Read Online Getting REVENGE on Lauren Wood by Eileen Cook - Free Book Online

slightly higher than the rest of the café. Leave it to Lauren to find a stage wherever shewent. Lauren had her feet up on a chair to hold a space for me. Although other people were standing around waiting for tables, I noticed no one even tried to take the chair away from her. I watched them while I waited for my drink. The student body of Lincoln High wandered in and out of Bean There, acting as if it were a privilege to be able to see the great Lauren Wood sip her coffee. And Lauren knew it too. She laughed just a bit too loud and had all these exaggerated hand gestures so that even the folks at the far side of the café wouldn’t miss her performance.
    “Medium, no foam, skinny, chai laaaaaaaaaaa-te!” I grabbed my drink and after a quick sip, gave the barista a salute with the cup. Always acknowledge perfection. I wove my way through the tables. When Lauren saw me she paused for a second before taking her feet off my chair, just long enough to emphasize what a favor she was bestowing on me. I flopped down and gave everyone a smile. Lauren looked over at my drink.
    “Dairy?”
    “Chai tea. Want some?” I pushed the drink in her direction, and she pulled back as if I were offering her a nice steaming cup of hemlock.
    “I don’t touch dairy. It clogs up my vocal cords.” She shrugged as if this were a hardship she was used to enduring. “I’ve still got voice lessons tonight. I’m practicing my song for tryouts.”
    “So you stick with plain black coffee then?”
    “Hot water with lemon.”
    I nodded and took a long sip of my throat-coating milky tea, fighting the urge to gargle it in front of her.
    “Where did you get those boots?” Kyla asked, nearly falling to her knees when she noticed them.
    I turned my foot from side to side so everyone could get a good look.
    “I think I got them at one of the Manolo sample sales. All the designers in New York do these trunk sales and you can get amazing deals.” I bought them at a thrift store, but whatever. Lauren’s eyes looked down at them.
    “I never liked Manolos. I think they’re a bit flashy,” Lauren said.
    I shrugged. The only thing she didn’t like about Manolo shoes was that she didn’t own any.
    “You can order some great shoes on Zappos online,” Kyla said.
    “Yeah, but I hate to buy shoes without trying them on, especially when they’re expensive, you know?” I said, and we all nodded, acknowledging how it was less than ideal. I pulled my phone out and placed it on the table.
    “Waiting for a call?” Bailey asked.
    “Someone has been calling all day and hanging up, or worse, sort of breathing heavy. I swear to God, it’s driving me nuts. I want to catch it next time it goes off. It’s the same number so I know it’s the same guy.”
    “Someone has a secret admirer,” Bailey said, and everyone laughed. “Do you know who it is?”
    “No idea. On one message there was this ‘um … um,’ like he was trying to say something, but in the end he still hung up.”
    “You should call him back and ask him if he’s worked up the balls to ask you out yet,” Kyla suggested.
    “Here, give me your phone and I’ll call him,” Lauren said, snatching my phone off the table. “He might be cute, you never know. I’ll tell him you never talk dirty to someone who doesn’t speak up.”
    “Woo!” cheered one of the sophomore boys sitting near us. “You can talk dirty to me anytime.” His friends high-fived him.
    “In your dreams, Sutherland—you’re just a baby. I don’t do kiddie porn,” Lauren fired back, making everyone laugh.
    Lauren flipped her hair and smiled. She looked down at the phone and I watched the blood drain out of her face when she recognized the number. Bailey and Kyla were still swapping comments with the sophomores and didn’t notice. Lauren started jabbing at my phone. Kyla yanked her chair closer to the table as if story hour were about to begin and she wanted to be right in the first row.
    “So call him.