Read Online Breaking Up Is Really, Really Hard to Do by Natalie Standiford - Free Book Online Page B

said. Bridget picked the shuttlecock out of the net and walked pertly to her service corner. Lulu tugged at the bottom of her skirt. She was a tattooed bottle-blond whose naturally dark hair struggled mightily to assert itself against the peroxide. Lina had a strong hunch that Lulu was only taking badminton because RSAGE required students to play at least one sport for three years, and badminton was the easiest. Unlike the perky Bridget, Lulu wasn't the badminton type.
    “How's your first assignment going?” Walker sat beside her in the nearly-empty bleachers. “Don't feel bad if this doesn't make the paper. It has nothing to do with your writing—it's just that it's hard to squeeze an exciting story out of intramural badminton. Kate's just trying you out.”
    “Actually, an interesting angle occurred to me,” Lina said. “Who's on the badminton squad, anyway? What's a girl like Lulu doing here, or Rania Burke, or Abby Kurtz?” Lina nodded toward Rania, a hip-hop diva type, and Abby, a sneering punk rocker covered with so many chains and studs she clanked.
    “Sports requirement?” Walker said.
    “Exactly. But look what a motley crew it's brought together. The badminton team might be the most diverse squad in the school, socially, and why? Because so many of its members have one thing in common—they hate sports.”
    “Interesting,” Walker said. “The sport for people who hate sports. Except for Bridget over there. And her friend Miriam.”
    Bridget and Miriam were the only girls in the gym who wore the regulation badminton uniform in the Rosewood colors, white and pink. The rest of the team wore t-shirts, cut-offs, pleather minis—just about any-thing but appropriate badminton wear. But since it was just an intramural sport and they rarely played teams from other schools, Ginnie didn't waste her energy enforcing the dress code. It was hard enough just to get the team to show up for practice.
    “Fault!” Bridget screamed after Lulu finally batted a serve that scored a point. “Her foot went over the line!”
    “Who gives a—” Lulu began, but Bridget cut her off, saying, “Maybe if we were playing in the backseat of a car you'd pay more attention.”
    “You little—” Lulu ran under the net and dove for Bridget, knocking her to the gym floor. Ginnie blasted her whistle. “Girls! Girls! Stop it right now!”
    “Whoa,” Walker said. “Lulu just opened up a can of badminton whoop-ass on Bridget. Maybe there is more of a story here than I thought.”
    Lina snapped a picture of Ginnie breaking up the fight. “We're going to revolutionize the sports page.” She scribbled “Badminton Smackdown!” in her notebook.
    “Cat fight—I love it. But I've got to go cover the girls’ soccer game,” Walker said. “I can only hope it will be as exciting. See you later.”
    “See you,” Lina said. Things calmed down in the gym, and Ginnie disqualified Lulu for unsportsmanlike behavior. Game, Set, Match: Bridget.
    “Good,” Lulu snarled as she stormed out of the gym. “Now I can finally leave this yawn factory.”
    The next match began. Lina's mind wandered. What would Larissa be doing now? Certainly not sitting in a gym watching girls bat a shuttlecock around. Maybe sitting in a dark movie theater, thinking of Dan.
    If only she could be Larissa for real. Wouldn't everything be better then?

9
    Portraits
    To: mad4u
    From: your daily horoscope
    HERE IS TODAY'S HOROSCOPE: VIRGO: The answer to a sticky problem will come-to you from an unexpected source.
    T hat's your sister?” Stephen asked. He and Mads were in the art room one afternoon, working on their projects as usual. Mads had taken portrait photos of her mother, father, sister Audrey and brother Adam, who was home from college that week, nerding up the place. Eleven-year-old Audrey, the living Bratz doll, was posed in her signature style—pink Juicy Couture sweatpants, a white t-shirt (cut off at the waist and flashing a pink sequined heart on the