Read Online Notorious by Cecily von Ziegesar - Free Book Online

the second he became single again.
    “Why? Why would he do that?” Tinsley grabbed the box of tissues from her bedside and brought them to Callie. With Brett so caught up in her own life and her fancy love affair with Mr. Dalton, Tinsley was the only real friend Callie had.
    “Because he doesn’t like me anymore.” Callie grabbed a tissue and blotted her face. “I don’t know. Because he thinks I’m repulsive?”
    “You
know
you’re being ridiculous.” Tinsley squeezed her shoulder with her French-manicured hand. “He could not find anyone more gorgeous than you if he spent the next fifty years searching. I can’t
imagine
what he’s thinking. He must be insane.” She shook her head in disbelief, as if Easy breaking up with Callie was as incomprehensible to her as the latest practice SAT they’d all been assigned. It made Callie feel a teeny bit better.
    “You’re right,” Callie agreed, mimicking Tinsley’s sense of indignation. “What an asshole.” It felt a little better to be angry instead of crushed. Screw Easy. Screw midget Jenny. Screw whatever the fuck was going on between them. She sat down on her bed and tugged off her heavy boots. They made her legs look too skinny anyway.
    “We should make him pay for this,” Tinsley said wickedly. Her violet eyes flashed as if she herself had been dumped. She’d always been one for plans, projects, and schemes, and the thought of plotting to avenge her brokenhearted friend made her tingle with excitement. Her parents had been madly, adorably in love for over twenty years, so she had an idea of what love should be, and she didn’t like to see people abuse it.
    “Right,” Callie answered, hoping maybe Tinsley knew some sort of hex they could put on Easy to render him completely unattractive to women. Something that would make his dark curly hair start to grow all over his body until he looked like King Kong.
    “You were way too good for him anyway. He smells like horses.”
    Callie groaned, and her hazel eyes filled with tears once again. She loved the way Easy smelled. It reminded her of when she was a kid and used to ride.
    Tinsley lit a cigarette and handed it to her. “You need to take your mind off him. Think about other things.”
    “Easier said than done.” She sucked smoke into her lungs. Tinsley sat on the bed behind Callie, Indian style. She did yoga daily and was the most flexible person Callie had ever met. Without even asking, she grabbed Callie’s hairbrush from beside her bed and started to brush Callie’s long, strawberry blond hair, something she’d always done last year. Tinsley was gentle, holding Callie’s head in place with one hand while combing through her locks with the other. It was a sweet gesture, and Callie almost started to cry again.
Sweet
was not a word most people associated with Tinsley, but she could be incredibly tender when she wanted to be.
    “I saw the guys coming out of the woods yesterday, all secrety-secrety about something.” Tinsley changed the subject, working at a snarl at the back of Callie’s neck.
    Callie leaned her head back, loving the feel of someone else brushing her hair. It was so soothing, like getting a pedicure. “Like some sort of male-bonding thing?” she asked dreamily.
    “Yeah, where they beat their chests and pretend they’re animals and don’t have calc homework to do.” Tinsley was still a little bitter about being excluded from anything, and hanging out with the boys was always fun. Now she would just have to make her own fun. “Let’s show them. Let’s start our own club. Except ours will be smarter and sexier.” You could hear the excitement in her voice, and it was contagious. “We could have, like, a secret society.”
    “None of those jackasses allowed,” Callie said firmly. It would be fun to get away from slimy boys for a while. “And no boyfriends allowed either. You know, I haven’t been single in a long time—before Easy, it was Brandon. And before