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

camera on the piano bench and slamming on the keys, turned partly toward the person taking the picture, giggling. “The fat one is Nick,” said Lindsay. Everyone started laughing. Baby Nick was wearing just a diaper, and he really was chubby, the rolls of fat spilling over the top of his diaper, his pudgy wrists like twisted balloons. “He never got much better at piano than that,” she added. Big laugh from the class.
    Across from Lindsay, Nick sat with his long legssprawled under his desk. He wore that half smile on his face, as though he didn’t mind the good-natured teasing he was getting, although the tips of his ears had gone red. Was she embarrassing him? Oh well.
    And then she flicked through picture after picture of her and Nick—dressed for Halloween as a knight and a princess; on the town soccer team in identical uniforms, when Lindsay had been a full two inches taller than Nick (more laughs); and then at her tenth birthday party, when her dad had taken the two of them, plus Matthew, to a professional baseball game. She and Nick were both dressed in head-to-toe Cubs uniforms. And Lindsay was still taller than Nick. Which earned him even more friendly teasing from a few of his friends in the homeroom.
    Finally she got to the last slide, a picture of herself from the past summer that her mom had snapped with her smartphone. It showed Lindsay standing in front of their car, clutching a pile of piano books to her chest, grinning widely because she’d just gotten her braces off. She clicked off the projector.
    She’d prepared her conclusion and practiced it ten times the night before, but now she addressed the class without looking at her cards. She felt the words bubble upinside her and decided just to say them.
    â€œSo now we’re in seventh grade,” she said. “I think seventh grade is kind of a crossroads. It’s time to grow and change and meet new people. We can’t necessarily remain friends with people we’ve known all our lives, because people change.” She paused, panicked, and looked down at her card. But she couldn’t read it, because her eyes had gotten all misted up. So she just ended with a lame-sounding “So, yeah. That’s my presentation,” then walked quickly back to her desk and sat down.
    Sasha and Jenn both patted her on the arm from either side, whispering that she’d been awesome.
    People clapped politely, and Mr. Bates told her “Good job,” and then the bell rang and everyone stood up, shouldering backpacks, shuffling papers, and getting ready to head to the first class.
    Lindsay shot up from her desk and was one of the first people out of the classroom when the bell rang. She headed straight for the girls’ bathroom and into one of the stalls. Once inside, she burst into tears.

chapter 11
    SHE COMPOSED HERSELF QUICKLY, THOUGH. Lindsay wasn’t even sure why she was so emotional. The talk had gone pretty well, considering. Maybe everyone was gossiping about her “Nick fixation,” but there wasn’t much she could do about that. She’d found Nick’s expressions impossible to read. Was he mad at her? Pleased to be so featured in her presentation? Did he even care? That was probably the worst option, for him to not even care.
    She made it to her next class on time and tried to concentrate on school all the way up until lunch. She was dying to see Rosie, to talk to her about everything, about how complicated it all was.
    When she got to her locker just before lunch, Rosie was waiting for her. Lindsay took one look at her friend, and her day went from bad to worse. She did not likethe look on Rosie’s face. It looked mad, and reproachful, and . . . she couldn’t say what else.
    â€œHi,” Lindsay said.
    Rosie didn’t say hi back. She waited until Lindsay was close enough to talk to without other people hearing.
    â€œHow come you didn’t say anything?”