Read Online My Secret Boyfriend by Lurlene McDaniel - Free Book Online Page B

felt panic sweep through her. She certainly didn’t need a conversation about romance! And she didn’t need Jennifer flapping her lips and eyes at Ryan all evening.
    Thinking quickly, she grabbed a handful of hay and thrust it down the front of Ryan’s shirt.
    “Hey!” He yelped, grabbing at the front of his shirt wildly.
    “Hay, yourself!” she called back, tossing a wad of hay directly into his face.
    “This is war!” he cried.
    In moments everyone in the entire back of the truck was hurling hay at each other. Jordan twisted as Ryan shoved the scratchy hay down her back. She shrieked and rolled, bumping into Jennifer, who’d attempted stay out of the way. Jennifer fell forward into an unladylike heap. She came up sputtering, spitting out mouthfuls of hay.
    By now the hay fight had extended to the second truck and clumps of the dried hay were flying between groups. Soon there was more hay on the ground than on the truck. When the commotion finally died down, Jordan was weak from laughing and struggling. She lay back in exhaustion.
    She watched Ryan crawl over to Scott and several other members of the basketball team to talk. And although quiet descended slowly on the trucks, the romantic mood of the night had been broken. Jordan was relieved. In the moonlight, she saw a pouting, sulking expression on Jennifer’s face. Tufts of hay stuck every which way from her unkempt hair. The front of her shirt was smudged with dirt.
Tough
, Jordan thought. It didn’t matter that Jennifer was miffed. What mattered to Jordan was that she had gotten away with playing Ryan’s girlfriend one more time. Now all she had to do was make it until the end of the school year and she’d be safe.

Thirteen

    “B oy, that Jennifer makes me so mad! How dare she flirt like she did with Ryan at Carmen’s party? Who does she think she is anyway?”
    Laurie and Jordan had paused at Laurie’s locker on their way to the bus stop. “Calm down,” Jordan urged, watching her friend fumble with the combination lock.
    “Calm down? How can you say that? How can you be so calm after the way Jennifer hung all over
your
boyfriend?”
    Jordan looked away from Laurie. “That’s just the way Jennifer is. No harm done.”
    Laurie shook her head in disbelief “I don’t understand you, Jordan Starling. Even if it is the way Jennifer is, she has no right to try to steal your boyfriend right out from under your nose.”
    Jordan couldn’t think of anything to say.
    She just squirmed. “And besides,” Laurie fumed. “Ryan Elliot isn’t all that innocent in this matter either. I don’t think much of the way he acted around Jennifer. And with you right there by his side! That took real nerve.”
    Why can’t people stay out of my business?
Jordan thought. “Look, I’m willing to forget the whole evening. It was just one of those things, so let’s forget it,” she said.
    Laurie removed her books, slammed her locker, and started back down the hall. Jordan hurried to catch up with her. “You’re being too nice, Jordan,” Laurie said. “Both of them are dirty rats in my book.”
    “Both of them?” Laurie hit the outside door and Jordan chased behind her into the weak January sunlight. “What do you mean, ‘both of them’?”
    “What kind of game is Ryan playing with you, anyway? You take him in, you help him get acquainted with all your friends, you make sure that he’s happy, and then
bam
!” Laurie smacked her fist into her palm, juggling her books in the movement. “He dumps you and chases after another girl. Some boyfriend!” Her tone turned sarcastic.
    It’s not Ryan’s fault!
Jordan thought to herself.
He has no idea he’s supposed to be loyal to me!
Aloud she said, “I wish you wouldn’t make a big deal out of it. Besides, Ryan’s mother’s found an apartment and it’s in another school district.”
    “Is he moving?”
    “Maybe,” Jordan said.
    Laurie slowed down her steps. “You’re too, much, Jordan,” Laurie said.