genn asked, pointing to Bethany’s CD player.
“Smashing Pumpkins,” Bethany replied.
“I love them, too!” Genn said. “I have all their CDs. Have you listened to Zwan yet?”
Bethany shook her head.
“So , what classes do you have?” Genn whipped out her schedule. Bethany slowly got hers out. “Hey, we have English, science, and gym together!”
Despite everything she and Genn had in common, Bethany thought she’d be sitting alone at lunch. She didn’t expect Genn to latch onto the first person she met.
She was sitting at a table near the window s by herself, listening to her Walkman, when Genn arrived at her table. Mara Wozniak and Emily Soeul were with her. And that was the beginning.
Bethany hadn’t known Emily, who was a junior, but she had gone to school with Mara her entire life. Mara had pale skin and dark brown hair that she always pulled back into a short ponytail, and she dressed like a tomboy in grungy jeans with holes and plaid flannel shirts. Today she looked the same, except she didn’t look as quiet and shy and Bethany was used to seeing. With Genn she was alive and talkative, and Bethany found out more about Mara from that one lunch period than she had going to school with Mara for eight years.
That day, Bethany found out there was a whole group of people who didn’t want to be perfect and popular like Shannon Lavoie or Brittany Bowden. In high school people weren’t so afraid to oppose the norm. And Bethany finally had a lot of friends.
That hadn’t lasted long. Because those friends didn’t really care about her. She was still the same weird person no one wanted to be friends with, and she still couldn’t understand why. A year of being a freak and she was still trying hard to fit in. She didn’t want to have to try anymore.
From outside the building, the bell was muffled, but she heard it. She picked up her loaded bag and shuffled back into the school building.
Chapter Thirteen
As Bethany walked to her science class, the scars on her wrists consumed her thoughts. So what if she had cut herself a couple times? The scars were barely visible, and she never wore short sleeved shirts anymore. Mr. Peterson’s voice kept asking that question in her mind.
“Do you feel like cutting your wrists again?”
That was when she walked into, slammed into some girl’s back. The girl fell, dropping all of her books. Bethany almost tripped herself, but sidestepped in time.
“Jesus, get out of the way!” Bethany said, her voice erupting out of her before she knew who she was yelling at.
Bethany was prepared to be lonely the first day she set foot in the high school. In her bag she had a book to read during lunch, a new black sketchbook and plenty of pens and pencils to draw with, and her CD Walkman. Without Jana, Bethany assumed she’d have no one to sit with at lunch and she was ready to ignore everyone.
In history, her first class of the day, Bethany put a new CD in and closed her eyes to ignore everyone walking in, sharing stories of their wonderful summer vacations. She was succeeding, too, when someone tapped her on the shoulder.
The tapper was a slightly overweight girl with long blond hair. She was wearing a tie-dye T-shirt and a long brightly printed skirt in different colors than the T-shirt, colors the old Bethany might have criticized for clashing. “Hi, I’m Genn Neveu,” she said, taking the seat beside Bethany.
Bethany wasn’t sure what to do. Obviously this girl was new, and wanted to be friends with her, but Bethany hadn’t planned on having any friends. “Hi,” she said.
“You’re the first cool person I’ve seen all day. I’ve never seen so many Abercrombie labels in my entire life.” Genn was still smiling.
“Yeah, the people are kind of preppy here,” Bethany said.
“So what music are you listening to?” Genn asked, pointing to Bethany’s CD player.
“Smashing Pumpkins,” Bethany replied.
“I love them, too!” Genn said. “I have all their CDs. Have you listened to Zwan yet?”
Bethany shook her head.
“So , what classes do you have?” Genn whipped out her schedule. Bethany slowly got hers out. “Hey, we have English, science, and gym together!”
Despite everything she and Genn had in common, Bethany thought she’d be sitting alone at lunch. She didn’t expect Genn to latch onto the first person she met.
She was sitting at a table near the window s by herself, listening to her Walkman, when Genn arrived at her table. Mara Wozniak and Emily Soeul were with her. And that was the beginning.
Bethany hadn’t known Emily, who was a junior, but she had gone to school with Mara her entire life. Mara had pale skin and dark brown hair that she always pulled back into a short ponytail, and she dressed like a tomboy in grungy jeans with holes and plaid flannel shirts. Today she looked the same, except she didn’t look as quiet and shy and Bethany was used to seeing. With Genn she was alive and talkative, and Bethany found out more about Mara from that one lunch period than she had going to school with Mara for eight years.
That day, Bethany found out there was a whole group of people who didn’t want to be perfect and popular like Shannon Lavoie or Brittany Bowden. In high school people weren’t so afraid to oppose the norm. And Bethany finally had a lot of friends.
That hadn’t lasted long. Because those friends didn’t really care about her. She was still the same weird person no one wanted to be friends with, and she still couldn’t understand why. A year of being a freak and she was still trying hard to fit in. She didn’t want to have to try anymore.
From outside the building, the bell was muffled, but she heard it. She picked up her loaded bag and shuffled back into the school building.
Chapter Thirteen
As Bethany walked to her science class, the scars on her wrists consumed her thoughts. So what if she had cut herself a couple times? The scars were barely visible, and she never wore short sleeved shirts anymore. Mr. Peterson’s voice kept asking that question in her mind.
“Do you feel like cutting your wrists again?”
That was when she walked into, slammed into some girl’s back. The girl fell, dropping all of her books. Bethany almost tripped herself, but sidestepped in time.
“Jesus, get out of the way!” Bethany said, her voice erupting out of her before she knew who she was yelling at.
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