Read Online Out with the In Crowd by Stephanie Morrill - Free Book Online Page A

plopped my stuff on the desk I’d used all last week.
    I thought Jodi would let it drop, would return to her conversation with Alexis and accept that we’d parted ways. Instead she walked over to me. “Are you going to youth group tomorrow night?” Her fingernails danced on my desk, so I knew she felt nervous.
    “I don’t know.” I pulled Wuthering Heights from my bag. “Why?”
    “Eli said he doesn’t want to go, and I’m afraid to go by myself.” She shrugged. “I thought it’d be nice if you and Connor were there.”
    Seriously? She was inviting me to my own youth group event?
    “I don’t know what Connor told you, but I’ve been going to youth group.” Okay, I couldn’t stand to blatantly lie. “I mean, not always, but I plan to this semester.”
    “Great.” Jodi turned her smile on Madison as she approached. “Hey, Madison. Great sweater.”
    Madison gave her a wary look. “Thanks.”
    “See you later.” Jodi waved, then bounced back to a sulking Alexis.
    “So, that was weird,” Madison said as she took her seat.
    So Madison could see it too! Victory surged through me. “I know, right? She’s up to something. It’s obvious.”
    She shrugged. “Or maybe Jodi’s changing. After all, I never believed you would.”
    Madison had a point. I returned to my book, deflated.
    “So your mom actually thinks there’s a chance of you and Abbie packing up and moving? Maybe . . .” Connor paused for a breath. He opened his mouth, then shook his head and closed it. “Nope. Can’t think of any way that could possibly make sense. She thinks you should finish school over there? That Abbie should find a new doctor?”
    I shrugged and tipped back my water. “Guess so.”
    “That’s crazy. You told her that, right?”
    “Yeah.” Hadn’t I? It all seemed a little hazy after she dropped the Kauai bomb.
    Connor grinned. “I wish I could’ve been there when you told Abbie. I bet she was furious.”
    “I didn’t tell her.” I stabbed at my salad. I didn’t have to look at Connor to know this confused him. “Abbie’s kinda . . . well, she’s wrestling with some big stuff right now. It seemed insensitive to tell her about Mom.”
    I looked up and found him studying my face.
    “What?” I asked.
    “You’re not . . .”
    “I’m not what?”
    He placed his sandwich on the tray and folded his arms on the table. “You’re not thinking about going, are you?” “Of course not! Start a new school second semester senior year? That sounds horrible. How can you think I’d do that? I mean, I’d never even consider it.” I forced myself to clamp my jaw shut. How’d that Shakespearean thing go, about protesting too much? I might as well have waved a huge banner saying, Part of me wants out of here!
    Connor shrugged. “You’ve been talking a lot about fresh starts and getting away from everything.”
    “I’m not going anywhere.” But a sense of dread filled me. What if that was truer than I’d like it to be?
    He picked up his sandwich. “I just wondered, is all. Thought your mom’s offer might have been a little appealing.”
    I rolled a couple cherry tomatoes to the side of my plate, where I’d be sure not to eat them. It also kept me from having to look at Connor as I asked, “Would you miss me?”
    “You kidding?” I peeked up in time to see his face bloom into a smile, slow and sweet. “I’m starting to wonder how I lived without you.”
    My stomach flip-flopped. All that awkwardness of the last week—prompted by my weird freak-out to the news of Eli and Jodi getting back together—melted away.
    “I wonder how you did too,” I said with a wink.
    And we were back to being us. Skylar and Connor, so mismatched it somehow worked.
    “You guys mind if we sit here?”
    I looked up at the couple invading our moment. What can you say when there are five empty spaces at your table?
    Even as I said, “Sure,” Jodi and Eli had already claimed a couple chairs. I imagined they couldn’t