Read Online Sidekick by Natalie Whipple - Free Book Online Page A

with her, as usual. She is Mercedes’s best friend, and she’s one of the few cheerleaders who has never made a pass at Garret.
    “What’s up, Mercedes?”
    “You can tell Garr he made me gain five pounds, that’s what.”
    I slam my locker, holding back the eye roll. “Anything else?”
    She punches my shoulder. “It was a joke, dork.”
    “Oh.”
    “But speaking of weight gain, I told Holly you make killer food. She doesn’t believe me.” She nudges Holly. “Right?”
    Holly stares at her shoes. “Right.”
    “Tell her how amazing you are!” Mercedes says.
    “If you mean the tacos in Life Skills, then yeah, I made those. I don’t know about them being killer.” I head for the cafeteria, almost preferring Dallas to this obvious attempt at flirting. Mercedes walks too close to me and it’s uncomfortable.
    “Well, trust me, they were incredible. I tasted them.” Mercedes bumps into me. It doesn’t feel like an accident. “You should have seen the teacher, Hol—she had a full-on foodgasm.”
    “Did you take lessons or something?” Holly asks.
    “Nope.”
    “C’mon, your mom had to teach you, at least,” Mercedes says.
    “My mom hardly cooks.” I stop at the cafeteria door, annoyed at all the prying. Mercedes is insane if she thinks going around making me into a pansy kitchen boy will score her points with me. “Look, Mercedes, can you not tell people I cook?”
    She pouts. “But why? It’s so sexy!”
    I shake my head. “Whatever. I don’t cook—you got it?”
    “Fine.”
    I open the door for them, happy when they skip off to the other cheerleaders without any more embarrassing questions. I just want to get some food, sit with the team, and keep things as normal as possible. As I head for the line, a table of franticly waving people catches my eye. It takes me a few seconds to believe what I’m seeing.
    Izzy, Daphne, Colin, Trent, and Keira are calling me over. But as wrong as that is on its own, this situation is about a thousand times worse. This is like turning the world upside down and declaring anarchy.
    Garret’s sitting with them.
    Garret’s calling me over to the freak table.
    My feet won’t move. Has he gone insane? Is this some kind of prank he and Keira thought up on the way to her house? It’s not funny. Garret must not understand just how popular and important he is. If he turns into a freak, the whole balance of the school will be thrown off.
    I force myself to stay calm. He’s trying to impress Keira. Something probably did happen when he took her home. I’ve already lost my chance; why did I ever think I had a chance against Garr?
    Finally, I regain control of my body. I hold up my hand, telling them to wait. I can at least stall by getting food. I need time to process this.
    When I get in line, Dallas shows up behind me. “What the hell is going on, man?”
    “I have no clue.” I pick up a lunch tray, my head still reeling. Do I go over there? I can’t go over there. I’ve spent the last three years making sure no one knows that I actually like my crazy little sister. Can I ruin it all in one lunch period?
    “Did he lose a bet I don’t know about?”
    I shrug.
    “Isn’t that freak with the Chinese hat on your sister?”
    I look over, acting like I didn’t notice. “Uh, yeah, that would be her.”
    “And you don’t know what’s going on?”
    “What, you think I talk her? Dude, I pretend she doesn’t exist.”
    He laughs. “I don’t blame you there. But what do we do about Garr?”
    “Like I know.” The lunch lady plops a sloppy joe on my tray. Usually I don’t mind them, but suddenly I’m not hungry.
    “You should go over there, tell him he’s lost his cool pass by hanging out with them.” Dallas laughs again. He must be enjoying this more than anyone. “They called you over, after all. You’ve been welcomed by the freaks! Lucky shit!”
    “Yeah. Lucky.” I swipe my card at the end of the line.
    “So are you gonna go?”
    Now that I’m