Read Online Lindsay's Surprise Crush by Angela Darling - Free Book Online

bell’s going to ring. g2g see u at lunch. Sorrryyyyyy!!!
    Lindsay shoved her phone back into her pocket and stood there in a daze. The second bell rang, which snapped her out of it. She hurried into class and was in her seat before the bell had stopped ringing.
    She looked up, trying to catch Nick’s eye, but he would not look in her direction. He had heard the rumors for sure. She darted a glance at Cassidy. Cassidy smiled at her, but Lindsay was sure it was an Evil Smile. Like she was planning to enjoy watching Lindsay crash and burn up there.
    Lindsay felt her face get hot all the way up to the roots of her hair. Everyone thought she was this delusional girl who believed she and Nick were boyfriend and girlfriend, and was going around declaring that to be true, even though he was obviously going out with Cassidy. And now she had to get up there and do a presentation that was basically a Me and Nick show? That would confirm every one of the rumors. They’d think she was a stalker with a huge, one-sided crush on Nick.
    There was no way she could go through with it. Maybe she could will herself to faint on the spot. She tried but it didn’t work. She remained fully conscious.
    â€œLindsay Potter? Are you all set to present?” called Mr. Bates.
    Nick looked up and met her eye. She couldn’t read his expression. Was he mad? Upset? Did he feel sorry for her?
    She opened her mouth to say something and then closed it again.
    The clock ticked.
    Someone coughed.
    A chair scraped.
    Mr. Bates raised his eyebrows encouragingly.
    Cassidy moved her chair a couple of inches closer to Nick’s, and crossed her arms expectantly.
    That made Lindsay mad.
    She’d do it anyway, no matter what rumors were flying around. Cassidy might get to say she and Nick were going out if she wanted to. But she, Lindsay, knew him better than anyone. Practically better than his own mom. People could think what they wanted to think. If people wanted to believe the rumors, there wasn’t much she could do about that.
    She stood up and walked to the front of the room, feeling her face burning. With shaking hands, she stuck her flash drive into the port on the classroom computer. She looked up quickly. Claudia Flores was smiling at her in a sweet way, as if to say she’d been there and knew how Lindsay must be feeling. That helped. Lindsay smiled back gratefully.
    She clicked on her first slide. It was a picture of her mom, hugely pregnant, standing belly to belly with Marissa, also hugely pregnant. The class tittered.
    After introducing herself, she started in. “This is my mom. And this is her best friend, Marissa. She and Marissa were pregnant at almost the exact same time. They had babies five days apart. I was born on March fifth. Marissa’s baby was born on March tenth.” She paused. “Marissa named her baby Nick.” She paused. “As in, Nick Lopez.”
    The class erupted in surprise. Mr. Bates shushed them, but he, too, was looking fascinated. Nick grinned uncomfortably and readjusted his long legs to the other side of his desk.
    She clicked to the next slide. “This is me at one day old. That boy is my older brother, Matthew. He was six when I was born.”
    â€œAwwww,” some of the girls said.
    Matthew was grinning ear to ear as he held his baby sister in his arms and beamed at the camera. He had a sprinkle of freckles across his nose, and one of his front teeth was missing. Lindsay paused. Matthew was kind of a cute kid, she realized.
    The next few slides were pictures of Lindsay’s family, her grandparents, a piano recital poster showing her very young-looking mother looking very glamorous in a long black gown. She showed a picture of her dad with a lot more hair on his head, back when he graduated from law school. The kids were polite as she talked, if a bit fidgety.
    But then she clicked to the next slide. It was a picture of two babies sitting with their backs to the