Read Online Crank by Ellen Hopkins - Free Book Online Page B

Grounded
     
    is it gives you a whole lot of unavoidable time to think.
    Not even pulling weeds can
    take away your ability to plot
    all the varied and wonderful
    things you might do to get even, or at least to make up just a smidgen for time lost to TV and yard work and house cleaning.
    Time better spent
    camping with old friends
    (even slightly annoying ones), partying with great-looking new friends, and expending a few brain cells with the monster.
    get even,
    261
     
     
     
    S
    he Cut Me Loose
     
    Two weeks before
    Back-to-School, gave me her credit
    card and a ride to the mall, her way of apologizing without saying she was sorry for trashing my summer.
    * *
    Jake wanted to come
    along, but I told him
    I'd crawl into bed and stay there rather than haul my little
    brother around the mall. He went fishing with Scott instead.
    * *
    Didn't matter much.
    Summer had dissolved.
    New clothes and a few
    new tunes just might
    improve my "sour
    outlook," as she so lovingly termed it.
    * *
    I usually despise trying on clothes but, finally
    free, I meant to make it an all-day affair, shop
    every store, including
    Victoria's Secret. Guess who I ran into there?
    262
    The Reno High Varsity
    Cheerleaders, all buying
    new undies and bras to shape those tight tanks and sweaters (football
    weather in Reno is an exceptionally mixed bag).
    * *
    I waved to Trent's sister,
    Robyn, then pretended to browse, watching them
    yak a hundred words a minute, and I knew my
    suspicions were accurate.
    * *
    Those goody-goody girls, flipping perfect cartwheels and pert little ponytails, most definitely accelerated their metabolisms. The only
    question was: how?
    263
     
     
     
    I
    Pondered That
     
    while I picked out
    my own underwear.
    As I handed the saleslady
    Mom's credit card, someone
    tapped my shoulder.
    * *
     
    Hey, Bree. Can I see
     
     
    your panties?
     
    * *
    Chase! I tried to think of a witty comeback, managing mostly to look like a stuttering fool.
    "Uh-oh, uh--old or new?"
    * *
     
    Either, or. Better yet, both.
     
     
    What's up? Where you been?
     
    * *
    Like he'd been looking for me since Wild Waters.
    Like I'd been avoiding him.
    * *
     
    You haven't been avoiding me,
    have you?
     
    264
    Why would I? What he might lack in looks, he more than made up for in fringe benefits.
    I explained about the tattoo.
    * *
     
    You really wanna piss her off,
    try a piercing. Want to see mine?
     
    * *
    I couldn't find studs in his ears, lips, or tongue. Which
    pretty much left one place.
    "Didn't it hurt?"
    * *
     
    Like a mother. But it
    feels
     
     
    awesome now.
     
    * *
    He guided my hand
    just south of his zipper.
    Kristina recoiled.
    Bree--well,
    Bree was Bree, to Chase's great pleasure.
    * *
     
    Hee hee. So want to take
    a little ride? Got my truck outside.
     
    265
    I started to protest.
    I had some serious
    shopping ahead.
    And Bree or no Bree,
    I wasn't about to do
    Chase Wagner.
    * *
     
    No strings. I just want to
    get
    to know you better.
     
    * *
    Where had I heard a similar tale?
    I was about to give him a definite no when he sweetened the offer.
    * *
     
    I've got a little toot, if
    you're
    so inclined.
     
    266
     
     
     
    D
    id It Show?
     
    I mean I'd
    thought about the monster
    dreamed about the monster
    lusted for the monster
    regretted
    knowing the monster but I hadn't
    touched the monster
    * * in over a month.
    Hadn't even seen it.
    * *
    Thought I might be over it.
    Was it still alive in me?
    * *
    Could it still have such a solid hold on me?
    267
     
     
     
    We
    Drove Down by the River
     
    parked beneath towering cottonwoods.
    Strange, how intensely desire
    builds when the monster waits at the far end of a drive.
    * *
    On the way I learned, for a bad boy
    Chase was incredibly smart. Webster
    would envy his vocabulary, he was up on current events, could quote Keats:
    * *
     
    Give me women, wine, and snuff
     
     
    Until I cry out hold, enough!
     
     
    You may do so sans objection
     
     
    Till the day of resurrection;