Read Online Pretty Crooked by Elisa Ludwig - Free Book Online

me?
    “Great…” she echoed. “So who was the guy in the car? Someone from school, right? I hope you weren’t just riding with a stranger.”
    I turned behind me to see what she was looking at, but there was nothing. “Yeah, no. It was just this kid Aidan.”
    Just this kid . Um, yeah. He was much more than that in my brain already, but once I said it out loud that would make it a thing, a thing I was going to have to get all freaky and obsessive about. No, playing it down was a better idea.
    “Is that the guy you were talking about the other day? I believe your word was ‘intense.’”
    I nodded, picturing him leaning out of his car in the parking lot, picturing him expertly handling my bike. My breath caught in my throat a little. Okay, Willa . Calm down . “He’s kind of the poster child for arrogant, sexy sons of CEOs.”
    I told her the story. But by then, a few minutes had gone by and whatever outrage I’d had about my bike, the phone, his cockiness, had dissolved somewhat, so it was not as convincing as I hoped it might be. In fact, it all sounded a little silly, especially because I was smiling the whole time and feeling like I was going to burst.
    My mom was standing there with her arms folded, watching me but not smiling at all. “Well, he sounds like a flirt. Just be careful.”
    This wasn’t exactly the reaction I was hoping for. Laughter, yes. Sympathy, maybe. I wrapped my fingers around my glass. “That’s his reputation, yeah.”
    “I just don’t want you to get hurt.”
    She almost looked like she was scolding me. But for what? This was strange. She’d never been that overprotective in the past. She’d always encouraged me to go out and make friends. And this town seemed as safe and crime-free as they came. Then again, maybe the whole guy thing just made her uncomfortable.
    “I don’t even like this guy, so there’s nothing for you to worry about. I just thought it was funny.” I picked up my glass and put it in the sink. “Should I go see what’s on pay-per-view later?”
    “No, don’t bother. I actually have to be somewhere tonight.” Her eyes darted around the room as if she was looking for a cue card to read from. “There’s a meeting for the natural foods co-op. I was thinking about joining.”
    “But it’s movie night,” I said with plummeting disappointment. This was the first time she’d ever canceled on our weekly tradition. It was like a sacred thing for us. “I guess I can watch by myself.”
    “Or we could do it tomorrow,” she offered.
    “There’s a party tomorrow night. I’m supposed to go with this girl Cherise. My new friend.”
    “Do you need a ride?”
    “No, she said she could pick me up. She invited meto stay over after, too. She’s actually really cool. I think you’d like her—”
    “That’s good,” she said vaguely. She looked at her phone again, and then her watch. What was up with her? I would’ve thought she’d be jumping for joy that I was going to a party, that I’d made friends, but she was acting like an angsty teenager: distracted, moody, and downright weird. Was there some sort of spontaneous Freaky Friday effect going on? “I should actually go. I’m running late.”
    She grabbed her purse from the counter and moved past me toward the door.
    I watched it close behind her, and then sat back down in the silent kitchen, feeling all of my excitement about the day fizzle in the sudden stillness.
    “Well, have fun, then,” I said, my words reverberating through the house.
    Kellie’s house sat at the top of a winding road on its very own foothill of a mountain, the sky stretched overhead like a shiny violet awning. It was enormous, a low and sprawling neo-medieval-style chateau with stone-faced wings hugging a front courtyard. Tufts of succulents and cacti were planted strategically to make it look natural, like the whole mansion had just sprung up here organically, security gates and all. Cars were lined up the entire length of