Read Online The Queen Bee of Bridgeton by Leslie DuBois - Free Book Online

figured out the innuendo. She was referring to Will.  Instead of responding, I concentrated on my books and tried to ignore her. "You know that's the only reason he's with you, right?" she added.
     
    I didn't respond.
     
    "He's a top Cherry Picker you know. He gets extra points for virgins. And since you're like the last virgin on the planet he's gonna pick you." I tried to turn my back to her, but she continued.  "He's a Panty Pirate. All he wants is the booty."
     
    Her voice was so soft yet antagonizing. Only I could hear her. And she had this sweet innocent expression on her face that completely contradicted the vicious vitriol that spewed from her mouth. "You don't believe me? Read this."
     
    She stuffed a piece of paper in my hand.  I slammed my locker shut and swung my backpack over my shoulder. In the process, though, I accidently smacked Ashley in the stomach. She stumbled back a few steps then yelled, "You hit me. I can't believe you hit me. Did you see that? She attacked me." Then some fake tears leaked out of her eyes. She should've won an Oscar. A few students ran to her aid and patted her on the back.
     
    "Oh, come on. It was an accident," I tried to explain, but my years of practicing invisibility had worked too well. No one recognized my existence when precious Ashley Carter was in distress. I just melted into the background then skulked away.
     
    Class was pretty pointless that day. I couldn't get my mind off of what Ashley had said. Will was a top Cherry Picker? What the heck did that mean? Well, I could imagine what it meant, but I didn't really want to. That couldn't be why he was with me. I mean we had been seeing each other for almost two weeks and he hadn't even kissed me. I'd been dreaming of that kiss. It would be my first.
     
    I was sixteen and I'd never kissed a boy. I'd never had the opportunity. Boys in Venton Heights never seemed interested in me for some reason or maybe I'd never had the time to notice. Since I was eight years old, most of my time was spent dancing. Stefan and Sean were the only two male dancers my age at Ms. Alexander's studio. They were twins and I wasn't attracted to them in any way, shape, or form. Most of the time I couldn't even tell them apart.
     
    For over a year I had imagined my first kiss going to David Winthrop, but in the past two weeks, I looked forward to giving that honor to Will. Now I had doubts. Maybe Will wasn't for me.
     
    I took out the sheet of paper Ashley had handed to me and read it while concealing it with my Spanish book. It was a copy of what looked like a score sheet for the Cherry Picker game. Will's name was in the top corner above a list of girl's names with a description of the sex act followed by the number of points awarded. My eyes watered and my lungs constricted as I read in lurid detail the things Will had done to or with other girls. Oral sex on a roller coaster, a threesome in his neighbor's hot tub, a virgin in a supermarket bathroom. I wanted to vomit. Was this the type of boy I was with?
     
    My suspicions of Will possibly having another girl were starting to make sense. That's why he was always late. Maybe he was with other girls to keep his points up in the Cherry Picker game while he warmed me up in order to score super, mega, bonus points or something.
     
    I closed my eyes and shook my head.  There was no need to cry. Deep down I knew that wasn't true. The Will Maddox I'd gotten to know over the past two weeks wasn't using me for points. So why was my heartbeat accelerating making it hard for me to catch my breath? I couldn't figure out what bothered me so much. I mean, I already knew Will was promiscuous. The first two times I ever laid eyes on him, he'd just finished having sex in a public place. That wasn't the problem. It was in the past and I knew he really didn't want to be that person.  That's why he told me he didn't like himself. This boy who brought me flowers at every opportunity for the past two weeks did