Read Online Rival by Sara Bennett Wealer - Free Book Online

cooks?”
    â€œYes,” said Kathryn. “Doesn’t yours?”
    â€œI guess, if you call heating up a burrito cooking. She thinks anything where you have to boil water is a big deal.”
    â€œWell, Saturday is a special occasion. Usually we’re not so fancy, but this is for my birthday.”
    My shoulders went all tight, the way they always do when I’ve forgotten something. “You never told me it was your birthday.”
    â€œI don’t make a big deal about it,” she said. “I guess I get scared nobody will care and then I’ll be disappointed—or maybe they will care and then I won’t know how to handle the attention. Is that weird?”
    I wanted to tell her that yes, it was weird, but thetruth is that I liked being the only person she’d told. Kathryn was the kind of person who was alone a lot. Nobody ever left me alone.
    Hanging out with her, we could be alone together.
    Â 
    Kathryn lives across town in a neighborhood that was built back in the seventies. The houses are mostly split-levels with tiny yards and trees that are all the same height. Kathryn’s house is on one of the nicer streets, and it looks like it was built to look old. It has two stories, shutters on the windows, and a little porch on the front.
    When Mom dropped me off a man was in the front yard, running a Weed Eater around a little flower bed.
    â€œHey, there!” he said as he turned off the machine. “You must be Kathryn’s friend. Is it Brooke?”
    He had dark hair like hers and the same sort of surprised-looking eyes. I said, “Yeah,” and went to shake hands, because my mom would have given me crap later on for being rude, but also because he just looked like the kind of guy you’d want to shake hands with. He was all sweaty and dusty with grass stains on his white socks. Earlier that day, my own dad had sent me an email. He told me he and Jake were going on vacation before Jake’s next movie. Someplace tropical. I’d been thinking maybe he’d come to Lake Champion to see me.
    â€œI hear you’re a singer, too,” said Kathryn’s dad. “And a swimmer. What do you swim?”
    â€œTwo hundred–yard freestyle.” He let go of my hand, and I made myself quit obsessing about Dad and Jake—if I couldn’t control it, then I needed to let it go. “Relay, too.”
    â€œI did relay back in college.” He put his fingers on his tricep and squeezed the puny muscles. “Not that you’d know it now.”
    â€œHey, Dad.” Kathryn came out on the porch. “Mom says we’re eating in a half hour. She wants you cleaned up.”
    â€œThanks, Sweetpea.” He winked at me and restarted the Weed Eater.
    â€œSorry if he tried to talk your head off,” Kathryn said as we stepped into her living room. It led right into the dining room, which led straight back to the kitchen. The house felt lived in. Used and homey. I liked it.
    â€œCome upstairs,” she said. “It’s nicer in my room.”
    She led me up the staircase to a room that barely held the bed and a dresser. I waited for her to close the door. Then I handed her the package I’d brought. She unwrapped one end and gasped as she pulled out a long shoe box. Inside was a pair of knee-high black boots.
    â€œOh my God,” she said.
    â€œDo you like them? I tried to get something that wouldgo with everything.”
    â€œI can’t accept these.”
    â€œSure you can. We can exchange them if they don’t fit.”
    â€œBut they’re so nice,” she said, running her fingertips along the leather. “I needed something like this. Was it obvious?”
    â€œWell…” I hesitated. Chloe thought Kathryn had inner style, but I knew it was probably because she couldn’t afford much else. “Don’t think I’m trying to make you feel bad. Because your clothes are really awesome.