Read Online The Opposite Of Tidy by Carrie Mac - Free Book Online Page A

the girls had cell phones. Not since they’d each been given one for Christmas and the bills were over six hundred dollars by the end of January. And that was just from calling and texting each other. They were still paying them off.
    “Or your boyfriend. Did you talk to him?”
    Tabitha sighed. “No, I saw it was his number, so I had my mom pick it up. I’m not stupid.”
    Junie’s mom was back in the living room, her soap playing loudly, working-class English accents sharp and jangly.
    “No, but you want him to know the truth, so I could see you ‘screwing up’ just so my lie would be exposed. I know you’re trying to play along . . . but I also know that you don’t really want to.”
    “Good morning, Junie. How are you today?” Tabitha’s words were awash in sarcasm. “I, for one, am just peachy. Thanks for asking, rather than launching into a critique of my morals, which are just peachy too, by the way.”
    “Sorry,” Junie said. “Good morning, Tabitha. What did Wade want?”
    “He told my mom he was calling to see if you wanted a ride.”
    As if on cue, the phone beeped. Junie looked at the Caller ID. Jaffre. “He’s calling here.”
    “Offering me a ride, I bet.”
    “Should I get it?”
    “No, because this is supposed to be your house.”
    “Right, well . . . I’ll come over there and we can call him back together.”
    “This is getting ridiculous, Junie.”
    “Ridiculous or not, Tabitha, I trumped you. And don’t you and your peachy morals forget it.”

    Junie grabbed an umbrella and made her way through the rain and wind to Tabitha’s house. Mrs. D. greeted her at the door with a frown. She was dressed to go out and had a rolled up yoga mat hanging over her shoulder in its own narrow bag.
    “You know I don’t like all this lying, Junie.”
    “I know, I know. And I’m sorry, Mrs. D. I promise to set it straight as soon as I can.”
    “I trust you will.” She slipped her water bottle into her purse and collected her keys. “I’ve set out a box of bottles for the drive. It’s in the garage by the recycling.”
    “Great, thanks.”
    One step out the door, she turned and said, “I don’t like you trumping Tabitha on this one, honey. Just so you know. Think about what you’re doing, okay?”
    Junie blanched. “Okay, Mrs. D., I will.”
    Junie stomped up the stairs to Tabitha’s room. “You told your mom that I trumped you about Wade?”
    “Yep. Unlike some of us, I don’t lie.”
    There wasn’t much Junie could say to that. Tabithahanded her the phone and she called Wade, thanking him for his offer of a ride and explaining that Tabitha was already at her house.
    Before he got there, they decided that Tabitha would sit in the front, so she’d have her chance to flirt with him.
    “Because the minute he finds out that I’ve been lying to him, he’ll choose you anyway, so what does it matter?”
    “I’m lying to him too.”
    “Not really. You’re just playing along with my big fat lie. And no, I’m not calling my mother fat.”
    “Good.”
    Wade honked his horn, so they dashed out into the rain, Junie carrying the box of bottles from Tabitha’s house.
    “Ladies,” he said as they shook off the rain and buckled up their seatbelts. He glanced at the box and then turned to Tabitha, “Any from your house?”
    “Those are—”
    “From both of our houses,” Junie finished before Tabitha could barrel forward, being honest without thinking.
    Tabitha turned and rolled her eyes at Junie as Wade pulled away from the curb. There were probably more empty bottles in Junie’s house than they’d collect for the whole drive, but she wasn’t about to admit that.
    The bottle drive was in the far corner of the mall parking lot. Lulu and Ollie had beaten them there and were struggling to put up a big white tent to cover the area where they’d be sorting the bottles. Between the five of them, they managed to get it up and set up the tables that Ollie’s dad had brought in the