Read Online Plastic Polly by Jenny Lundquist - Free Book Online Page A

they’re over at the pet shop, getting him a new one.”
    â€œOh, that’s a good idea.” I try not to laugh, and fail. Justin laughs too.
    â€œHow come you’re abusing your phone?” Justin asks.
    I look away and shrug. “It’s just been a bad day.” I glanceback at Justin and add, “I mean, it hasn’t been all bad. I mean . . .” Then I stop talking, because I can feel my face flushing redder than the glob of pizza sauce on Justin’s plate.
    My cell phone pings once. Then twice. Then again. Three more texts from Kelsey:
    You haven’t called me. Call me!!
    Melinda says you need major help being the PlanMaster.
    Are you ignoring me?
    â€œAre you sure you’re okay?” Justin asks. “You look kind of stressed.”
    â€œI guess I am.” I push my phone away as it pings yet again. “There’s this project at school I’m in charge of, and sometimes I think anyone else in the world would be better at it, you know?”
    Justin smiles. “I know the feeling. What project is it?”
    â€œI’m the PlanMaster at my school for something called Groove It Up, and it’s not going well.”
    Justin gets a strange look on his face. “Oh, look, Polly, I think—”
    â€œThe thing is,” I say, “my best friend, who was supposedto be the PlanMaster, sort of dropped out, so now I’m in charge. But no one seems to think I can pull it off.”
    Justin tries to say something, but I cut him off, because it feels good to talk to someone, even if it’s a (cute!) boy I don’t know. “Also, there are girls on my planning committee who are trying to take over, and I don’t know how to deal with it.” I tell Justin a few more things, like how Mr. Fish refuses to help me, and how Kelsey planned to give half the slots to our cheerleading team. I also tell him how Melinda always says if our school wins, then the PlanMaster deserves the credit, but how I think she also means if Winston loses, then the PlanMaster is to blame. And I wonder if I could get banished from the Court.
    Because that can happen. Last year Haley Miller made the mistake of saying yes when Gavin Clark asked her to the Spring Fling dance. Apparently, he’d been Brooklyn Jones’s secret crush forever. One day Haley was popular. The next she was banished from the Court. Frozen out. She finished the rest of the year in exile, eating lunch by herself in the library. Because once Brooklyn made it clear Haley wasn’t her friend, no one else wanted to be Haley’s friend either.
    I’m wondering now if I should have thought of that before deciding to become the PlanMaster. I’m starting to feel stupid for not resigning when I had the chance. No guilt, and no explanations necessary , Principal Allen had said. But if I resign now, won’t that just prove what she and Mom thought? That I’m too frivolous, too plastic to do anything other than hang at the Court and text?
    When I finish, Justin, who looks really uncomfortable, says, “Um, Polly, I think I should tell you—”
    â€œI’m so sorry,” Mom says, walking up behind Justin. “That took longer than I expected. We need to get going. I have to go back to the office.” Mom looks stressed. She barely glances at Justin before turning around and heading for the exit.
    â€œOkay.” I grab my phone and read the last text from Kelsey—she’s threatening to break out of the hospital, hunt me down, and pummel me with her cast if I don’t call her back ASAP.
    â€œThanks for listening,” I say to Justin, feeling shy all of a sudden. “I’ll see you around.” I run to catch up to Mom.
    â€œI’m sure you will,” he calls behind me.
    And I don’t know why, but this time Justin’s the one who sounds disappointed.

Chapter 8

    True Confession: I practice different “looks” in front of